Jon arrived at the War Memorial breathless with excitement. He had just come over the longabout where there were roadworks in evidence; was this the start of the installation of the long-awaited traffic lights to assist all road users heading north from Colney Heath? (Alas, we later subsequently discovered that these were drainage works!) Five of us set off along the Harpenden Road, scorning the cycle-path alongside as being too bumpy and too narrow. Through the edge of Southdown and down Leasey Bridge Lane, we ascended to Blackmore End and met (by arrangement) Steve and Jackie coming up from Kimpton. Although we were now over the critical mass, we continued almost together with Steve trailing off the back, through Bendish, passing another group of seven cyclists manifestly breaching lockdown rules. After giving them a severe ticking off we took the route through Ley Green where we spotted the West Herts Section of Cycling UK heading towards us. We carried on downhill via Charlton, taking the quiet route into Hitchin Market Square. Here we saw a group of 25 vintage-scooters accompanied by riders of commensurate age. We had earlier seen them in a convoy near Ley Green.
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| Scooters in Market Place |
After unsuccessfully attempting to open the door of the public toilets north of the marketplace, we went to the ones in the open-air market place where we were impressed the facilities were not only open, but were being cleaned after every person used them. Well done Hitchin!
We all took our picnic lunches in the grounds of St Mary's church among the gravestones
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St Mary's churchyard
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Ronny left early to make his own way back to St Albans. This turned out to be a wise decision as the rest of us got caught in a downpour near Old Knebworth just a few minutes after Steve and Jackie peeled off. I think they would have made it home in the dry. An enjoyable day out in mainly dry weather - if a bit windy.
Carol
Ronny also got into a downpour. Dark clouds were visible when heading into Wheathampstead, however I manage to pass through Sandridge before it started raining. It passed quickly and I stayed dry waiting under a big tree. However, just 2 minutes before arriving home I got into another downpour :)
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