Ride Report for Sunday 13 July - A Bridge Too Far....?

 

I write this from my sick bed as I'm suffering from a bad case of gravel fever!  I think I must have caught it from Pete B or Andy C, and extreme heat and the lack of mud anywhere probably doesn't help!

Anyway, Tony H, Graham H, Andy C, Jennie and Dave J, Keith R, and I were at the Golden Cafe, Addlestone, and I had one of my funny turns and, from my delirium, arose visions of a few local tracks I hadn't ridden in some while!   Graham knows the tell-tale signs and beat a hasty retreat in the opposite direction, and Tony also cannily caught on after a few miles, and turned for home.    

We headed first for the New Haw to Seven Arches footpath.   It's a bit bumpy, but there is also a railway foot crossing.  No big deal, you think, but the problem is that you do have to climb up some rather steep steps to the top of the embankment before you get to the railway.   And then climb down the other side.

To my surprise, nobody seemed to have used this path before (I wonder why? - Ed), and there was one of those 'ah hah' moments when they realised it emerged at 'Concorde corner', Brooklands.   After that, it was plain sailing for a bit.   Muddy Lane was like one of those seven wonders of the Isle of Wight (Cowes you cannot milk etc), because it was dry as a bone and the nettles weren't even much of a problem.

Then we came to the main event of the day, the Send church to Sutton Green footpath.   With fingers crossed I had warned the group that it might not be passable as the footpath has been officially closed for over two years owing to 'erosion', but, unfortunately, the approach path was clear and looked used, and there was no alternative but to carry on!

I don't know who designed this bridge.   They must have been very tall and thin with extremely long legs.   And likely had had a military career designing assault courses!   The fact that it is overgrown with creeper doesn't help either!   It looks innocuous enough in this picture (from an earlier C & M manifestation) but it hardly does it justice!

Anyway, you can imagine everyone's surprise and delight when confronted with this little number!   But we all made it across, dear reader, and after a rather bumpy passage across a field swerving to avoid cow pats there just remained the small matters of the stile across the barbed wire fence, and the climb up the rather steep hump-backed bridge over the canal!

It was getting quite hot by now, and Elm Nursery cafe presented itself very conveniently after a short distance.  The temptation to stop was too great, and plans to continue to Guildford were abandoned.   That meant we missed some more trails on the way back, but perhaps we'd already had more than enough fun for one day!

Thanks all for putting up with it, and thanks to Andy for back-marking and for most of the photos.