Sunday 28 August 2022 - Bank Holiday Special Further Faster Elevenses

Our second short notice ride of the weekend had three participants.  We did go further and faster than the Saturday ride, but it was still a relatively easy pace suited to a Sunday morning. 

We had plenty of time to meander over to our intended refreshment stop, so we rolled along the Alban Way and diverted into the Cycle Hub to watch some pump track action and have a little ride around the gravel track.

Then we headed up on NCN6 and up Ragged Hall Lane and looped over through Serge Hill.  Bedmond Lane is still in very good condition having been resurfaced in April 2021, the road closure sign is still up!

Back to Potters Crouch and through Apps Pond, over the A4147 and now we were heading along Beechtree Lane to Elevenses at Westwick Hall Farm.  This is a pop-up coffee bar in the corner of a field, with coffee and cake served from a horsebox and ice-cream from a bike-towed trailer.  All patrons have to arrive on foot or by cycle, there is no motor access.  It is open most Sundays through the spring, summer and autumn, 10am - 4pm.  Check for current information on their Instagram or Facebook accounts.

From here it was easy navigation, through Gorhambury, slowing down past the walkers (there was a special walk today) and admiring the GPR teams at work in the field opposite the Roman Theatre.  You can find out more about what the Ground Penetrating Radar has revealed: Sensing the Iron Age and Roman Past: Geophysics and the Landscape of Hertfordshire | An adventure in Hertfordshire archaeology. (wordpress.com)

Depending on where you started your bike computer from, we covered around 15 miles, and it was quite a hilly ride.  We went our separate ways from St Michaels.

Saturday 27 August 2022 - Bank Holiday Special Fabulous Llama

 A last-minute offer of a bank holiday Saturday ride had five takers.  Our destination was the Lazy Llama in Greenwood Park, so we set a suitably lazy pace, making our way easily along the Alban Way.  We wafted up Abbotts Avenue and continued on NCN6 to Watford Road.  Our leader had recently been delving into the Fabulous Trees of St Albans, oops, we mean Remarkable Trees of St Albans Revisited, an excellent book by Kate Bretherton.  Hence a little loop was taken up Ragged Hall Lane then along Cuckman's Drive to find two redwoods and a cedar.  The trees were planted in the 1880s.

From here we rolled down to Greenwood Park and settled in at the Lazy Llama for coffee, cake and chat.  Having set the world to rights we headed for home.

It's a lovely ride through the woods, we took care on the gravelly dip, got back onto the Watford Road, then enjoyed more gravel track from the Scout Hut through to Netherway.  We wiggled through to King Harry Lane and down through Verulamium Park, with riders splitting off in all directions from the cross-path.  From Morrisons to our parting we had covered just over six miles.