Central London CTC blog

It was a well attended ride that later fell foul of mechanical problems. Fourteen of us met up at St Albans. After coffee at the Café Roma we headed by an indirect route towards Redbourn, exiting St Albans on the Redbourn Road before turning west on to minor roads. We passed by where the Buncefield Oil Depot had been and came into Redbourn on the “Nicky Way” a former railway line now converted like several east – west routes in Hertfordshire to a path for walkers, cyclists and riders. We were early for our lunch stop and so took time to visit the village church while I tried to fix a loose pedal on one of our number’s bike. Half the thread was stripped but I hoped the bike would make it home.

Lunch was at a recently opened “coffee bar and cyclists refuge” The Hub. It’s not a big place and it was as well that the Willesden CC were leaving as we arrived. Prior booking had paid of as ready plated up ploughman’s lunches were distributed (nice food, good coffee and good value – we’ll be back). From there we moved to the Redbourn Museum  . Again, prior booking paid off as local volunteers were on hand to show us round this listed building which was originally built as a silk mill and was later the manager’s house of a Brooke Bond tea factory. more »

This was a select ride. Three of us met at Princes Risborough and another, who had missed his train, joined us at Thame so we had four on the ride in all. It was billed as a super softies ride and was the easiest that I have ever led, 25km, almost all flat and traffic free.

The Bishop’s Palace at Thame

After leaving the station we headed directly for the Pheonix Way. This is a former railway line that closed in 1963 and is a straight line route going direct to Thame. We had some fun getting to it as the road at Horsenden was awash with water after heavy rain earlier in the week. more »

I wondered how many we would get on this ride as it was on a Saturday, not the usual Sunday. Last year we had 17 on the ride. This time it was 8. I’m not sure if the smaller number was because it was on a Saturday or was because it was a repeat of the ride I led last January. I’ll never know. One person on the ride said he had come because Saturdays was more convenient for him.

We met up with the Spokes riders at the Junction Café close to Watford Junction station. The ride went up through Whippendell Wood to Chandlers Cross and then to Belsize and Flaunden. All the time we were climbing gradually to the top of this part of the Chilterns.

We stopped at the Green Dragon in Flaunden for lunch. more »

Fourth time lucky. The original ride from Chelmsford had to be changed due to engineering works, the second plan didn’t work, the third did, but was washed out by torrential rain. This time we had lovely weather, but engineering works affected us and got to Laindon in a roundabout way.

Still it was eight of us (unfortunately Mel, who helped in the recce, couldn’t make it), all experienced riders, some are fast, yet I managed to keep up with the group and thanks to my behaviour management skills, for the majority of the time I kept the group together. For the GPS enthusiasts I had to make allowances, but the hidden country lanes appealed to everyone at the end. We had two newcomers Andrej and Alex who came all the way from Chiswick and Tooting not only kept up easily, but were a great contribution to the good atmosphere. more »

The theme of the ride was aviation history. It was something I grew up with. My mother was in the Air Force during the war and as a child I lived near RAF Hendon which became the site of the RAF Museum. So an interest in local aviation history was almost inevitable.

There were nine on this ride, no doubt encouraged by some fine autumnal weather. After meeting at Radlett station, we started by visiting two sites in Radlett which during the last war had been used as operations rooms by 80 (Signals) Wing, responsible for electronic countermeasures again the Luftwaffe. more »

Clearly 1* riders do not like to travel too far. The last time I led a ride from Bedford I only had one on the ride and this time there were only two, a very nice couple from South London. So, with three on the ride, organisation was easy, no need for a backstop and no long waits at cafes.

We left Bedford heading east on NCN route 51, a former railway line. It’s a pleasant way to exit the town, traffic free and initially following the river. We stopped to look at Priory Park on the eastern edge of the town and then headed into open county until we reached Willington. We had a brief diversion there to look at a 16th century dovecote, now owned by the National Trust, before stopping for an early lunch at the Danish Camp, once a Viking boatyard, now a cafe overlooking the Great Ouse.

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For the past few years I have gone to the Towersey Folk Festival during the August Bank Holiday and it’s become a tradition that I lead a ride to tie in with it on the Sunday. Eleven riders met up for this year’s ride, the largest number so far. The weather was good and after sorting out a dodgy tyre so we set off down the Phoenix Way to Thame. The Phoenix Way is a former railway line that was closed in the 1960s and like many such lines has been converted by Sustrans into a path for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

After coffee we had a quick look the memorial to John Hampden, the old Grammar School which he attended, the parish church and, rather surprisingly, a blue plaque commemorating W.B.Yeats’ stay in the town. I never knew he’d lived there.

We then left Thame to follow the road via Moreton to Tetsworth. This begins as a quiet tarmac road but then becomes a gravel track. Back on the tarmac we bypassed the A40 and climbed our only really steep hill to Adwell to get to a late lunch at the “England’s Rose” at Postcombe. A large carvery buffet awaited anyone who was hungry. From there we rode via to Sydenham to Towersey for tea at the Lashlake Garden Centre before heading back down the Phoenix Way to Princes Risborough for the 1805 train back to Marylebone.

At 10.20 riders gathered at Welwyn Garden City for the 1* ride to Lilley. Previous 1* rides had attracted small numbers, indeed the last ride I led attracted only 2 people. This time it was different. The sun shone and 16 turned up for the ride. I’d already had an idea that it might be a big ride when Tom rang in to let me know he’d got 18 starting the 3* ride. Janet then rang in to say she had 19 on the 2* ride and finally Damian let me know he had 5 on the 4*. Beforehand we’d come up with 40 as the likely number to come. I had badly underestimated our number – we now had 58 riders all heading for the Lilley Arms.

At the Lilley Arms

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