Posted on Monday 25 August 2008 by Richard Philpott
On Sunday Peter Turner led a two-star ride from Beaconsfield through the heart of the Chilterns, lunching at the Whip Inn (overlooked by the windmill at Loosely Row) and with afternoon tea at Great Missenden Church.
Here is a selection of photos by Elaine McKnight: more »
Posted on Wednesday 30 July 2008 by Aidan Cusack
2* from Beaconsfield 27 July
11 people left the train at Beaconsfield and after a brief ‘find the leader’ moment we all joined up and set off riding north up the first of many ‘moderate’ climbs in the lovely morning sunshine.
Along the first of many lanes to Penn Bottom where we turned east and headed to Holmer Green and to the lovely village of Little Missenden. There we admired the Georgian Manor House and the St John the Baptist Church, a place of Christian pilgrimage which dates back over a 1000 years. A busy stretch of the A413 followed with a sharp right turn under the railway bridge and up Hyde Lane to Hyde Heath. We stopped at the
common in Hyde Heath for our first mini break and to take on some water supplies in the ever increasing heat of the day. Then it was down Copperkins Lane into the northern outskirts of Amersham where we dropped down the hill to meet the River Chess in Chesham. Riding along the Chess valley we turned north at Latimer and climbed up to Flaunden. more »
Posted on Thursday 17 July 2008 by Marion Houghton
I think I can say with confidence that this is and will be the only Central London Section ride in the UK where all the riders were given a postcard sized holy icon as a souvenir - how? read on …
Seven of us (3 gentlemen and 4 ladies for Michael’s gender attendance records) set out from Weybridge to visit the largest cemetery in Europe on a glorious summer’s day last Sunday. After only two miles we took a cappuccino in Addlestone to brace ourselves for the gentle rigours of a morning on towpaths, beside the silent lilypadded waters of the Basingstoke Canal, the only incident being an angry swan (defending its nest of cygnets) blocking the path. more »
Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2008 by Camille Savory
It must be Spring (fingers crossed). Between those who rode out, and those who trained it, 21 left Upminster looping south to lunch at a friendly (and cleverly found) town-centre pub in Brentwood. From there, half split for a faster return to Epping, while the rest carried on back to Upminster (map here).
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Posted on Sunday 13 January 2008 by Richard Philpott
On Sue and Simon’s two-star ride this morning we all noticed the strong tailwind and inevitably talked about having to face the headwind on the return to Stevenage. As we turned into the pub (the excellent Fox and Duck at Therfield) on the stroke of twelve I inadvertently found a novel way of avoiding it — my crank neatly shearing off halfway down!
Posted on Tuesday 18 December 2007 by Ken Peters
Real Ale or Rambling with Kelvin Dane – 9th December 2007
A new pub lunchtime venue is on offer so I’m 2-starring with Kelvin. O.K. I have ridden past it several times so its not new just a pub that I have not visited so I was looking forward to lunch at The Viper. It is highly regarded and makes the Good Pub Guide so things look promising. 4 join me at Liverpool Street, Joanna; a newbie, so welcome, Paul Krebs, Michael Belcher, Richard Philpott. more »
Posted on Tuesday 23 October 2007 by Charlie Keep
Saturday in the Chilterns was a gorgeous clear autumn day. Copper leaves carpeting the woodland floor, not a breath of wind, warm in the sun and cool in the shade.
The area just north-east of Princes Risborough has some great off-road riding, mostly wooded bridleways which seem very under used - we only encountered a couple of other cyclists and one or two walkers and horses. As suggested on the rides list it was muddy, more so than I had expected as there had only been one day of rain in the previous week, but not so much as to hinder progress much. There were a couple of decent climbs and one bit just after lunch which a mountain goat with crampons would have struggled on and even Marianne had to push for a bit. more »
Posted on Wednesday 3 October 2007 by Ken Peters
In Kent With Roy Watson was what had been planned and he did manage to make lunch, but…..
Many of you know that Roy was unable to lead his ride so it fell to me as I was planning to do the ride anyway. Before starting there are plenty of thanks to be made to other people without whom the ride would not have gone ahead. The principal characters, Roy apart, were David Kurtz and Richard Philpott who worked out what the route was as David had ridden the route the previous time and managed to get a Google Maps plot so I had some idea of where the ride was scheduled to go. more »
Posted on Monday 21 May 2007 by Richard Philpott
On a perfect sunny May morning, a disparate bunch gathered at Chelmsford for Michael Belcher’s two-star ride through the Essex lanes - two-star stalwarts, newcomers and a handful of three-star regulars who had ridden out to keep up their weekly mileage quota. The day’s 80km featured two fords (one ridable by all but the most timid, the other a long murky stream of indeterminate depth that no-one dare try…) , a relaxed lunch at the White Hart in Stebbing and the ever-welcoming Jericho tea-rooms in Blackmore …