Christmas Lunch Rides

A happy group

Cast your mind back several months and recall those lovely meals you enjoyed with your cycling pals. Here are a few reminders.

Firstly there was the Sunday All Day Riders’ annual Christmas lunch at the Blue Ship.

Abinger Hammer

Here’s Julian at Abinger Hammer

At the Volunteer

A quick rest before the ascent of Leith Hill

The Group

Meal eaten, just the ride home then…

Peter

Yes, Peter, you were saying…

And then there was the Guildford and Godalming Wayfarers’ Christmas lunch at the Parrott….

Misty morning

Another misty morning

Susan

No need to look quite so worried, Susan…

Problem on the road

Uh oh, a problem. Where’s CJ?

A happy group

A well fed, thus happy group of cyclists!

 

Sunday All-Day Riders ~ 14 August Ride

Some fabulous August weather saw a small group of us heading out to Lasham aerodrome for coffee, followed by lunch at The Good Life at Headbourne Worthy, near Winchester, and we even enjoyed yet more cake on the way home at Selbourne.

Is there really a better way to spend a mid-summer Sunday!

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 Below is an image of the route we took. For further details of it, you can click on the following link:

https://www.strava.com/activities/677795716

Map of Route

Snowdrops in Mud

And so it came to pass that he who hates the cold – your scribe no less – found on waking that it was not cold; plus he needed to ride because he hadn’t since those heady, warm pre-Xmas days (how memories of rain soaked rides fade!); plus, the ride began at Godalming Station – oh joy!

Present at Godalming were Clive, Nick, Martin and Heidi, and Chris B.

It wasn’t much of a day for photographs, but it turned out to be a great day for chatting – well I thought so anyway – so there was plenty of that. It must have been a good day for hills too, although Clive was somewhat co-erced into climbing the dreaded Bexley Hill, because there was no one present who wasn’t up for it – there definitely must have been something in the air today. By gum, what a grovel, but, oh, what sweet satisfaction on reaching the top! Coffee at Café Verdi never tasted better. To say Paul and Don looked better too would not be true, but it was good to meet up with them in Midhurst anyway!

We headed east to round Petworth by the south, then headed northwards via Little Bognor to climb Bedham Common (well done, Paul, on your fixie!) and so reach Wisborough Green for lunch at Luigi’s Old Mill Café.

The ride home took the usual lanes, with nothing of note to report about the ride generally other than the fact that Clive succeeded in getting a few suckers to muddy their feet in search of snowdrops. Yes, they were there in force and looked… well, just as snowdrops usually look: very nice, but perhaps not quite compensation enough for getting our shoes all covered in *&%$. A lovely day however – great route, great company and n’eer a shiver in sight.

For full details of the route: https://www.strava.com/activities/477501131

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Sunday 20 December 2015 – the Lash-Down from Lasham Ride

Following the JW Epic / Christmas Lunch ride of last Sunday, out of which I funked owing to…. well, lots of things really (but not a sense of foreboding – I am no soothsayer sadly), a sense of duty urged me to turn up for today’s ride, not to mention the proximity of the start to my domicile.

Under lowering skies and temperatures more akin to Gaza than Godalming, we set off by climbing the dreaded Holloway Hill before joining what I call my regular training ride – I do it at least once every two years: Enton (Water Lane) – Witley (Church Lane) – over the A286, but not before managing to fall off grace à M. Hackman, but entirely my fault for being so close as to be half-wheeling him; then he slowed and swerved somewhat abruptly; that’ll teach me! Once over the 286 it was my favourite lane and track all the way to Hindhead.

We continued happily westwards through Grayshott and Headley to reach the Greedy Frog garden centre at Oakhanger for morning coffee and nibbles. This is quite a new stop for us and really quite pleasant – made even more so today because it rained whilst we were there – and stopped by the time we were back on the road. Another 20 or so miles brought us to Lasham aerodrome and a spot of lunch.

Once devoured we headed off once again homeward bound but those lowering skies finally decided that we no longer deserved to remain dry. From a few light spots as we left Lasham, the rain slowly but innocuously increased in that fashion which inclines one to refrain from stopping to don waterproof in the belief that it might just ease up. After all, I was wearing for the first time my new West Surrey club Gamex windproof so perhaps it was worth testing for ‘waterproof-osity’. And in fact it did very well indeed; however, such was the length of the ride home, not to mention the deluge that we rode through, that I doubt even my trusty old Freestyle Goretex would have kept the rain out. Thankfully the mildness of the day meant that it was almost impossible to get cold and so one reached home soaked but not frozen solid.

My ride from Godalming was a respectable 100.4kms with 986m of climbing; Julian’s from West Horsley was considerably more respectable! Details of the route may be found here: https://www.strava.com/activities/453478391

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Guildford & Godalming Wayfarers Ride ~ 19 October 2014

It would have been difficult to find an excuse not to get out today. Mid-October and it’s shorts and short sleeves mode still – wonderful! That said, there was plenty of water around and care was needed on slippery roads. Nevertheless, the countryside was looking quite wonderful even though light levels were low, leading to some pretty fuzzy photos.

People out were Peter the leader, another Peter, Geoff, Hilary, Chris Jeggo and Roger; then at the Rural Life Centre cafe, we found Sue, Angela and David.

People went in various directions after coffee and giant slabs of fruit cake. After intending to go one way, I ended up going another and so endured the climb up Beacon Hill Road to Hindhead, to be rewarded by that lovely descent round the Punchbowl and down to Brook. A fabulous half day ride -only about 47kms in my case but just right; hope everyone else enjoyed the rest of their rides and thanks, Peter, as always, for leading.

Route

To view route or download track: http://ridewithgps.com/trips/3662876

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