England : Surrey And again! Surrey Hills with Fnaar... Sat 13th August

[Fnaar]

That sounds great, @swansonj . That's the place by Westhumble station, isn't it.

 

[swansonj]

Yup that's the one. I don't have a cyclechat top .... but I somehow doubt there will be too many Chas Roberts tandems to pick us out from....

 

[lazybloke]

I'm planning on doing a ride even if Fnaar does have to cancel, so I'll be at Ockley for 10am whatever, and will certainly pop by Pilgrim in search of tandems.

I'll be the mid-40s bloke wearing a green & white "We are Macmillan" top.

 

[cosmicbike]

You've done it again @Fnaar . I'd love to come along, and I'd even wear my Cyclechat jersey, but I'm at work instead Have a nice ride and cake

 

[swansonj]

I should perhaps say that I haven't consulted my daughter about this plan yet. She has been known to express an aversion to tandeming up Box Hill, or indeed, for that matter, anywhere that involves actual, well, pedalling. My usual strategy is not to tell her where we're going until I've passed the last junction and taken my foot off the floor for the last time, on the basis it's then too late for her to opt out....

 

[lazybloke]

Okay, I'm local to all these lanes so I don't need a route, but here's one I've thrown together (using Fnaar's screenshot as a guide) if anyone else is interested. Have exported this to TCX file to see if I can get the hang of breadcrumb trails on my Garmin. (Learn to navigate whilst on familiar roads, eh?)

Looks like I've plotted a slight variation between Betchworth and Gadbrooke, but that's easily sorted on the day.

Start and finish are just by Ockley Station. approx 30 mile loop

 

[Fnaar]

Okay, I'm local to all these lanes so I don't need a route, but here's one I've thrown together (using Fnaar's screenshot as a guide) if anyone else is interested. Have exported this to TCX file to see if I can get the hang of breadcrumb trails on my Garmin. (Learn to navigate whilst on familiar roads, eh?)

Looks like I've plotted a slight variation between Betchworth and Gadbrooke, but that's easily sorted on the day.

Start and finish are just by Ockley Station. approx 30 mile loop

Looks fine to me @lazybloke

 

[srw]

I should perhaps say that I haven't consulted my daughter about this plan yet. She has been known to express an aversion to tandeming up Box Hill, or indeed, for that matter, anywhere that involves actual, well, pedalling. My usual strategy is not to tell her where we're going until I've passed the last junction and taken my foot off the floor for the last time, on the basis it's then too late for her to opt out....

Not wise to do this when you're married to the stoker!

Best wishes everyone. @rvw and I will be with you in spirit. Although we'll be in Guildford tonight we'll only have one Brompton and one rickety mountain bike conversion between us, and no kit and certainly no legs for the climbs

 

[Bollo]

Have a good ride one and all. Hope the weather is as benign as last weekend for you.

She has been known to express an aversion to tandeming up Box Hill,

But she's ok with White Down, right?

 

[Fnaar]

Good to meet with @lazybloke and @swansonj and his daughter today. Thanks for the ride folks, very enjoyable to do my favourite Surrey loop again. And thanks to @swansonj for the coffee and cake.
I always enjoy meeting cycle chat peeps

 

[swansonj]

Good to meet with @lazybloke and @swansonj and his daughter today. Thanks for the ride folks, very enjoyable to do my favourite Surrey loop again. And thanks to @swansonj for the coffee and cake.
I always enjoy meeting cycle chat peeps

Likewise. With the added thanks to the two of you for waiting for what I'm guessing must have seemed quite a long time for us at the top of Box Hill

Just for the record, it was half way from Ryka's to the turning up the zig zags that my daughter cottoned on and shouted at me "we're not going up Box Hill!" - by which point there was not much she could do about it. I think the coffee cake made up for it though and she's forgiven me yet again.

