26 Jul 2015: Wet ride to Codicote

This being the end of July and the first Sunday of the school holidays the weather forecast was for rain all day.  So a few brave (daft?) members met at the top of St Peter’s Street in St Albans. I had planned a long route through the Chilterns out to Towersey on the Aylesbury Plain (Plan A). This would have been a challenging route on any day. I had already decided to cut the route short and ride out to Chesham and return after the morning stop (Plan B).  Jon advised me that it was the annual get together of the Herts CTC at Vanstones Garden Centre near Codicote. So Plan B was abandoned and we decided to go there instead (Plan C).

We set off out of St Albans towards Sandridge and by the time we had reached the bottom of Valley Road the rain had started. A quick stop at Beech Bottom Dyke and we noted that Verulamium was the name of the settlement before the Romans arrived. We put on wet weather gear and continued along Sandridgebury Lane into Sandridge. Then it was a pleasant, drippy route along Coleman Green Lane, across Nomansland up through the woods skirting Wheathampstead Golf Course to Harpenden Road. 

Mike in his element

Turning right down Leasey Bridge Lane we crossed the River Lea and headed towards Gustard Wood. The rain was getting heavier as we passed the Cross Keys Pub and turned towards Ayot St Lawrence.  A very quick stop allowed us to view Shaw’s Corner and the ruined Church then we headed down Tanyard Lane towards Kimpton Road.  Here we came across two horse riders at the bottom of the hill riding a couple of flighty fillies, which were nervous of the flag on Judy’s trike.  Half a mile further down Kimpton Road the road was flooded, but we managed to get by taking it easy - turned out the flood was only a few inches deep. We made it to Vanstones around 10.30 and the rain was really meaning business as we listened to it hammering on the café roof.  

I was not expecting many cyclists to make it on such a wet day, but a few hardy souls turned up and a pleasant hour was spent catching up with old acquaintances.  Afterwards we went home by the most direct route. By this time the rain was very heavy as we headed into a strong head wind down the B656 into Old Welwyn. Then we took the Old A1 over Digswell Hill, through Lemsford and back to Hatfield via Green Lanes. Not the best preparation for my imminent end-to-end ride, or maybe it was?

'Never never give up' (Winston Churchill)

Mike 26/07/2015

25 Jul 2015: Saturday fun ride to Potters Bar

This week we welcomed three keen new riders to our sensational saunteriffic morning rides, with one rider under the impression that we were leaving at 10.30. The meeting point Jenny’s Hatfield Market Square, time 10.00 a.m., so Jon had to get straight back on his bike.

Richard, Terry, Marianne, Neil and Gill at Cafe Larsa

Riders Gill, Marianne, Terry, Jon and myself made for a really happy bunch of cyclists on a bright and breezy Saturday morning ride. We took off towards Welham Green via Travellers Lane, this is quite a straightforward route out of Hatfield and takes in a path around the back of the Tesco depot that leads straight into Welham Green. Negotiating our way through the small high street and up past the Sibthorpe A#rms towards Brookmans Park, just before the train station I hung a left and took a lovely winding lane down to Water End (so called because the stream disappears into a sinkhole hereabouts). After a little wiggle through there I was cheeky and took them up Hawkshead Lane. It’s quite a steady climb up to the Royal Veterinary College then back to Brookmans Park. Soon we were in Potters Bar and wheeling our way through the traffic towards a welcome tea stop.

Now I like to make sure that the tea stops are of great quality but in this instance unfortunately I failed. The Broadway café is closed for a refurbishment, so deftly we re-traced our steps and stopped at a quaint little place by the train station. At the stop we had a lovely chat and shared our thoughts on cycling. The furtive Mr Stubbs also joined us here. Suitably watered and fed we set off on our home run, this entailed going up Baker Street (completely forgetting about the hill), and turning on to Dancers Hill Road to follow it all the way down to Trotters Bottom (what lovely names). Here we have a Tri Bridge (for horses, cyclists and walkers) that spans the A1, over we pop but at this point one of our number discovered that changing the chain on front rings makes climbing much easier. We made a steady climb up to Ridge and then down to South Mymms, where I unwittingly broke the law by taking everyone down a one-way street (naughty, naughty). After South Mymms we headed for North Mymms via Swanland Road and Waterend. As we came by Hertfordshire University, we noticed that some works had blocked off the road; the ladies found a way around this obstacle and soon we were back at the beginning of our ride.

A lovely ride out.  Neil 25/07/2015

19 Jul 2015: Wheathampstead to Great Barford

After early morning rain, the weather turned up trumps with warm sunny periods and a tail wind for our ride starting at Wheathampstead.  Five riders started out for our elevenses stop at Barton-le-Clay. Neil was out again, although he had led a very successful Saturday Fun Ride the day before to Shenley, which had attracted 7 riders.

We took the direct route up Lilley Bottom and down into Hexton and Higham Gobion in order to approach Barton-le-Clay from the north and find a route across the A6. Mobile mapping came to the rescue, showing a cycle route to cross to Hayden’s Cafe via Grange Farm Close. Hidden away in a collection of twee shops, the café had some excellent bread pudding as well as the usual fry-ups.  Three riders continued onto Great Barford, through what must be Bedfordshire’s most picturesque villages, especially Old Warden, liberally sprinkled with thatched cottages. 

The Swan family

Lunch was sandwiches on the banks of the Great Ouse, watching a pair of swans teaching their adolescent offspring the rudiments of wing flapping in preparation for flight.  Remarkably, none of us succumbed to a pint at the Anchor just behind us.  It must have been the thought of the distance from home to be cycled and the heat. 

The old bridge over the Ouse at Great Barford

To avoid retracing our steps, we swung north and east across the A1 and then down through Everton and Potton to Stotfold.  The breeze, which had been a tail wind as far as lunch, mercifully dropped on the return leg.  In Stotfold, I led our small party on a wild goose chase looking for the mill, being misled by a sign for the mill, which led us into a new, unfinished housing estate.  When we eventually found the mill teashop, we all had a traditional tea and scones and contemplated the 25 to 30 miles to home, having already clocked up more than 60 miles.

Using Richards 1990’s OS map (I only had mapping as far as Stotfold) we somehow managed to head south bypassing Letchworth to Hitchin, despite the complete change in the road layout since his map was published!  It was then plain sailing through Codicote and home.

74.2 miles

Craig 19/07/2015