16 June 2019: Hatfield to Bishops Stortford

It started raining as nine gathered under the bike shed outside Asda in Hatfield, but in the warm weather it didn't last long and jackets were soon removed. The usual picturesque route south went around the back of the M and S depot and through the industrial estate in Welham Green before branching east through the village of Little Berkhamsted and behind the Paradise Park zoo to Hoddesdon. We arrived at the River Palace café to find it heaving with dads being treated to a Fathers' Day breakfast. A quick re-plan took us backtracking to a different café on Rye Road called Anatolia's. The service could not have been more different to the previous week as all the food was produced in double-quick time at a very economical price. The café is like a Dr Who Tardis as it is huge inside, hiding behind a modest exterior.

After another change of plan, we cycled pasted the Rye House gatehouse where the Rye House plot took place.

Gatehouse

We decided the original planned lunch pub would not be a good idea as sitting in the garden in the rain didn't sound appealing so we headed to the usually ever dependable JD Wetherspoon outlet in Bishops Stortford pausing for a photoshoot near Perry Green by the Henry Moore statue.

Perry Green

Carol got a puncture just afterwards so the rest of the group went ahead to the pub. The road seemed exceptionally busy on the way into Stortford and it turned out the A120 trunk road was closed between Little Hadham and Stortford as the works have started on the Little Hadham bypass. Unfortunately we were cycling on the official diversion. 

As Carol and Steve approached the JDW pub the others came out after having been told of an hour wait for food, so we decamped to the reliable Bridge Café for lunch instead. 

We left Stortford via quiet lanes north, then west before crossing the now-opened  A120 and headed west through Wellpond Green where we saw the illegal camp set up by members of the Travelling Community. This hit the national news recently as they bought a field and have built a caravan site illegally.

Get the map out

Ronny's photo showed there was some fine weather around and eventually we had a coffee stop in Hertford before getting back to Hatfield in the late afternoon.

I forgot to switch my tracker on until we were on the edge of Hatfield so the map looks a bit strange. 

Lesson learned - next year set up a picnic ride on any special occasion day if we want to avoid any overloaded pubs!

About 60 miles and unusually no planned stops were used!

Carol