#BikeWeek #TGCinHerts in the tank tracks of Boudicca

Eleven riders today, ready to celebrate Bike Week and show that This Girl Can. It was a nice day to head north, even if it is 'rolling terrain'.  

We cut out a little bit of hill by using the footpath through by Beech Hyde Farm, and so we came into Wheathampstead down the side of Devil's Dyke, a feature of the old British settlement.

The village had the bunting out to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday weekend.  We enjoyed sitting in the sun at Loafing (used to be Ushers), getting ready for the return journey.  

It is a good idea to ride slowly, or even walk, up Brewhouse Hill, it lets you enjoy the architectural splendours and passing military vehicles to best effect.

Across Nomansland and back to Sandridge, then return to Morrisons via Jersey Lane and Oaklands. Twelve miles round trip.

Untrammelled womanhood goes wild in the woods

Celebrating Global Women's Cycle Day.

Ten of us gathered in the sun, ready for adventure, a longer ride in unfamiliar terrain.

We set off along the Alban Way and came through Highfield Park, admiring the cherry blossom.

A woodland bridleway and a short stretch of road got us to Napsbury, more sumptuous cherry blossom.  Then we were off on tracks through the fields, along the Colne and under the M25.  We emerged at the Handley Page industrial estate.

Two of the party peeled off at Moor Mill, needing to be home early.  The rest of us carried on along the Ver, with a scientific encounter - we met friendly volunteers from the Ver Valley Society who explained about the river quality monitoring they were doing.

When we reached our coffee stop at Tea in the Woods we had covered eight miles, about 80% of them off-road.  We were well ready for calories in the form of large chunks of cake and flapjack and, for one of us, a banana milk shake in a jar.

We followed NCN6 - the Abbey Way - back to St Albans, total distance 14.5 miles.

Spring at last

The sunshine was quite a contrast to last month, and we had a large group - eleven of us - out on a ride today.

Several of the regulars had been ill and requested a 'recovery' ride, so we kept it nice and gentle with a meander around Highfield Park and a loop-de-loop down Nightingale Lane, along the A414 and back up Highfield Lane.  That was quite enough recovering and we now needed coffee, so we tootled along to Ayletts.  The cycle stands coped, but only just.

At Ayletts they have special jam for lady cyclists - Mrs Bridges rides a bike in fine style.  We came back via Highfield Park and the Camp Cycle Route.

Celebrating International Women's Day

It was snowing when I set off for the rendezvous!

In view of the cold and the poor forecast, a fairly short ride was in order today.  Since we were welcoming two new riders to the 5MTF experience a traffic free route was also desirable.  So Alban Way it was!

There is always something new to see along the Alban Way these days, especially from Smallford to Nast Hyde.  The station building at Smallford is now visible and Nast Hyde station is increasingly delightful.

The 'station clock' suggested we move on for coffee, so we looped around through Wilkins Green. Boldly we tackled Station Road, the roundabout and the Hatfield Road to get to Notcutts.  Riding in a tight group and riding at a good pace we took our place in the traffic stream and had no problems.

Very nice hot drinks and cake in Notcutts café, friendly staff. It was actually a little brighter with glimpses of blue sky as we sped (relatively) westward back to Fleetville.

2015: In the news

Billie Fleming Tribute Rides

Women paying tribute to Billie Fleming - by cycling every day of 2015.  Details at http://www.tributetobillie.co.uk/   Our ride on 18 July was a Ride Like Billie ride.  As the records of Billie's routes for the autumn are mostly lost, and as word about the Billie Fleming Tribute has spread, any ride you wish to dedicate to Billie's ride and ideals can be added, visit the website for how to get involved.

Super article in Cycling Weekly, tells you more about Billie Fleming: "In 1938, then named Billie Dovey, she rode a staggering 29,603.7 miles across the United Kingdom on a mission to promote the health benefits of cycling. She rode every single day of the year in a wide variety of weather conditions to spread the message. Her mammoth tour included many evening engagements that required her to give a talk at the end of a long day’s pedalling. Fleming’s ride attracted a huge amount of interest and press attention as the year progressed." Recommended reading.

