Ride Report - Sunday 13 June 2021

It promised to be the hottest day of the year so far.   The scheduled elevenses venue, Amici, opened late, so early arrivals decamped to the terrace of Wetherspoons, just up the road, to wrestle with the app in the shade!   Bob, Maureen and Richard went their own ways, leaving Simon, Pam, Lilian, Graham, Mark, Brian B, Terry, Ann, Dave S and me to set off on the official ride to lunch.   

It wasn't a promising start - the lovingly researched route to Norbury Park wouldn't transfer from my phone to my Garmin, so horror of horrors, I was obliged to resort to old-school technology (ie maps and asking other people the way)!    In the event it didn't turn out too badly.   We headed through the back roads of Fetcham to Little Bookham, then off road to emerge on tarmac near Polesden Lacey, before picking up tracks again towards Crabtree Cottages and Norbury Park.  We did make a few stops to check the route (thanks to all for your help with this), but managed to complete the route without taking a wrong turn (well, we ended up in the right place, anyway).   A lot of the tracks were new to me.   I think it is fair to say they were variable in quality.   There were a lot of long, easily rideable sections, but these were punctuated by other stretches which were either deeply-rutted, or full of big flints, or tree roots, or all of these!    True, there was very little mud, and I didn't actually have to get off my road bike and walk at any point, but this isn't a route I'd ever think of repeating between October and April!   We gained a lot of altitude without really noticing and at intervals had excellent, if hazy views in different directions, including the Wembley Arch!

Progress was slow, but at length we finally reached the Wild About Coffee stall at Norbury Park, our planned lunch stop.  Service of hot and cold drinks and a limited range of cakes was friendly and efficient, and there were plenty of seats in the shade and an easy-going atmosphere.

Navigation back home was much easier - we just headed downhill on the very attractive road passing Mickleham Abbey, and then on to Leatherhead where our ways started to diverge.

Many thanks to all for your company and for putting up with another of my quirky routes (!) and to Terry for back-marking.