First off, apologies to Rob, who I forgot to thank for backmarking for me 2 weeks ago. This week, Dave R kindly carried out that task – thanks Dave.
Twenty of us set out from the station car park on a fine morning. Heading west to Shere and Albury the trails were dry and fast, but the hill (Warren Lane) up to Newlands Corner slowed us down (except Julian who powered up it).
The fast rocky rooty descent down North Downs Way brought a grin to everyone’s face, and we headed on thru Farley Green to Peaslake for a well earned Tea Stop. The cheese straws were as fab as ever but they excelled themselves with their Bakewell Tart – delicious, but I swear it weighed a kilo. Neil and I were going to have to go some to work that off!
The steady climb south, up Hurtwood, wasn’t too painful and gained us some height, before the fabulous, long (over 1 mile), fast, descent north thru the trails of Winterfold Wood.
The Ponds Lane track took us to Shere Heath where I stopped to say Hi to my friends Dennis, Milly, Molly and Mandy, the pygmy goats. No-one else seemed interested, so we headed off for the final track of the day, Towerhill. I lost some points here as I’d failed to clear a couple of stinging nettles from the path.
We covered 20 miles, with 2400 ft of climbing, but with no problem stoppages we were back early which meant we had time for a swift jar or two at the Gomshall Mill Inn. Lovely!
Graham