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

28 June 2020: St Albans to Hitchin

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.

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

St Mary's churchyard

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

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