Wheelers Rides

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Tour of Hertfordshire
20 May 2006

It's Saturday morning and I am hanging around Liverpool Street station. Eventually Matt finds me and informs me that there is only one other person and fairly quickly we are on the train for Broxbourne. Things were a little confusing as I expected that the ride was going to start and finish at Bishops Stortford instead of Audley End which was inaccessible due to engineering works. Not bad so there have been three venues for this ride and we have not even started.

This was to be Matt's debut as leader so it was a pity that so few people were there but that is the way of life for cycle rides. I presume that some people must have been put off by the weather which was not brilliant and the forecast was for rain at some point. I almost forgot to name check everyone so we had Matt leading, Damaras, who I had never met before but she had been on the riverside ride to Weybridge the previous Sunday and myself.

Not a lot happened on the train journey save that it was slower than expected which seems almost normal these days. We passed the time getting acquainted with each other and checking the route that Matt had settled on which from the different venues for the start must have given him some trouble. The route was a broad sweep towards Wormley and Bayford before going through Hertford then heading to Stevenage and from there to Buntingford and through the Pelhams before returning to Broxbourne.

After arriving at Broxbourne we were quickly away after a loo stop and before we had gone 300 metres Matt was stopping to don raingear. Damaras and I were much braver, or is that foolhardy, and decided that it was only a passing shower that we were experiencing. Fortunately, it was so we had another stop soon afterwards. Despite having lived in Broxbourne for a while as a young man the route Matt took us was unknown to me but soon had us into rolling countryside. The roads and particularly the properties were good and it made me realise why for a while Broxbourne was the choice of footballers, mainly from Spurs, to invest their vast wages in property.

Once we had escaped the light shower the remainder of the morning passed pretty uneventfully, save for the odd map reading stop so we made good progress towards the planned lunch stop which after consultation between Matt and me was to be The Bull at Cottered. Before we got there we had another light shower in the final two or three kilometers between Cromer, where we briefly stopped to admire the windmill, and Cottered.

The staff at the pub were very welcoming and we were soon seated and ordering our lunches. I settled for a baked potato with tuna and smoked salmon as I am on a detox diet and heavily processed food was off the menu for me while Damaras and Matt ordered fish from the specials board. Lunch was speedily served and proved to be delicious. The Bull is a pub well known for superior food and is featured in the Hertfordshire section of The Good Pub Guide. Give it a try if you don't believe me. None of us ordered dessert and we were on our way fairly quickly as we had spotted that the rain which had become heavier while we had lunch had stopped.

However, none of us were fooled and we all donned raingear for the post-lunch part of the ride. Shortly afterwards it was proved to be a right decision as was the one taken over lunch that we do a shortened ride as both Damaras and Matt wanted to get back for social engagements that they needed to attend.

Apart from the afternoon rain which got heavy for a while and was persistent for about an hour, again, little of note happened. The plan was that I was going to lead the ride back to Ware to pick up the train there and return to London so there was a fourth station involved. Very impressive that from a debut ride leader.

The afternoon route was fairly simple as we followed the main road into Buntingford then took the old A10 into and through Puckeridge then continued down to High Cross, Wadesmill and Thundridge and finally to Ware.

On arrival at Ware we found that we had twenty or so minutes to kill and so despite the disappointment at finding the station tea shop shut I was able to use some local knowledge to find another place round the corner that was open so we managed tea before returning.

The train journey was interesting as there were three or four revenue inspectors on the train who were sat a few seats away from us and after we had got to Stansted Abbotts proceeded to check tickets. Damaras completely baffled one of these guys so they did not ask her to pay the extra fare as Ware is beyond Broxbourne. I had no problems as I had purchased a ticket to Bishops Stortford which is some way further north. Eventually we got back and went our separate ways.

Many thanks to Matt for arranging and leading the ride and a special thank you to him for taking my advice on the lunch venue. Thanks are also due to Damaras from the Hackney LCC group who gamely kept up her end on a reasonable day considering the expected weather. My final words are some advice; yes, Damaras, a nice fairly light touring or road bike would be a good investment.

There are a couple more images to give you a flavour of the ride so please take a look.

Statistics:
Distance covered: 63.14K
Maximum speed: 46.6Kph
Deflates: None
Enjoyment: Ask others but I certainly did.

Ken

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