Having been north and east quite a bit this season, thoughts turned to west and south when considering a route for today, and Bricket Wood was a popular suggestion. Thus the six of us went west along the Alban Way, briefly on NCN6 to Abbots Avenue, but we turned off along Holyrood Crescent and made use of the footpath link from Coningsby Bank to the M10 Roundabout. We used the underpass to get over onto Watling Street, and boldly rode up the hill and into Park Street. Yes, we are fabulously able to ride the occasional A road.
We were glad of the 30mph limit and the double white line to subdue the motor traffic. Soon we were heading along Park Street Lane through How Wood to our highlight of the day's ride, a loop down Drop Lane and back along the track on the other side of the Ver. We had hoped to visit the 'picture house' down School Lane (a listed 1890 building with plaster reliefs of sporting scenes) but time was marching on, so we headed directly to T in the Woods, a café new to 5MTF.
For our return to St Albans we came back to How Wood and picked up NCN6 through Greenwood Park and Chiswell Green, then we headed through the St Stephens residential area to Verulamium Park. We said our farewells in the middle of the park, with everyone scattering for home from there. Distance covered was 13 miles to the park, with three of us completing the circuit back to Morrisons, a further 2 miles.
The Bricket Wood area would repay further exploration, it was pleasant to ride through shady woods on a hot day. Train assistance to get us out of St Albans might be used. Some of the bridleways across Bricket Wood Common can get a bit sloshy though.
