Central London CTC blog

Arriving in Brighton at the end of John Snuggs' Sussex ride on Sunday (photo by Thomas James).

Map of the ride here.

Sue and Simon warned of a sting in the tail, and so there was.  In just 34 miles we did 850m of climbing, so just for amusement, I have included the altitude profile of the ride.  Quality miles!

These pictures were taken on the last climb of the day up Hassers Hill between Biggin Hill and Warlingham.

Map of the ride

Some pictures from Peter Turner’s 2* Ride in the Chilterns on 5th July

Map of the ride

Wednesday 8th April- Ypres

Ten cyclists met at St Pancras to load cycles for 11.00 departure. Too many bikes to get off at Lille, so extra train journey via Brussels to Ypres.

Five were nearly mislaid when train split. They alighted early and took evening ride past war cemeteries. The only rain of the week soon cleared.  The group reformed for the Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate and supper. 30km or 2km

First dame blanche of the trip (to avoid any doubt, this is a Belgian ice cream).

A dame blanche

Thursday 9th – Ypres to Bruges

Full day’s canalside cycling. We lunched in the far west of Belgium, in town square at Veurne. Optional diversion (“wegomlegging”) via Diksmuide for picnickers. 80km

Evening arrival in Bruges – canal side hotel at end of cobbles. Beers and orange squash in main square and Portuguese–Roman (or possibly Romanian) dinner.

Landscape with cycle

Monday 6th April
John and Paul rode out separately, meeting at Wallingford for tea, and then on to a B&B in Goring. Paul had already broken a toe strap. 82km

Tuesday 7th

Over the hills to coffee at Kingsclear. Then a climb over the Hampshire downs and along the Test valley against a persistent head wind to Salisbury Youth Hostel. 94km

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Back at Shoreham Station after the ride

There were 14 of us on today’s 2* ride through the lanes from Shoreham to Henley Street and back.

Although the ride was only 69km (37 miles), they were hilly miles.  We did 962m of climbing.

As leader, I couldn’t also take photos on the ride, but you can see that everyone was still standing when we got back to Shoreham!

The ‘Honey Pot’ tea shop is open in Shoreham village on Sundays until 16.30.  Unfortunately, it was completely full, so we took the train home.

Map of the day’s ride here.

Some photos from Michael Belcher’s sunny two-star ride in Essex today (map of the route here): more »

This ride captured the true meaning of CTC (cafe to cafe).   We started at Welwyn Garden City due to engineering works on the East Coast main line.  I had arrived early and managed a coffee.  Then Paul said he was taking us ‘for a bacon sarnie’ in Hertford because it would be a late lunch.  The Rose Cafe in Railway Street, near Hertford East station is well known to many cycling groups.  On to lunch in Standon.  Tea at Leader’s in Tewin, and back to Welwyn.

In between these significant events there was some cycling along quiet lanes, some tracks.

These pictures were taken in the afternoon between Puckeridge and Great Munden — map of the day’s ride here.