There were only three starters for mince pies and coffee at Carol and Steve's house in St Albans on a gloomy but dry Christmas morning. Steve H set off at such a pace I thought he'd morphed into Steve C that morning. We rode out of St Albans heading for Colney Heath on incredibly quiet roads before passing the Vets' college at Brookmans Park, where we saw many cars in the car park. I expect they still need a lot of staff to look after the animals no matter what time of year. After climbing up towards Cuffley we turned left to tackle Carbone Hill before finally getting to Woodside and the pub just after 12 noon having covered 17.5 miles at 13 mph, which is quite a speed for us considering the hills involved.
Jon and Judy cycled in the same time as we did, and after Jon managed to limbo under the pub doorways due to the foot-long antlers sticking out of the top of his head, we managed to get seated in the back room. Here we partook our free drinks (for which we made charity donations) and home-made sandwiches for a jolly lunch.
Soon it got even jollier when an elf appeared alongside his son in a Christmas sweater. Chris from Welwyn Garden City also arrived and we were amazed to hear he had never been to the Woodman before.
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| Which one has the elfine figure? |
The pub was only open for an hour theoretically, but it was about 1.30 when we were turfed out and saw Santa on his tractor before heading back to our various homes, all, I hope getting back in daylight.
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| Santa's tractor |
Route below; I couldn't find a Santa on a bicycle so used a skiing one instead!
Happy New Year from Carol
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