Frühling, Frühling wird es nun bald.

Six days into British Summertime, and at last the words of this German folk song are believable – soon it will be spring.  Four of us made our way east along the Alban Way in sunshine, right through to Hatfield.  The bridge over Wellfield Road was tempting – only a mile further to Stanborough - but our way lay along Wellfield Road itself, and we were delighted to find that the footway has been most effectively converted to shared use, with small gabions on the roadward side to enable path-widening.  That took us fairly easily to White Lion Square and thus Hatfield Farmers’ Market.

We enjoyed browsing the plants and produce. The primulas were very eye-catching.

In spite of the sun, we were keen to find coffee and cake indoors, and duly invaded the relocated Simmons.  We totally flummoxed the young trainee, who found four fabulous women all wanting different drinks and pastries on the one order a tad overwhelming.  A request for toast was the last straw for the poor lad; his supervisor came to the rescue.

We were in like disarray ourselves however when we stopped on our way back to assist a young couple with a flat tyre.  The tyre was one of those very tight fitting ones, and we were sufficiently discombobulated by the effort required to get the wretched rubber off the rim that we forgot to check that the thorn we had removed was the only one before we wrestled the tyre back on again.  Oh “bother”.

From Ellenbrook we made an architectural diversion down Wilkins Green Lane to enjoy a glimpse of ‘Torilla’.    Dating from 1935, this house was designed by F.R.S Yorke, who was one of the first British architects to design in the Modernist style.  The Hertfordshire Building Preservation Trust later intervened to prevent its demolition.  We also enjoyed the much larger and grander and older Great Nast Hyde House.  What you see from the lane is actually the back of the house; the proper front entrance to the house is up a drive from St Albans Road.

We rejoined the Alban Way at Smallford and carried on westward and back to Morrisons.  It might appear from the sign that by the time we got back we would have ridden at least 12 miles, but bear in mind that we had started from Fleetville, not central St Albans.  Although, even allowing for the distance vagaries on Alban Way signs, we did on this occasion go further than the nominal five.

Winter still!

Saturday 16 March dawned grey and wet with forecast likewise.  Fabulous women know that if they don’t want to go out in the rain, they don’t have to.  They also know that waterproofs are pretty effective these days.  Two of us took the waterproof option.  Regular riders will  know we have a flexible approach to routes and destinations, and today we decided to flex in the direction of a short ride and a long coffee stop. Our traditional wet weather destination is Notcutts, but even that seemed a bit far, so the special feature of this ride was a new 5MTF coffee stop, and as the leader had not been before, another special feature was a led leader.

The atmospheric photograph of our waterproofs dripping on the balcony at Dunelm Mill did not come out very well, so you will just have to imagine our enjoyment of hot drinks and colourful house wares.  It was not raining quite so hard for the return , so we took the indirect route via Oaklands College and Jersey Lane.

We hope for better weather on 6th April.

Rona Wightman

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(*)/ (*)  happy cycling!

Winter already

What a beautiful day for our last programmed 5MTF ride of 2012! Clear blue sky. And, er, some snow on car windscreens. Dashing from the house to the meeting point I was glad I had put on my winter jacket, but regretted that I had not put on warmer layers below.

We decided we needed some open country so as to be in the sun, and we headed down the Camp cycle route for Highfield Park, looped along east then turned north through Oaklands College.

We discovered that the disadvantage of open country was exposure to the biting wind. So, some respite on Jersey Lane, and beautiful autumn colour as we emerged at Sandridge. The eagle-eyed may be able to make out the bicycle sign in front of the tree. Then by Nomansland and Amwell to Wheathampstead. Bakery full to overflowing, but space for us at Jack’s for hot drinks and calorific intake. For our return we took the scenic track along the north of the Lee, then up to Beech Hyde Lane and swiftly (wind behind) to Sandridge and back to St Albans via Sandridgebury Lane.

Open Studio Ride

It was a beautiful morning, and the quartet’s route specification was ‘get us into the countryside’. As my selection from the Open Studios programme (www.hvaf.org.uk) was on the fringes of Southdown; that was the route sorted. We headed up to the King William by way of Woodstock Road, Homewood Road and Marshal’s Drive, down Valley Road, and into Sandridgebury Lane. I always enjoy the view you get of Sandridge from this lane. We nicked through at the Scout Hut and came down the bridleway to Heartwood Car Park, where lots of walkers were about for the Herts Hike. We continued down the access track and across to Coleman Green Lane.

