Little Green Ride for January

Little Green Ride for January

by Andrew Cornwell

It was a good start to the year for the ‘Little Green’ on Sunday with 13 riders turning out, ten at Finsbury Park and three having already joined the train at Kings Cross. Along with veterans such as Sue Dorey and John Ackers we welcomed several newcomers.

I had opted to head west of the A1(M) hoping that the slightly more open roads here would be in better condition than among the high-hedged lanes of east Hertfordshire.

So we were soon heading through Old Knebworth to Codicote, and onto one of the classic Little Green routes along Lilley Bottom. The first mild weekend for aeons had brought out many cyclists and we encountered two club runs, numerous solitary riders and even a bunch of about ten off-roaders gathered at a farm gate. Indeed two-wheeled traffic far outnumbered motors, and the only thing to spoil the bucolic scene was the roar of a couple of Easyjets in final approach to Luton airport.

At Lilley it was apparent that while the majority were keeping together well, we had the usual stragglers, and we split into two at this point – my partner Rachel shepherding the slower group through Hexton and Higham Gobion towards lunch.

Into a headwind, the main field splintered entirely as we approached Pirton, but all managed to find their way into The Fox for a selection of roasts, soup and sandwiches. It was a timely stop as the only real rain of the day passed briefly over while we were in the pub.

Post lunch we headed towards Hitchin, where the two slowest members chose to head for the station there. The remainder continued on a rather more coherent run-in to Stevenage on lanes via Gosmore and St Ippollitts. With good timing we picked up the slightly delayed 3.40pm train for town.

A good (if grey) day out for January with 48 km / 30 miles covered.