Five riders at Nonsuch Mansion Cafe for the kick off today, Adam Domaingue, Tracy Caudle, Trevor Kite, Bill Martin and myself leading. The weather was remarkably good after this weeks overcast conditions with little wind, sunshine and temperatures hovering around 66°F, a ‘Heat Wave’ by British standards!
Our route wound out along the River Mole, across Horton Country Park, the west side of Epsom Common and into Prince’s Coverts after crossing an unusually quiet A24 south of Malden Rushett. In the Coverts I took a route not used very often due to its clay, boggy nature, so only to be used Summer time. Soon we were passing Oxshott and heading for Downside, (south of Cobham). After a brief climb up to Telegraph Hill, Ockham Common we descended to the cafe through gorse bushes in full bloom.
The usual healthy sustenance was enjoyed as Ockham Bites is famous for its bacon rolls, and Adam experience a structural defect in his paper tea cup requiring an urgent replacement! We sat out in the sun and lamented at the lack of trees, courtesy of the Highways Agency and their revamp of the A3/M25 junction, but soon headed away from the view of the traffic jam mayhem and back into the lush green trees away from the works.
The route back retraced to Downside and onto Bookham Common before heading to Fetcham and River Lane across the Mole. After this a bridleway just over the M25 running alongside on the top of the embankment. Alas the particular path has caused me puncture problems twice this year, this being the second time. Once again a stray branch of Hawthorne ended up flopping around stuck in the front tyre. Fortunately with sealant mostly taking care of it and a top up via a Co2 cylinder I made it back to the car at Horton Park without to much trouble.
A very nice, enjoyable day’s ride with legs glowing from nettle rash, cyclist’s hard as nails!