Three hardy souls met up a South Croydon, though Billy went missing for five minutes much to Trevor and my bemusement. Mick Ayliffe, making another Sinatra style comeback was to meet us at the cafe in Lingfield.
We made our way to the top of the North Downs via Selsdon, Forestdale, Ficklesole and Beddlestead Farm Lane. Billy seemed to be suffering the effects of his Saturday ride, so we left out the Tatsfield loop, which has a few sharp inclines, and made our way down Westerham Hill and onto the Pilgrims Way where the farmer had kindly taken his tractor on the road leaving it covered in thin mud! We turned right at the foot of Hogtrough Hill and descended to Brasted before going up Toys Hill.
Cutting off another loop via Hever so that Mick would not be left alone at the stop and thus eating all the pies, we went through Four Elms, Edenbridge, Haxted to Lingfield for a nice cup of tea and a three course meal for Billy! Mick was there looking all warm and none to bad for his ride out with the wind behind him!
I chose a zigzag route back so that we did not have to ride into the northerly wind for long stretches and we rode via Crowhurst, Tilburstow, Bletchingly, Fanny’s and Chipstead before parting, though Trevor parted on the A23 as he was setting off to meet some dubious characters in Purley for the usual consequences!
The weather stayed dry and, overall, we avoided the cold wind quite successfully. Croydon to Croydon the ride was 46 miles at 13.4 mph.
Excellent ride, my compliments to both the Leader and the Chef