12 July 2020:St Albans to Asheridge with an "e"!

Desperate to escape the blanket coverage in the news of a footballer apparently called Charlton (I thought that was the name of a club), three of us met at St Albans war-memorial. Dodging the heavy traffic apparently caused by the monthly junk market on St Peters Street, we set off via Bedmond and Rucklers Lane, passing Roger and Judith of the 40+ cycling club ( and Wednesday group of Souuth Herts Cyclists) returning from Chipperfield, and unexpectedly picking up Simon of Edgware CTC near Bulstrode. He rode with us all the way to Ashley Green and left us for Berkhamsted whereas we rode on towards the illustriously named Brazier's End, briefly sighting Tony B of the Chiltern Society cycling group on the way.  Making the final ascent to Asheridge at about 12:45, we were surprised to see how quiet the Blue Ball was, as it had previously been very popular with walkers and cyclists. A sign near the entrance announced no dogs, no ball games and no cycling. The implication of this appeared to be no customers! We ordered drinks and ate our picnic sandwiches on the seats on the small green opposite the pub.

First pint outside the Blue Ball

While we consumed our wares,  another group of four cyclists arrived and also ordered beers which they also drank on the green. A woman from a passing car then approached us to ask where the National Trust car-park was. Carol patiently explained that she was at Asheridge but needed to be at Ashridge, near Aldbury, and offered to show her an OS map. The woman declined, saying she couldn't read maps, (the consequences of which were all too evident) and she drove off, not doubt again putting her faith into a SatNav. No-one else arrived at the pub by the time we set  off at 1:30 for Chesham and we wiggled our way back through Flaunden.

Green Dragon new sign

We knew from a few weeks ago that the Green Dragon, former drinking haunt of Joachim von Ribbentrop and Guy Burgess, had restored its iconic wooden figure-head in the back garden and now had a new pub sign as well. Its refurbishment looked almost complete and we hoped it would soon be opening. Passing through Belsize, we noted that the garden of the Plough looked very busy, showing that some pubs had a winning formula. After saying goodbye to Steve H as he headed for Harrow, we passed through Chiswell Green to look at the new bike shop on the site of the old Maserati showroom.

Cycle shop in Chiswell Green

It was closed, of course, and the business had been transferred from CTH cycles in Bricket Wood. We arrived back in St Albans at about 3:30.

We did a round trip of just over 42 miles.

Words from Steve, technical stuff from Carol!

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