Redbourn Museum
Posted on Sunday 4 January 2009 by Charles Harvey
This was a most select ride – just four of us, Jacob Bigio, Sandra Roscoe, Pat Wheeler and Charles Harvey. Since we had amongst our number a doctor, a medical student and a hospital librarian, much of the conversation was medical though happily the ride was incident free and none of this knowledge was required. Though there were some engineering works on the Thameslink line, the train arrived at St Albans on time. It was very cold so the arrivals jumped at the chance of a coffee in the Café Roma before the ride set off.
After spell on the A5183, the former Roman road Watling Street, the ride veered off onto narrow country lanes, passed the remains of the former Buncefield Oil Depot and then onto the Nicky Line, a path along the route of a former railway line. This soon brought us to Redbourn, 15 minutes early in fact so we rode round the village before putting our lunch order in at the Cricketers and visiting the Redbourn Museum. This is a little local museum in a building that was originally built as a silk mill and then later part of a Brooke Bond tea factory. The cold was getting to people so I noted the keenness with which some of us gravitated to the warm pub. Indeed one of us seemed to be embracing one of the radiators.
After a good lunch, it was back on to the Nicky Line to Harpenden. To my surprise, everyone passed up the chance to get out of the cold and get a train home from there. So we exited Harpenden via the East Common, rode through another common, this one Nomansland Common and then on to a tea stop at The Green Man in Sandridge. We got into St Albans just as it was getting dark, pausing to look at the iron age fortifications on the northern outskirts. There was a train to St Pancras within ten minutes.
To see what you missed see www.redbourn.org.uk and click on the museum page and scroll down. There are also links to the Nicky Line and the Cricketers from the site. We might go there again, hopefully when it isn’t freezing.