 

[lazybloke]

Yep, met up with @Fnaar at Ockley station for an enjoyable Surrey Hills jaunt. Warmed up nicely by climbing Leith Hill, then went full bore up Whitedown until breakfast threatened a reappearance. A successful rendezvous with @swansonj and mini-Swanson (on tandem) was followed by a more gentle ascent of Box Hill.

Past the busy Nat Trust car park and hatch, and on through the village to 'Destination Bike'. My thanks also to @swansonj for baked snacks & beverages (+1 for coffee cake). We were trail blazers; the cafe was a ghost town when we arrived, but the next half hour was punctuated with Garmin beeps and clacking cleats until there was lycra in every direction. Busy place, but a good venue to sit and natter. Also to lust after expensive bikes.


Finally it was time to move on, but not before mini-swanson was papped by some dodgy geezer claiming to be an estate agent documenting a property.
Then the tandem departed in the direction of Mickleham, whilst @Fnaar and I headed for Pebble Coombe. My God, that bend just below the steepest bit is a test of nerves (also of brakes and adrenal glands).

We completed the loop via the villages of Betchworth, Leigh, Newdigate and Capel, before parting ways at Ockley station.
A good ride to reintroduce my legs to the bike after an absence of 2 weeks; many thanks to @Fnaar, @swansonj and daughter; always a pleasure to meet CCers in "real life". No pics but here's a Strava thingummy
If I get a chance, I'll check out a route to the south as an option for next time.

Apologies again to @Fnaar about my late arrival after my cat "Horatio"* was hit by a car. 8 lives left but amazingly no injuries of note, except to my credit card. He's now having a lovely snooze on the floor next to me, and if he plays his cards right will get some freshly cooked fish as a special treat.

*edited with an addition to explain the name "Horatio". We were going through a phase of naming pet after CSI characters. A previous phase was video games; hence two kittens called Crash & Bandicoot; one of them met a nasty end on the road.. Seems a bit dangerous for pets here, not sure we'll risk getting any more for a while.

 

[Fnaar]

Yep, met up with @Fnaar at Ockley station for an enjoyable Surrey Hills jaunt. Warmed up nicely by climbing Leith Hill, then went full bore up Whitedown until breakfast threatened a reappearance. A successful rendezvous with @swansonj and mini-Swanson (on tandem) was followed by a more gentle ascent of Box Hill.

Past the busy Nat Trust car park and hatch, and on through the village to 'Destination Bike'. My thanks also to @swansonj for baked snacks & beverages (+1 for coffee cake). We were trail blazers; the cafe was a ghost town when we arrived, but the next half hour was punctuated with Garmin beeps and clacking cleats until there was lycra in every direction. Busy place, but a good venue to sit and natter. Also to lust after expensive bikes.


Finally it was time to move on, but not before mini-swanson was papped by some dodgy geezer claiming to be an estate agent documenting a property.
Then the tandem departed in the direction of Mickleham, whilst @Fnaar and I headed for Pebble Coombe. My God, that bend just below the steepest bit is a test of nerves (also of brakes and adrenal glands).

We completed the loop via the villages of Betchworth, Leigh, Newdigate and Capel, before parting ways at Ockley station.
A good ride to reintroduce my legs to the bike after an absence of 2 weeks; many thanks to @Fnaar, @swansonj and daughter; always a pleasure to meet CCers in "real life". No pics but here's a Strava thingummy
If I get a chance, I'll check out a route to the south as an option for next time.

Apologies again to @Fnaar about my late arrival after my cat "Horatio"* was hit by a car. 8 lives left but amazingly no injuries of note, except to my credit card. He's now having a lovely snooze on the floor next to me, and if he plays his cards right will get some freshly cooked fish as a special treat.

*edited with an addition to explain the name "Horatio". We were going through a phase of naming pet after CSI characters. A previous phase was video games; hence two kittens called Crash & Bandicoot; one of them met a nasty end on the road.. Seems a bit dangerous for pets here, not sure we'll risk getting any more for a while.

Cheers @lazybloke nice write up. Hope the cat recovers well.