Ashridge Estate
Posted on Wednesday 9 June 2010 by Charles Harvey
The weather held up but the tyres let us down. Seven turned up last Sunday for the easy two star ride run as an alternative to the tougher two/three star event in Kent. The weather forecast had been dire and I was half expecting the ride to be rained off but in the event we had some light drizzle but nothing worse. Our problems came from another source. A few miles out from St Albans, Simone’s rear tyre, which had been fitted by a bike shop only the day before, blew out leaving not only a big hole in the inner tube but a large gash in the outer tube as well. Paul and I did a temporary repair using the bits of the old inner tube to strengthen the holed side wall but the tyre was clearly not up to a long ride. Paul went well beyond the call of duty and offered to help Simone get home while the rest of the ride went on. What a gentleman!
A few miles later Ash had a puncture. His tyres were hard to get back on and he damaged his spare inner tube with a tyre lever and so had to do a puncture repair by the roadside. Not surprising after this succession of punctures we got to lunch late at the Crown and Sceptre in Bridens Camp.
John left us after lunch and the remaining four of us rode through the National Trust’s attractive wooded Ashridge Estate to the Bridgewater Monument. Three of us climbed to the top for a panoramic view of the Chilterns and two of us succumbed to the lure of the tearoom. Then it was back through Redbourn for a short break at the Holly Bush (picturesque but no teas or coffees) and then on to the Nicky Way, a former railway line, back to catch the train home from Harpenden.