A dozen of us left Hookwood in cool but dry and mostly sunny conditions on a fairly circuitous route to Colgate. I had devised this route to keep us off busy roads and to be able to make a short cut to lunch if the weather changed (fortunately, it didn't). We headed north, briefly, forking left off the A217, shortly turning left to Norwood Hill where the Fox Revived is temporarily closed (awaiting reviving?). Passing through Charlwood we turned right into Lowfield Heath Road, past the Aviation Museum ('closed until early spring') and soon passed a house for sale which was a popular pub lunch destination - The Gate - which has been closed for some time. A gentle climb to Orltons led to Rusper (beware the car boot sale traffic), past the Royal Oak ('Pub to Let') then we headed south via Faygate, straight over the roundabout at the A264 and a further climb before a slight descent to The Dragon at Colgate.
It was warm enough to dine alfresco, the food was good and appeared fairly quickly. Lunch was fairly leisurely, we only had to ride to Capel where tea and cakes were to be served at three o'clock. We returned to Faygate, soon turned into Wimlands Lane and nearly saw another closed pub, The Frog and Nightgown then rode northwards to Capel, arriving at 1440 ie twenty minutes early but we were allowed in. After a leisurely break we headed for home via Newdigate and, for some, Dorking.
Terry
No comments:
Post a Comment