15 Mar 2020: Wheathampstead to Wadesmill

Who would have known this was to be the final formal South Herts ride for the foreseeable future! Coronavirus spreading has now enforced the end of our official Sunday rides.

Anyway five stalwarts turned up for the start in Wheathampstead, and we headed on a fairly direct route north through Ayot St Lawrence, Whitwell and Willian before reaching Dimples cafe at the small golf club on the edge of Letchworth. The seating had been replaced with some rather stylish fifties-style chairs and somehow the conversation turned away from the usual chain rings and sprockets to soft furnishings. I remarked we were getting some new curtains made and suddenly Steve H astounded us with tales of his own haberdashery efforts to make his own! I questioned the quality of the result and you can see below the comparison of John Lewis' pinch pleats vs Steve H's "pencil" pleats achieved with rufflette tape. I must admit I'd describe Steve's as a panel when the curtain is closed, certainly not the minimum two and a half widths of fabric!

John Lewis left, Steve H right

After coffee we headed east through Weston then south via Walkern (where we saw Richard out alone for a short ride heading north) to Benington where we stopped to admire the spring daffodils.

Benington daffodils

It didn't take long to get to the Anchor pub via Whempstead then after a stiff climb up to Sacombe we descended to Wadesmill. Ronny had peeled off near Dane End as he needed to get home early. A wise move as after lunch Katy had a puncture in the pub garden which meant by the time we left the rain had started. We ended up taking the most direct route back to St Albans via Hertford and Steve H left us at Stony Hills to take a more northerly route back to Wheathampstead. I got noticed soft tyre near WGC but Steve pumped it up and it lasted till we arrived home.

Thanks to Steve H for a good route and let's hope we can keep in touch over the next few months and all keep healthy.

We did just under 60 miles door to door - route below
Carol

08 Mar 2020: Hatfield to Old Stevenage (not Streatley)

At last there was a reasonable weather forecast for a Sunday ride - it was warmer than it had been recently and only light rain showers were predicted in the afternoon. Steve and I cycled over to the Hatfield start along the Alban Way. We picked up new rider Katie in Fleetville and guided her to the start location in the Asda car park. There was a person in the cycle shelter at the car park but I didn't think he would join us as he was flat out, sleeping on some trollies and didn't appear to have a bicycle.

Spot the rough sleeper!

Six of us set off on the planned route, while Jon and Judy took a more direct way to join us at the coffee stop in Hitchin. All went well until Katie had a puncture in Ayot Green which was quickly dealt with by Steve. After this we carried on through the country lanes via Kimpton Mill,

Ronny's photo near Kimpton Mill

until we came across a group of cyclists contemplating a significant flood in a lane in Shilley Green. It included a pair of Chiltern Society riders we know out doing a reconnoitre of a planned ride for April. All agreed the flood was too deep to risk going through, so we diverted to the main B656 Codicote-to-Hitchin road where we passed the CS riders and followed the fairly flat route to the café where we found Jon alongside Steve and Jackie who had ridden there directly. Judy subsequently joined us among the fairly crowded tables.

After good coffee and very reasonably priced food, and as we were running late, we abandoned the scheduled destination of Streatley and took a re-planned route to Old Stevenage via Baldock, Clothall and Weston. I got a puncture climbing up to Clothall,

Dressed for puncture repair

so while Steve again fixed it, we told the others to go on and we caught up with them at the Standing Order (formerly a bank) after passing the childhood home of the novelist E.M. Forster. It's called the Rook's Nest

and the house in the novel Howard's End is based on it. I found this link to the EM Forster country website which describes a campaign to prevent the land north of Stevenage being developed and gives history of his links to the area.

After lunch we waited for a heavy rain shower to almost finish before making bee-lines to our various homes. It was about a 53-mile round trip for the St Albans' riders on a largely quiet Spring day.

Carol