Club run reports - 15th October

Category 3 ride led by Peter Bloomfield

Talk about 21st century problems… Garmin failure left your intrepid ride leader bereft and lacking the magic maps that would guide the party unerringly to the café stop in Redbourn. Luckily the assembled Cat 3 company contained a wealth of local knowledge, which combined with my reasonable recollection of the route allowed us to make our way successfully through Essendon, Welham Green and Sandridge then skirting Harpenden before the dive down the hill to Redbourn and The Hub. 

During the stop the Garmin was beaten into submission, rebooted and convinced to display the route - hurrah! No sooner had this been achieved than we made a lengthy detour off the route (just to show it!) following Alex’s guidance on a route which avoided the humungous and busy hill back up to Harpenden and the busy High Street. Out through Wheathampstead we braved the traffic on the main road until turning off on to quiet roads to tackle the steep climbs up to Ayot Little Green then down (at last!) into Welwyn and on to the reliable B1000 back to Hertford and then Ware. Six of us enjoyed the pleasant weather and lack of mechanicals for a 53-mile total (unless you started and finished in Cheshunt, when it was an impressive 71-mile effort - you know who you are!). Thanks to Alex and Peter for guiding us on new roads and paths to make the ride successful and to Graham for advice to support my shaky recollection of the first half of the route - it was a collective effort and it worked well!

Category 6 ride led by Mike East

What’s this Halloween malarkey all about? I can hardly remember it from my youth - when dinosaurs ruled the earth. I vaguely recollect apple bobbing, a voluntary form of water boarding. Now Halloween is a major October event, still having the water element in our house as we jet wash any unsuspecting kids who dare to trick or treat chez East. I become Mr Bah Humbug two months early when I see supermarket banners wishing me “Happy Halloween”. In spite of my truculence, however, there is an upside to this annual event: it keeps Cammas Hall Fruit Farm open beyond the summer season. The category 6 group arrived there on Sunday and enjoyed prompt service and excellent food and drink among the happy families and piles of pumpkins.

The group also enjoyed the unseasonal warmth, the undulating roads of Essex and a route planned through the paper products of Ordnance Survey – none of your failing 21 ^st century technology on this ride, Peter!  Fourteen riders over 39 miles.