All he did was stand and laugh!
Posted on Thursday 6 September 2007 by John Osborne
“He should have been carrying a pole and a rubber ring”, I thought about 12.10 on Sunday when I saw what had happened soon after I hit a speed ramp after coming down a hill on Stephen Street’s one star ride. “After all there are many lakes in southern England and you never know when you may end up in one!”.
Bernard Imber who was behind me said that my black bag which was secured with a black elasticated cord on the rack of my bike hit the ground then went in a lake. Fortunately the bag floated, probably because I had a water tight plastic box with a camera inside. There must have been enough air in the box to keep the bag afloat. “If it hadn’t floated we would never have known where it was”, said Bernard.
Minutes later, Stephen was alerted to what was called “a marine incident”. It happened at Salmans estate lake in the High Weald of Kent. Stephen laughed. There wasn’t much else he could do.
The bag was only a few feet from the edge of the lake but it was out of reach. We did not know how deep the lake was so I took some clothes off and prepared for a cold swim. Thankfully the lake was only about knee deep.
Then came the problem of how to dry myself and dry my things. I saw a black towel in a hedge near the beginning of the ride but told myself that we were on a cycle ride not a kayaking trip. You only need to carry a towel if you expect to get wet.
After gathering my soaked things together, including an amazingly dry camera, I missed a turning and got lost. After frantic calls and a text message from Stephen I returned to the group.
Then after a short off road section Stephen decided it was time for lunch. We stopped at the Spotted Dog, a pub at Smarts Hill, Penhurst, Kent where I bought Stephen a well deserved pint of Larkins Traditional.
The rest of the ride was not so eventful. We went through part of Ashdown Forest in the afternoon.
Stephen said he had to use four OS maps for the route. He kept us all together on hilly terrain and finished off the ride, which was about 30 miles, with a fast descent. It was the climax of an interesting ride.
Later I thought it was time to go back to using panniers. I had left a perfectly good waterproof one at home. That was because on a West Kent CTC ride about two weeks before I had been told that it is better to carry things in the centre of a rack rather than on the sides.
The riders were Stephen Street (Leader); Bernard Imber; Peter Marriott; John Osborne; Liz Shaughnessy; and David J. Vines. Thanks to Stephen, Bernard, Peter, Liz, and David for making it such an enjoyable day.