Green Ring

Green ring map

Still not fully complete, although most of the work is done and some more signage has been installed recently (November).  The last section to be completed is the crossing of Sandpit Lane, as statutory permission was needed and took longer than anticipated to be granted.

St Albans District Council has a web page devoted to the Green Ring, it includes the feasibility report for the ring as a whole.

Gardening News

Spotted in North Berwick, East Lothian in August 2015 this pallet garden won a Gold Medal.


The given theme was 'recycling' and the gardeners called their pallet Real Cycling.

The nifty message is 'leave a pallet's width when passing cyclists'. As you can see, there was an interactive element and you may be sure the bell was rung!

Needlework news

Spotted at L'Eroica Britannia festival  in June 2014, so old news now, but such a lovely picture is staying put.

Bikes and Bloomers is a project bringing history to life by interweaving archival data with new Victorian cycling garments made from 1890s British patents in collaboration with local craftspeople - the website is fascinating.  Lovely film of the bloomer making workshop and subsequent bloomer ride based on Look Mum No Hands cycle café in London.

Over in the Netherlands, cycling and sewing combine, thanks to Marieke Post of the Slow Bicycle Movement for this picture.  I don't know if the record player is also cycle-powered.

20s Plenty for St Albans - this campaign has a petition you might like to sign if you support 20mph for residential areas.

This Girl Can in Herts

Nine of us gathered at Morrisons, and it was nice to say hello to gathering Saunterers.  It was grey and a bit chilly, we soon sped off up Woodstock Road and Homewood Road then down to Jersey Lane, which we followed out to Sandridge.

We looped around the lanes, up Coleman Green Lane, across Tower Hill Lane and down through Symondshyde Great Woods.  We rode in a block a short way along Coopers Green Lane, then turned off and were soon ensconced at Osprey.  They had been forewarned that lots of women cyclists would be arriving, as the Harpenden Breeze ride was also coming here, and we were to meet up.  Being a canny and experienced ride leader, I made sure that my group got there first to plunder the splendid array of cakes.  The Saddlery Café at Osprey has some really huge tables, so all nine of us could sit round.  The comestibles are served up on proper crockery too, and with dainty dessert forks.  We can confirm it is all delicious.

Breeze were slightly behind schedule, but it worked well - the staff had time to draw breath before the next horde of women arrived, and the two groups had time to greet each other in the yard as they headed in and we headed out.

We took a fairly direct route back, along past Nashe's Farm.  Delightfully, Neil's Sauntering group caught up with us on their way back from Wheathampstead, and we rode through Oaklands together, and so back to Morrisons along the Alban Way.  We covered 10.5 miles today.

Open Studios

A beautiful late-summer morning, six of us turned out for a ride to Wheathampstead.

We set off eastward  along the Alban Way, then we turned north and went by way of Oaklands College and Jersey Lane (where a tree stump has been sculpted) to Sandridge.  Coleman Green Lane and Beech Hyde Lane got us to

Wheathampstead, and our destination, Rachel Jeffrey Jewellery, based in the old mill building.  Beautiful jewellery in the showroom, and a warm welcome.  We couldn’t go into the studio as there was an enamelling session in progress, but we could peer in from the outside window.

A little bit of post-ride research on Wheathampstead led to this charming silent film of a postie cycling round the village and surrounding hamlets.  I did recognise quite a few of the locations, not necessarily from today’s ride.  Perhaps we’ll need to plan a heritage ride for 2016 – more heritage here.

We took our refreshments in the sunshine outside Ushers bakery, lots of vintage motorcycles kept coming past, which was interesting but not very tranquil.  So we took ourselves off to visit the Crinkle-Crankle Wall.

Our homeward route was by way of Brewhouse Hill and Ferrers Lane.  We bypassed Sandridge by cutting the corner through Heartwood Forest, admiring the rebuilt road and tussling with the kissing gate onto the bridleway.  Then back to St Albans along Sandridgebury Lane.

The round trip to the start point was 14 miles.