October 1st - Rusper and beyond

It must be autumn! Bonfire-building at Brockham

We were lucky to be blessed with good weather as just over twelve of us congregated outside the Edmund Tylney in Leatherhead.   It was good to see Robert back in the UK for a while, and exciting to be introduced to Graham's new e-bike.   Pam, Maureen and Ed were staying for a natter and perhaps a different ride so ten of us set off towards the wilds of Brockham, Leigh and the bonus hills at Norwood hill and Russ hill.   We arrived at The Star just as a large group had sat down for a meal, which sent the bar staff into a bit of a flap, but they served us promptly with excellent food.  

Assembly

Lunch

So far, so straightforward.   I had a half-baked plan to return to Leatherhead for tea by a different route, but over lunch we heard from Keith that Capel church was offering teas.  (I had failed to break into their website to find this information.)   Everyone agreed this was a Very Good Idea, but it was only five miles from our rather filling lunch, so there was then a considerable discussion about longer routes.   Warnham?  Horsham?  The A24?  In the end, minus Geoff and David who were taking the afternoon off, we settled for a lot of smaller roads that bought the distance above eight miles.   Lambs Green, Wimlands Lane, Wimlands Road, Cripplegate,  Lipscomb's Corner were just a few of the rarely-visited (and quite hilly) highlights.  With the help of quite a bit of faffing, we managed to string it out so that we arrived just after they opened at 3pm.

Afternoon break

Home time

There was the usual munificence of cake, and we stayed and chatted for quite a while before setting off in the sunshine back to Leatherhead, via the "closed" Punchbowl Lane, where they had made quite a determined attempt to stop people getting through, but we managed anyway.

Homework

A lovely day out in great company.   Thanks to David and Colin for back-marking, and to Keith, Graham and Andy for very useful help with working out a very enjoyable route from Newdigate to Capel.