Ten riders appeared at the meeting point at Nonsuch Park Cafe this bright, sunny, but chilly morning: Adam Domaingue, Bill Kent, Dave Clarke, Mick Curtis, Bill Martin, Jenny Lee, Sean Slammon, Tracy Caudle, Trevor Kite and myself leading.
The day was super bright, and the low angle of the sun made it difficult at times to see what was ahead or on the ground. We trundled out using a path close to the Hogsmill River that in the next few weeks will get too boggy to use, so we made the most of it whilst we could. Climbing gently we headed up the paths of Horton Country Park across into Epsom Common. The pace was good and I could hear the group chatter behind me as we rolled along, so they were happy, good!
We descended towards the south of Leatherhead via a path along a field that was busy with dog walkers. The sun was out and doggy walkers were also, for a change, happy. After crossing the River Mole the slow ascent to Polesden began. The paths were reasonable quiet today approaching Polesden, but the low angle strong, dappled sunlight made it difficult to see obstacles. At one point a bramble loop caught the handlebars threatening to take me off, fortunately the plant stem snapped before any great harm could be done.
The elevenses stop was chosen by me as it has indoor seating as well as outdoor. I was expecting, due to the cold weather forecast, that we would be sitting inside. However the courtyard at Polesden was bathed in sunshine and we were able to eat outside. Various foods were consumed including cream teas – alas there was the inevitable debate regarding cream first or jam on the scone. Bill Martin was chatting away and accidentally started putting the cream on the scone first, he quickly scraped it off before a mass brawl of National Trust members kicked off!
The return route had us descending towards Great Bookham and crossing Bookham Common. We passed by one of the ponds that had suffered during the heat-wave and was currently just a mere mud pat. Fetcham was busy with cars going in all directions, one of my usual paths was blocked off due to heavy engineering of sheet piling along the railway embankment. A slight diversion was adopted with no real loss of time.
After this it was our usual residential ride through the north-east corner of Leatherhead, over and under junction nine of the M25 and back over the northernmost edge of Epsom Common for home, well my car park in Horton Country Park. The rest of the ride group then continued towards their homes in Cheam, Sutton and Carshalton.
A lovely ride Ladies and Gentlemen, 31 miles for me.