We now experienced the best and worst of Range Rover drivers. A gent waited for a widening of the road and then came smoothly through. Then a young woman nearly took us out as she needlessly and stupidly cut the corner out of Drovers Way. Ruffled nerves were soothed by the beauty of Nomansland and a friendly encounter with a couple of horsewomen. At Pipers Grove we were a bit ahead of schedule, so headed to Artscape at Southdown for our bonus art exhibition and to stock up on artists’ supplies.

Back to our destination and a warm welcome from artists Belinda Naylor-Stables (drawing, painting, textiles) and Elspeth Keith (ceramics). We were plied with delicious tea and coffee whilst the artists gave us background to their work. Elspeth’s ceramics have an amazing delicate and crusty texture thanks to the fizzy glaze she uses. Works of nature and human craft influences Belinda’s paintings. Anglo-Saxon runes have recently influenced both artists. Actually, the artwork that particularly appealed to us was the wheelbarrow, but fortunately our speculation on how to get it back to St Albans was cut short, as this one is not for sale.

The other picture shows us getting ready to leave Frog’s Folly and head back to St Albans. As the route out was so satisfactory, we saw no need to go a different way back.

Hatfield Art & Design

Our ride on Saturday 1 September saw a trio of us set off for Hatfield along the Alban Way.

We fairly whizzed along, and so reckoned we had time to enjoy an exhibition at the University Art and Design Gallery in College Lane.

I had not checked if there was a show on, when we arrived we could see that the exhibition was due to be open... but the door was not open.  Oh well, we'll just go and have a coffee at the Forum.

We turned off a bit too soon, and met Sir Geoffrey himself.  Carried on, more closed doors.  I think we assume that weekends out of term time the university is dormant.

We considered our options. If we were going for a coffee we wouldn't be starting from here sort of thing. We decided to make our way back towards St Albans. As we meandered through Colney Heath, a shopfront and a cycle stand caught our eye and we stopped instantly. Three chairs set out inside, obviously this was fated to be our coffee stop today.

Refreshed, we returned to St Albans pausing only to get lost in the maze in Highfield Park (sorry, too dizzy to take a photo of this).

Olympic torch route

Just two of us today, and we marked the eve of the Olympic Torch procession coming through our area. As it was a while since we had ridden east, and as it was farmers’ market day in Hatfield, our route choice was made.

We left the torch route at Morrisons to ride along parallel on the Alban Way. We stopped for a breather at the boundary milepost (I checked this on the map after - I had thought the nearby Blackberry Arch was the boundary between St Albans and Hatfield, but actually it is this milepost). Coincidentally there was a shower of rain, so we spent a bit of time admiring the milepost before deciding to ride on anyway.

The farmers market was cheerful in spite of the wet, and we enjoyed a browse before our elevenses at Simmons. The sun actually came out and the whole scene got a bit livelier. We decided on a loop through Old Hatfield, and found ourselves on the actual torch route as we freewheeled down French Horn Lane - there was a road-worker setting out the 'no parking' cones.

It is always a lovely detour through Old Hatfield, along the NCN 12 Great North Way. We popped out on the Hertford Road and turned westward, riding briefly on the Great North Road itself, then over the East Coast Main Line and back onto the former St Albans Branch of the Great North Railway. Another milepost to admire, this one more colourful, and for the horticulturalists, that is some buddleia just coming into bloom in the background.

A straightforward ride back to St Albans on the Alban Way, now going in the same direction as the torch.

Bike week

As the first local ride of Bike Week we thought we might be mobbed. But it turned out to be a select duo who hit the roads and tracks (there was another slightly longer CTC ride starting at 10am).

The sky was grey, so we felt going to Notcutts for coffee was likely to end in a drenching (see reports passim). Instead, we only went so far along the Alban Way, then through the Oaklands College grounds and across Sandpit Lane. Up to Nashes Farm, enjoying the views. Down to Osprey, where we browsed the eclectic merchandise before a relaxing cuppa in the Saddlery Cafe.

We liked the sentiment on the mug, very appropriate and topical. Refreshed, we headed over Woodcock Hill to Sandridge and back home via Jersey Lane. For those of you who have not been along Jersey Lane recently, we can advise that part of the surface has been renewed with bitumenised gravel, so our fears of a squishy muddy surface after all the rain were not realised. We made a slight diversion to admire the pond.