Here's this week's news & reports....

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RIDE REPORT
Cream Teas At Whitehall 10/08/08

10 riders on this surprisingly sunny but windy day. The lunch stop
destination wasn't that far away, despite being quite rural, so we
took a fairly convoluted route in the morning. A slight deviation from
the Wandle Trail brought us to BedZED for a quick lap of the UK's
largest eco-village. Then we tried out the new cycle path in
Beddington Park although it comes with a new set of no-cycling signs
for adjacent paths that aren't welcome in a park that actively
promotes cycling.

Our morning stop was at the garden centre cafe at the old Purley Way
lido and then through Bandonhill to Wallington where we inched very
slightly uphill all the way to the Telegraph Track, a paved bridleway
through the black weatherboarded smallholdings. Despite keeping the
speed down, we still arrived at the carved wooden village sign at
Woodmansterne ahead of schedule. We pulled up for a short rest before
riding along the ridge towards The Mint at Banstead.

I'd tried to call the pub but the number i had was no longer in use so
I had no idea if they were still open. Fortunately, not only were they
open but business was booming. Good job we got there early. They do
good freshly cooked food that arrives within minutes. The waitresses
are all very polite and the bar has a summer range of refreshing soft
drinks. One of the best lunch stops in our repertoire.

Our afternoon stop was to be the historic Whitehall at Cheam for their
cream teas event. The journey was mostly downhill and included one of
my favourite sights, seeing the expanse of Epsom Downs open up in
front of you as you round Tattenham Corner. We were there within 45
minutes as the wind blew us along most of the way. Unfortunately, the
event seemed to be staffed by an archetypal 'little old lady' who was
taking an age fussing over two customers in the tea room. She hadn't
even noticed me trying to get her attention to see if we could park
our bikes in the garden so I decided we would be better off back at
Nonsuch Park.

The cafe in the park does fantastic business. A folk dance event was
taking place today on the lawn outside and part of the main house was
open for self guided tours. There are always plenty of cyclists
around. We stayed until the dancing started and then left as there
looked like a slight chance of rain.

A deviation past Sutton Utd's ground was worthwhile as it took us to
Sutton bus garage where the Vintage Bus Day was taking place. Scores
of old busses had been put into service and rides were free. Have a
look at http://www.red-rf.com/rf-504 for more info. We trundled back
through Carshalton and Hackbridge where the ride separated.

Out for 6.5hrs, 30 miles. See the pix on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157606648901982
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc004

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CRAZY BIKES

Following on from last week's links, take a look at this monster:

http://www.pubcrawler.uk.com

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VIKING COASTAL TRAIL

Those interested in doing the Viking Coastal Trail, please let me know
which weekends in September you will be free. It needs to be on a
Saturday as it's too risky with bus replacement services on a Sunday.
I'll collate the available dates during the week and we'll pick the
most popular weekend and let everyone know by next Sunday's email.

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NEXT WEEK

If you like cake, you need to be on next week's ride! The afternoon
stop will be calling at Brockham's famous Teas On The Green event, a
community effort at the church hall where the array of homemade cake
is staggering. It's train-assisted to Horley so make sure you are at
the station on time for the Group Save ticket buy. East Croydon is
often busy so the ticket buy will have to be at 9am sharp. There won't
be a leader at the station so please arrange yourselves and nominate
someone to get in the queue. Susie will meet the group at Horley.

Meet outside the CEX shop at East Croydon station for the 9am Group
Save ticket buy. We'll be catching the 9:23am to Horley or meet us
there at 9:44am.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk