Rich was very excited claiming to have found a few more new trails over on Pitch, so that was the direction we were heading. Usually we would have tackled the climb up to Leith and then down the other side past High Ashes Farm and into Holmbury St Mary, in order to reach Holmbury Hill, but that's quite a mammoth ride, and we didn't have all day. Instead Rich showed us a new route which took us through the pleasant surroundings of Abinger Rough. Nice wide tracks and easy going, we made good time and arrived in Abinger Hammer. Across the road we headed past Raikes farm and up towards Holmbury St Mary Youth Hostel, passing the Volunteer Hostelry on the way. A lovely picturesque establishment, recommended by Rich, and made further attractive by the presence of two lovely women having a drink outside...but we couldn't stop!
On the road leading up to the Youth Hostel we passed a group of Youths coming down, and we all commented it was nice to see the youth of today out and about in the Surrey countryside, rather than pinching bikes! Arriving at the Youth Hostel we started up Telegraph Road. Odd! That's the first time I've ridden up that trail, and it looks very different in the opposite direction, but not as challenging as I'd first imagined. Clearing the trail we headed to the top of Holmbury and then over towards Car Park 1. Heading down, parallel to Radnor Road, we ultimately arrived at the top of Barry Knows Best. As it was Neil's first time we took it easy, honing our moves, rather than the usual flat out, seat of the pants kind of ride!!
Arriving at the bottom, we made a deserved stop at the Peaslake general stores for a nice strong cup of tea and fantastic tasting flapjack. A quick sit down to sup our brew, and then off in the direction of Pitch, for the long steady climb to the summit. We rode past the church in Peaslake to see preparations taking place for a wedding – what a great day they were going to have. The weather was still glorious, but the trees provided some welcome shade whilst we were climbing. The summit arrived remarkably quickly, and what a view! We paused to savour the moment and the view, see picture..... and have a pee stop (picture not included!).
Off we headed from the top to find Rich's “New” trail, only this was the trail Tom, Mark and I had done some weeks back. Still it was a nice run through the woods, and ended with a steep rooty section, complete with man made rock jump at the base. Today however we rode the trail straight down with no stopping, no pausing and no checking – just trusting our bikes. We even completed the jump at the end. Rich and I traipsed back up the hill for a second attempt at the rock jump – all caught on video – including a very unusual refusal by Rich (yes caught on video) – his claim being he couldn't get his clips in (which I can actually sympathise with, given that's exactly what happened to me last week... therefore I won't dwell on that!).
Having firmly established that the trail wasn't “new”, Rich was feeling like someone who'd filed a patent only to find it had already been done.... 7 times before!! Undeterred, we headed off for another “new”trail which subsequently picked up Tom's “Pile In” jump from a few weeks back (see the video earlier in the blog). Finding the entrance to the “new” trail, we started thinking of our own names for the trails....and obviously this “new” one would have to include Rich's name as he “found” it. The further we went, the more familiar this trail became – I had done this before... would I tell Rich? Would I shatter his reason for being here? Would I ruin his whole day? Yup – for sure!! But I'd wait until we'd done the whole thing!! The second part of the trail most certainly included the “Tom Piles In” jump, which we now have Rich on video completing with finesse... Tom – this is how it's supposed to be done!
We finished the “new” trail and headed again back up to the top of Pitch. On discovery that the “new” trails, were not in fact new, Rich tried to persuade me that the first part of the last run I hadn't done. It's ok Rich – we can still name it after you!
Before heading back down, we stopped off left to catch a couple of jumps. Rich cleared both with ease – I followed, front wheel planted over the first jump, but managed to stay upright and decided to miss the second – it was not comfortable!! Neil and I waited at the bottom, while Rich had another attempt... he's just a bit too good!!
Completing the jump section we headed up and started a trail which we haven't yet named, but have done a few times before. It's very rooty and didn't flow too well, it still had a number of wet patches to negotiate which made it sticky in places. At the end we waited for Neil to catch up, which was quite some time... he explained he'd fallen 3 times.. personally Neil, I would have kept that to myself!!! The second stretch of this particular trail flowed a lot better and we arrived back at the carpark at the bottom of Pitch. We headed back into Peaslake, with me taking a slight detour in the hope of spotting the bride and maybe getting a photo with her for the blog (remember the wedding prep?)... she hadn't arrived yet... typical! Late!!!
Through Peaslake we started the long climb up Radnor road to the top of Holmbury for the second time. Across Holmbury we picked up Telegraph road, this time going in the right direction and back down to the Youth Hostel. Onwards past the Volunteer, we headed back towards Abinger Hammer. Coming through Raikes Farm we rounded a corner. I was behind Rich with Neil up ahead. I saw Rich swerve slightly and shout what I thought was “SPRING”. I looked at the floor to see a long tubular type green object on the ground which I took a second look at to discover it was a snake!! A snake? Yes, a snake... in Surrey!!! What kind of snake? Well actually we don't know yet... we need to look that one up in some David Attenborough books, or Johnny Morris Books!!
That was all we talked about as we headed back through the Abinger Rough and towards Westcott back to the car park, still bathed in glorious sunshine!
