The forecast wasn’t awful. Sunshine and showers and pretty warm for February. So, although we had a few cancellations, I met a group of five at London Bridge and we headed off to Coulsdon South. We don’t bother with the London rideout anymore. We must have ridden it hundreds of times and it gets no better. 12 boring miles, dealing with innumerable drivers a good number of whom really should sit another driving test.
So we start this ride with the good stuff: Farthing Down: a little gem of a country climb that leads you from South London suburbia into Surrey lanes and hills.
It was a wet climb with a sharp wind thrown in for free. But we were still optimistic and carried on. Bit more climbing, Chaldon Church where no one really wanted to stop for our traditional snowdrop spot: I didn’t really blame them. In unpleasant weather you just need to keep pushing on, to keep the momentum going and the blood flowing. Stops a nasty cool down.
Through Bletchingly, down to Rabies Heath Rd and Tilburstow Hill. There’s a fantastic viewpoint from the top, but absolutely no point stopping there today. Thick cloud closed in around us.
There’s some great descents the countryside offers as a reward for the vicious little climbs around here. Unfortunately, the wet conditions meant you couldn’t really open up and enjoy them to the full. I did my best though!
Plenty of flooded roads to negotiate. The highest point of the road is always the middle. Stick to that, you’ll be fine. Usually works. It did today, although one flood obscured a splitting of the tarmac and a hidden pothole lurked ready to pounce. I felt my rear wheel hit it but the bike stayed upright. I shouted a warning behind and we all came through safely.
The rain just kept coming though. No sign of the sunny spells. Most people looked wet through. Routefinding hardware malfunctions, due to the relentless rain, forced a coupled of stops we didn’t really want. Some people were feeling cold.
We passed Dormans station. A station en route is always tempting on wet rides. People checked it out: there were trains. But indecision within the group. I told them I’d finish the ride but if folk wanted to take a train home, that was fine. After some indecision, the train won! I waved them goodbye and headed off.
If it had been wet, windy AND cold, I’d have joined them. But it wasn’t. Warm enough for me to ride with one glove (I’d lost one a while back whilst arguing with the route finding equipment!) and not even got a cold hand. Wet, very wet, the kind that keeps on coming and seeps through any waterproofs whose seams have seen better days. I’ve been riding in Scotland for part of most years of my life. So the weather “wasnae that bad” as far as I was concerned. And routine riding north of the border means I’ve invested in good quality wet weather gear. It rarely lets in the wet stuff.
So, off I went.
What lovely lanes on this section of the route criss crossing the rolling hills that link the old villages in this area. Cowden, Hever, Markbeech. Although the winter has left them in pretty poor condition. Rutted, potholed, piles of gravel and run off from the surrounding hills and fields. In worse condition than many off road gravel tracks. At one point a long stretch at least a metre wide if not more had just fallen away, narrowing the already narrow lanes. Luckily I was only met a couple of drivers for quite a few miles of rough country lane.
And great road names, Mutton Hill, Hollow Lane, Smithers Lane, Furnace Lane. The lovely old 16 century mill by the Furnace Lake. This old hammer pond and mill house is one of many on the rivers in Surrey and Sussex. This one sits on Kent Water, a Medway tributary. Today, as I rode down the hill, I could clearly hear the power of the wate. In Tudor times they built a dam and used the the powerI could now hear thundering over the weir, to drive the furnace bellows and hammers, producing iron for the Tudor and Stuarts.
Tudor villages, sweeping hills dotted with coppices and patches of woodland. South east England riding at its best. It didn’t stop raining, but the clouds lifted a bit and the views opened out.
It’s a lovely part of the country and one I’ve not ridden in for a while due to my extended periods of time north of the border. So different from my Scottish riding, but I love it just as much. Well, almost!
I realised at one point that I had momentarily crossed the border from Kent into Sussex so this had become a Three Counties ride!
I decided not to stop for coffee and just carried on once I got to Edenbridge and headed north.. Oxted has trains which go fast to London Bridge. I had shortened this ride from its original 50 miles due to an annoying bout of bursitis in my knee and it was routed to finish before our usual North Downs climb back to the southern edge of the city. I was tempted to head up on to the Pilgrims Way and carry on north to do the full original route. It was only around 2pm . But it was still raining, and at that point a heavier burst opened up. And what did I say about train stations en route of a wet ride?