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.