Three riders met at Nonsuch today, and they all immediately upon arrival hid in the warm cafe. It was cold! On my drive over on leaving the M25, Junction 9, Leatherhead the temperature reading was -6°C. Nonsuch Park wasn’t so cold @ -2°C, but cold enough.
The sky was bright, and not the forecast mist and fog, and so the artic explorers, Bill Kent and myself followed our leader Adam Domaingue on a direct route to Bockett’s Farm. Too cold for pretty detours today!
The route: out the back of Ewell and various tracks to Horton Country Park, the west side of Epsom Common and then follow the A24, Leatherhead Road into the residential back streets to the Railway Station. After that it was down to the leisure centre and pick up the bridle path to Bockett’s. There were patches of ice and frost along the way, but it wasn’t a problem; mountain bike tyres appear to be more, ‘sure footed’ than road bikes, lower pressures and bigger tyre footprint maybe?
We arrived at the lovely warm Bockett’s Farm barn and began to thaw out. Various mugs of steaming hot liquids were rapidly consumed and tasty foods were put on top of that. About an hour later we steeled ourselves for the outdoor temperatures and began the journey back.
The route retraced a mile or so back down the descent to the River Mole and then it was further back streets of Leatherhead before crossing over the M25. The other side of the bridge, a bridle way follows the back of the M25 sound-proofing fencing down to Lower Ashtead. After crossing the railway we were into the ‘Winter Wonderland’ of Ashtead Common. A couple of miles and one short climb and we were back into Horton and the end of my ride, back to the warmth of the car.
Bill and Adam continued on, a few miles more before they could start their thawing out sessions.