19 Dec 2021: St Albans to Amersham

It was a dismal cold, damp and misty morning for the final ride of 2021, which maybe was the reason only Gary joined Steve and me in the Waterend Barn St Albans. We passed a snake of over 50 people queueing for their booster jabs at the Council offices and then cycled through the marketplace, past the stalls selling Christmas junk destined for landfill in two week's time, and headed out towards Bedmond before using Hyde Lane to drop into the Gade Valley, then Rucklers Lane to climb up the other side. We were all grateful for the hills as we hoped the effort expended might force some blood to circulate to our extremities. I took the photo as we passed the Green Dragon looking over the hedge in Flaunden, but the photo doesn't show how murky and misty it really was.

Passing the Green Dragon

Instead of just going through Latimer we turned up another hill accessed from Hockley Bottom expecting it to be a quiet country lane, but every man and his dog seemed to be coming down it. We then cut across to Blackwell Hall Lane to descend to the Chess valley. Another long climb took us up to Chesham Bois before we reached the always reliable Masterchef café. Bacon sandwiches and a liver dinner were consumed before we turned back via Chenies, Belsize and Chipperfield. Unfortunately Steve had a rear-wheel puncture near Belsize and we all got very cold while he mended it. This took longer than normal because the tyre was difficult to remove as the cold had made the rubber less pliable. We made it back to St Albans just before 2pm and felt quite smug that we'd managed to get in a bit of healthy exercise before the weather was forecast to get even colder and wetter in the week before Christmas.

So Merry Christmas everyone and lets hope to see more people out in 2022!

Carol - map below

12 Dec 2021: Hatfield to Shephall

 Four riders met in the Harpsfield Hall in Hatfield on a mild but dull December morning. Heading north towards Lemsford, we picked up Steve and Jackie C, who hadn’t quite made it to the start, then skirted WGC past the golf club to arrive at Ayot Green. We paused for a clothing removal stop outside the pretty church. 

Ayot Green

We went through Ayot St Peter and Codicote Bottom before heading north up Heath Hill, passing John I cycling down it. After a fine downhill through Old Knebworth we entered  Stevenage near the former Roebuck Inn. We then picked up the shared-use cycle-path alongside Shepalbury Park where we saw a black squirrel (a grey mutant not uncommon in north Herts). This is one of the more pleasant areas of Stevenage with pre-war houses on one side and the park on the other, with the cycle-path being the old Shephall Lane. It was quite a contrast when we arrived at the Shephall commercial centre with its ugly sixties buildings, and Steve C seemed apprehensive after seeing the array of fully shuttered shops, with only a newsagent and the Co-op trading on the day. Fortunately the New Hyde cafe was also open, with just one table left that could seat the six of us. This was an establishment that had really put the G in greasy spoon, so Jackie was disappointed that there were no teacakes or similar, but the coffee was good and Phillip managed to order a low-carbohydrate mushroom omelette. Pleasantly surprised to find our bikes were still in place when we departed, we rode back though Aston End towards Watton and Datchworth, where we said good-bye to Steve and Jackie. Unusually for Hertfordshire, we were held up by a flock of sheep being moved along the road.

Sheep on the move!

We headed back towards St Albans via Ayot Green and Water End. Here we stopped to admire the new footbridge, which is now about two feet higher than the road bridge and should keep pedestrians’ feet dry, then carried on through Coleman Green and Sandridge, where we stopped for a quick chat with Phil B who had been on a Verulam ride and was on his way back to Bedmond.

New raised footbridge at Water End

A fairly short ride on a very mild day saw us back in St Albans by 1.20.

Steve B

5 Dec 2021: St Albans to Berkhamsted

Six people assembled at the Waterend Barn in St Albans for a ride to Berkhamsted. The forecast was not good and Peter turned back to head home fairly soon as we headed up the Redbourn Road, which was probably a wise move if you didn’t like wind rain and cold altogether. Carol was not feeling too good and also left us near Buncefield for home. 

Hogg End Lane underpass in the rain!

The remaining four “Hardies” headed through Cupid Green up to Gaddesden Row.  Passing through Briden's Camp we crossed the old A4146 road now downgraded to the B440 (since a lorry ban was introduced following the opening of Junction 11a on the M1, meaning HGVs should use the M1, A5 and A505 to reach Leighton Buzzard) and headed towards Little Gaddesden with the idea of passing through Ringshall and past the Bridgewater monument at Ashridge before descending into Northchurch. However at the T junction where we would have turned right for  Little Gaddesden, in view of the deteriorating weather, we decided to turn left going past Potten End and dropped down directly into Berkhamsted town centre instead. This cut the ride length by about 5 miles. A warming coffee, food, and beer at The Crown run by JD Wetherspoon were most welcome before the return trip. Phil S joined us at the pub and Tim was amazed at the value-for-money of a breakfast muffin with bacon and egg plus a coffee for £2.65. Afterwards we took the back roads through Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead, then used Bunkers Lane and the Hemel Hempstead Road to get back to St Albans. The round trip was about 28 miles in total and it was a character-building day!

Philip