With a day trip to the Forest of Dean and some rambling round Ranmore on offer, I was expecting a fairly modest turnout for my ride from Reigate Hill but we actually had fourteen including Colin who hadn’t been seen since …. the last time he was seen. Jim’s description in the calendar (Gwyn will be leading this ride from Reigate Hill carpark in the direction of somewhere. Once somewhere is reached cake will be eaten and Gwyn will lead you home by somewhere else. Expect something.) had given away far too much information so my plans for a mystery tour were scuppered from the start. We set off towards Mogador and Kingswood and down towards Hooley for our first encounter with the A23. We crossed over the two spectacular railway cuttings and turned up Pretty Lane towards Woodplace Farm where we had a puncture break and a look round the various buses and trucks before carrying on up to Farthing Down. Down Badger Table Tops to Poppy’s café for a tea stop. There was only tea since the coffee machine had broken, and the cakes were a bit sad. Slightly refreshed, we climbed back up the road to Farthing Down and into the woods. Before long I realised that fourteen had gone down to three so 78.57 of us had gone missing. We turned back and found that they had taken a wrong turning. Turns out that my blistering pace was just too much. We regrouped and headed back into the woods and eventually popped out on Leazes Avenue. Since my original mud-avoiding route wasn’t needed, we followed Colin towards Chaldon Church then across the fields to Tollsworth Manor and down the steep descent towards the M23. We crossed the A23 again and climbed up Harps Oak Lane, past the sadly defunct Fanny’s Farm, past the Royal Alexandra and Albert school then back up to Reigate Hill car park. About 19 miles.
Gwyn Williams