20 Apr 2013: Shenley Park - Saturday

Four of us met for the first Saturday ride of the year, it was great to see Diane and Jackie along with Diane’s husband Steven, the weather was being nice to us and someone had turned up the brightness on the sun.

Jackie, Diane & Steven

We took a leisurely pace and route to our destination, as the morning begged to be savoured.  We headed along the Alban Way through the Cotton Mill Estate to St Julian’s wood and then down to Park street; here we headed to Bricket Wood but took Drop Lane when we got there. This was a nice route and Drop Lane follows a rather full river Ver.  Somewhere along here we spied a film crew, so we may be famous and just don’t know it.

Just as we get into Shenley we have to deal with the hill and I have to say we all do admirably, and each take our own pace instead of being pushed to kill ourselves.

After tea we made a beeline back to Morrisons via the old St Albans Road and London Colney.  Coming down the St Albans road we clocked a rather healthy 30 mph so the climb before tea was well worth it.  I took the wrong exit off a roundabout and we ended up going through London Colney itself but that gave Jackie a chance to show us where she worked.

All in all it was a great Saturday morning’s ride.

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Neil 20/04/2013

14 Apr 2013: St Albans to Leighton Buzzard

In a week that saw a past PM die and we recalled the divisiveness that gripped the nation in the 80’s, rather than rioting, the South Herts CTC took Norman Tebbit’s advice and got on their bikes; in our case to look for a great day out rather than for work.

Queuing for a cuppa

Simon looks for a quick exit?

Our first destination was Pitstone Wharf on the Grand Union Canal and the weather was fine but windy.  Diane made a happy return from last week; Tracey made it out, as did Simon, so all in all we had a good happy crew of 10 people.  

We set off for the Wharf via Hogg End lane, Gaddesden Row, Hudnall, Ringshall and the wonderful Ivinghoe Beacon.  In parts the ride was getting blasted from all sides by the wind, in fact at one point Carol thought that the hand of God was pushing her along.   At coffee break Richard and Steve met us, but we lost a couple of riders as they headed home. 

One of the vintage cars

Fixing a skipping chain

Our next stop was Leighton Buzzard.  The route from Pitstone was fairly straightforward and posed no problems, well apart from Peter’s chain jumping all over the place.  But with the sheer amount of experienced riders a quick fiddle sorted the problem tout suite.  As we headed for lunch we had the great pleasure of passing many of the pre-1st WW vintage cars that were puttering along the road.  Peter commented that he’d love to have one; I don’t think he’s the only one.

From lunch it can seem like a grueling push back to Berkhamsted; even my GPS had had enough at one point, but we all made it to a closed café!  The last stop had shut down.  So we popped into the Wetherspoons and found that their range of afternoon goodies had been pushed up in price, making lunch cheaper than afternoon tea.  Once we were all refreshed we headed back through Hemel, up Bunkers lane and back into St Albans: a great day out in perfect harmony.


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Neil 14/04/2013

07 Apr 2013: Hatfield to Broom

Nine of us met in Hatfield for the start of the day’s ride.  This included newcomer Diane, who had been recommended to us by the Forty Plus CC.  We also had the very pleasant company of the sun; yes that’s right THE SUN.  It was strange to see it up there.

Gathering in Hatfield

Cafe Plus, Baldock

I had two routes in mind and after a quick consultation it was pointed out that my second route out was near the last stop, so route one it was.  Both the easy ride and my moderate ride followed more or less the same route all day, with the easy ride arriving at the stops just as the queue was going down.

We headed to Baldock via Tewin, Datchworth, Hall’s Green and Weston.  It turned out to be a very nice route and really straightforward, which it needed to be as the tea stop was a fair way to go (23 miles in fact).  As we made our way the countryside really did have that springy feel to it, with birds and horses all over the place.  I spied some cows and our little herd of riders were making a happy chatting sound as we pootled through all this.  When we got to Weston I had to check my map, just to make sure we got it right.  This gave Ian a chance to test out the public bench.  Soon enough we headed into Baldock and Café Plus. 

Nobody was there to meet us, which was just as well as we were 20 minutes late, HA!  It was here that Jackie and Diane left us to head back home, but Diane had a good time and I’m hoping we’ll see her again.  Coming out of Baldock we had to do a little wiggle, nip under a bridge and head off for Stotfold, and that was rather easily done.  We picked up National Cycle Route 12, which took us through Arlesey Station, under and up the cycle path beside the A507, through a gap and onto the B659.  Done!  Now we just followed that until the signpost for Broom magically appeared, and here we did a left and straight to lunch.

Triumph TR cars

Bonnets up as we left

Lunch was at The Cock, which had been attacked by a Triumph TR owners club, so the food took a little time coming out, but the staff were pleasant and very helpful (let’s hope the new publican keeps the pub going).  Here we picked up more riders: Carol, Steve and Richard. It was great to see them all.  Well it was only 10 miles to lunch and we were enjoying the sunshine on the patio, but had to make a move - destination Whitwell.  As we were leaving, the Triumph owners must have been worried about starting their cars as they all had the bonnets up.  Off we went in the direction of Southill, which we didn’t reach as I took a wrong turning, but never fear we went off down to Clifton.  Through Shefford, Campton and Upper Gravenhurst, but just on reaching it we turned off for Shillington and from there onwards it was plain sailing to Hexton, up Butts Hill, down through Lilly Bottom and straight on for Whitwell and Emily’s teashop.  

Bill gets his pint from the cellar

Cycle parking at Whitwell

This is a cyclist-friendly farm type place, with chickens and rabbits and lots of people.  That leg was 20 miles and believe you me some of us were beginning to feel it.  After this we made our separate ways home.

All in all I covered 65 miles from home, some did more, some did less but we all had a great time.