Central London CTC blog

It was billed as a tour of the World War I battlefields, but what some of us will remember most was rolling through quaint villages, revelling in the scent of wisteria and lilacs, and the camaraderie of friends through mishaps and good times.

It was a week of cloudless blue skies and temperatures that soared to 25 degrees, making us all the more grateful for the shady picnic spots we found along the Seine, the Somme and smaller waterways. We would see some of the largest Gothic cathedrals ever built, one of the most famously painted gardens in the world and the fields where thousands of British and French soldiers lost their lives.

Eleven of us began the journey Saturday, April 16, on the Eurostar to Paris, proceeding by train to Rouen, where we turned around to admire the 1930s Art Deco railway station. more »

The last time I ran this ride it was as a joint CTC / Rough Stuff Fellowship [RSF] ride. But nobody from the CTC came so it became a purely RSF event. This time, however, good weather bought out people out and we had seven riders. After coffee at the Rodboro Buildings near the station in Guildford we set off. We got the worst out of the way first as the western outskirts of Guildford are not a thing of beauty. Soon we came out onto Broadstreet Common and the start of the Christmaspie Route to the north of the Hogs Back. For well over an hour we were largely on off road paths with the odd minor road until we got to our first stop at The White Hart at Tongham. While some of us had a leisurely drink, some with a more serious interest in alcohol rode to the top of the village to visit the Hogs Back Brewery.

After Tongham we continued to Runfold and then began the return run on National Cycle Route 22 back towards Guildford. We had a late lunch at the Seale Craft Centre and tea at the café at the Watts Gallery after visiting the extraordinary art nouveau memorial chapel nearby. After that there was a very steep climb up to the Hog’s Back to pick up a track along the ridge and steep descent into Guildford.

There are a few photos in the gallery.

This time last year, as a newcomer to the joys of Flanders, I was keen to get the full authentic experience in all its wonderful awfulness. Afterwards I made a mental note to be careful what I wished for in future, having been faced with driving rain and treacherous mud, having fallen off and cut my knee on the cobbles, and having had to ride the last 50km with a wobbly wheel after I broke a spoke. Dragging my busted bike back to the hotel in the failing light, I saw in the mirror a shivering, mud bespattered, bleeding wreck of a man. But a shower and a glass of wine later I was seeing it all rather differently, “blimey, that was amazing, I’m going to have to do this again!”

And so it was that I found myself, with Keith, Naomi, and a random Dutch bloke on a mountain bike, at 06.30 in the first misty stirings of a Flandrian dawn,  more »