05 Jul 2020: Hatfield to Allens Green

There was was a a very strong west wind as five of  us set off from outside Hatfield ASDA on an otherwise bright day. The pubs could now be open, but as we passed through Little Berkhamsted we noticed that the 5 Horseshoes was shut until Monday and at Epping Green the Beehive was evidently still undergoing a refurbishment. We continued at speed, aided by the wind, through Hoddesdon and the architectural splendour of the edge of Harlow heading for the little village of Allens Green. Ronny left us here as he had to be home early,  and Carol timed our arrival at exactly 1 pm as that was when the Queen's Head opened.

Queen's Head garden

We took a shaded round table in the garden, ordered beers from a counter set up outside the pub, and ate the sandwiches we had brought with us (as the pub was not serving food) and felt very smug as we noticed over 25 other cyclists subsequently arrived and had to queue for some time to order drinks. 

Queue at the Queen's Head

Although they didn't all arrive together, they seemed to be mainly from Bishops Stortford road-cycling club.

Sign by Barwick Ford

On the way home, we passed through Barwick Ford, noticing the sign above and surmising that there was either a missing word or Herts County Council (who are responsible for education in Hertfordshire) had been employing greengrocers for signage design.

Stonyhills Road sign

We continued through Colliers End and took the bridleway through Sacombe Park, emerging to easily cross the usually busy A602. We had noticed that the bridleway was peppered with Cyclists' Diversion 
signs, which puzzled us, and as we reached the next junction on the road to Stonyhills we looked back and saw the above sign. Again it used doubtful grammar, but indicated that work was now underway on the A602 improvement scheme, which should result in a new cyclepath under the A602 here, obviating the need to use either the bridleway or perform a right turn from the A602 into Sacombe Pound (the road to Dane End).

Jon peeled off at WGC and we then passed the QEII hospital at 4:30 where a huge crowd had assembled   outside (for the 72nd anniversary of  NHS) and a Spitfire flew overhead, however there was very little evidence of social distancing here.   Richard peeled off after exiting Hatfield Airfield and we arrived home rather tired having battled against the headwind all the way home at 5:15. Route below - we did about 61miles today as a round trip from St Albans

Carol & Steve