28 July 2019: Hatfield to Allens Green

I arrived at the start already wet from the rain, and waited to see how many intrepid people would brave the elements. As it turned out, three more brave souls appeared and we started off with the drizzle starting to get heavier.

We chose to take a different route, as we often use the road past the golf course, and went up to where cycle route 12 crosses cycle route 61, at the beginning to Welwyn Garden City. Here we turned onto route 61, which travels round the back routes near Panshanger and onto the Cole Green Way. As we travelled down towards Hertford, thankful that it wasn’t too muddy, I got a puncture and the four of us managed to keep the tyre off the ground and out of the mud and replace the inner tube, all the while sheltering from the heavy drizzle. Steve H and Richard doing a stalwart job in getting the tyre off.

We reached the cafe in Stanstead Abbotts with the rain easing off, the cafe had run out of ordinary coffee, so I had to make do with decaffeinated, but our food came fairly promptly so we discussed whether we should go on or turn back, the consensus being that it wasn’t heavy rain and we would go on.

As we left, it wasn’t raining, but that soon changed, and we cycled on through Harlow on cycle route 1, through Old Harlow, up to Lower Sheering and Sawbridgeworth to Allens Green our next stop.

Suitably fed and watered we left the pub and cycled around by Green Tye and Perry Green to Much Hadham and by the time we reached Ware it had stopped raining and the sun was threatening to show itself. We made our way back to Hertford, where we bade farewell to Ronnie and found our usual watering hole of the Rose Cafe, which is still going strong, even though the shops to its right have been demolished and there is no sign of anything being built any time soon.

Now the sun had come out, and was getting pleasantly warm, so at least the end of the ride was better than the start. All in all, not a bad ride but could have done without the “wet stuff.”

Sue 28/07/2019

21 July 2019: Baldock to St Neots

The effects of global warming were evident as five people met at Baldock Station for our car-assisted ride, except that Phil had not needed any assistance having already cycled 25 miles from Bedmond. We headed off skirting the pretty village of Ashwell before heading north-west to our coffee stop at Sandy. On a very hot day it can feel like heaven to be in an air-conditioned supermarket and this day was no exception as Subway was operating as a concession inside the local Co-op. The feeling of paradise was enhanced upon discovering that a bacon roll & coffee was only £2. How can they make any money? They must know what they are doing as they have more branches internationally than any of their competitors, including McDonalds & KFC. Continuing north west for a few miles before turning sharp right at Colmworth, we sped through cornfields in flatlands almost devoid of trees and fortunately, cars. We followed the main road into St Neots, noting with pleasure that it was the sort place that had a Waitrose and would therefore be suitable for our visit. Even the Wetherspoon’s seemed fairly smart inside, although all the external tables were occupied, but probably by smokers anyway. Suitably refreshed we took a wiggly route to the tea stop at the garden centre at Waresley, again having to sit inside as all the outside tables were taken.   The most interesting thing we saw all day was this unicorn, modestly priced at just under £2000!

Teak unicorn

Suitably rehydrated, we continued vaguely South, crossing our outward route near Sutton and almost again at Ashwell getting back to Baldock at about 5 pm and cycling about 63 miles. But it was not the end for Phil, who still had another 25 miles to get back to Bedmond.
Steve B

20 July 2019: Hatfield to Roydon

With the deluge of rain over the last 12 hrs this mainly off road route had to be changed at the last minute. As for the weather on Saturday, it was unpredictable. Rain was in the air as I waited for the ride to start and by ten O’clock only one rider had joined me, so without further ado the pair of us set off for the borders of Essex.

We were soon hitting the undulating road that is Grubs Lane and as we rode the hint of rain never quite left us. It was at the end of this lane that our route had to be changed. The original plan was to head onto the path that is on the land of Woodside Farm and then tack across to Newgate Street via the bridleway skirting Millbrook golf course. I called this off as I thought it would be far too muddy for us. So instead we took a more familiar route down Tylers Causeway, a really winding, undulating affair of a road. We had only just reached the rise when we had to pullover and let some people-squashing tractors past. White Stubbs Lane was as pleasant as ever, going through the Broxbourne nature reserve is always a treat and somehow looks better when it’s not so sunny.

Roydon Marina

After a wiggle around Hoddesdon and the Rye House sewage works we eventually got to the Marina, which looked superb in the sunshine. They served a great breakfast and proved to a success. As we left the Marina the sky darkened over, the wind picked up and the clouds produced a short, sharp and heavy downpour with accompanying thunder. Taking shelter under what trees we could find, coats went on. A few minutes passed and the downpour stopped but the wind didn’t go away.

We made our way back to the sewage works and took a bridleway that leads into and around RSPB Rye Meads. We scooted past Abbots Lake and saw the mist rising off the pavement as we took our jackets off.

The tow path proved to be a sploshy affair, up near Stanstead Abbots it was quite doable and pleasant, but as got nearer Ware it became evident that they had had more rain than us as small puddles gave away to greater puddles and the pair of us got covered in mud. To be honest I found this to be quite a lot of fun, even Swans got in on the act by having a quick nibble at us. The path between Ware and Hertford was seriously bumpy though and not quite as pleasant. As we were already muddy we carried on with the off road theme and took the old train line to WGC, all the while battling a steady head wind.

After reaching Welwyn it was a small task to get back to the start and complete the longest of our Saturday rides so far.

A fun, muddy and bumpy ride out.
Neil 20/07/2019