21 Jun 2020: St Albans to Chesham

The longest day saw some rain forecast for the first part of the morning so there were only three of us at the start, Steve, Ronny and me. I'd planned a wiggly route to avoid getting to Chesham too early for our picnic lunch. We took a meandering route via Rucklers Lane then along the rarely used Middle Lane to Bovingdon Green, before using the Whelpley Hill loop where we saw a bright-blue flax field to which my photo does not do justice.

Flax field near Whelpley Hill

After passing Peter Southworth of West Herts Cycling UK club, we then headed through Ashley Green out almost to Hawridge, and then enjoyed the long descent to Chesham. After a toilet stop we picnicked in the park just as the sun disappeared and the wind got up. In fact we didn't have any rain all day and enjoyed a tail wind on the way home.

Green Dragon is home!

Climbing up the hill from Latimer to Flaunden we were delighted to be greeted by the familiar Green Dragon figure-head after an absence of many months. However it was evident the refurbishment  of the pub was not yet quite complete.

Shortly after passing through Belsize, Steve discovered that he could get only two gears as his rear changer would not move. However, by manually setting the chain onto the middle sprocket, he managed to get home to St Albans. We took the least hilly route back so abandoned the planned route. The problem was subsequently found be not a broken gear cable or derailleur spring but excessive friction in the cable housing inside the frame & solved with some oil.

We completed about 42 miles and were home shortly after 3.30.

Carol