We were sitting in the Tatsfield Churchyard yesterday (Sunday 31 July) discussing our cycling venues and decided we should rate them. So, here goes...
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| Sitting outside the Botley Hill Farmhouse pub. |
Botley Hill -
a generic term for the area surrounding the Botley Hill Farmhouse pub, but normally it means the roundabout a little further along the road.
Convenience: 10/10 – our shortest route can easily be rounded off in just over an hour.
Cover: 5/10 – little cover, but there is a shady car park with strong tree cover during the summer.
Distance: Roughly a 14-mile round trip.
Verdict: A good default cycle route but if it's raining there's nowhere to hide.
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| Andy and yours truly in Chevening Churchyard |
Chevening Church -
adjacent to Chevening House in Kent and one of our longer rides.
Convenience: 6/10 - one of our longer rides and on a par in distance terms with Longford Lake and Hunger's End (easily a 32-mile round trip.
Cover: 6/10 - standing room only by the covered gateway to the churchyard.
Distance: A 32-mile round trip.
Verdict: A pleasant place, but a long ride.
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| Godstone Green at the beginning of the summer. |
Godstone Green –
an occasional destination and we like it, but the problem is a huge hill on the return journey.
Convenience: 8/10 – if it wasn't for that hill, we'd probably go there more frequently as the route is scenic.
Cover: 8/10 – there is cover, but it's across the green and you have to stand up as there's no bench.
Distance: Not properly recorded
Verdict: A great place with a pleasant lake and a café if we need it.
Longford Lakes -
definitely the most picturesque of our destinations, but a long ride.
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| Longford Lake. |
Convenience: 6/10 - mainly because of the distance. Like Chevening Church and Hunger's End, its a long one.
Cover: 0/10 - very exposed and nowhere to hide from the weather, unless the pub is open.
Distance: a good 32-mile round trip.
Verdict: nice on a pleasant day as there's an excellent Harveys of Lewes pub.
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| Jon and Andy outside Hunger's End, Merstham. |
Merstham –
A Surrey village just outside of the M25 near Redhill. Fairly pleasant place and there's a railway station if we feel lazy.
Convenience: 7/10 – it's a long ride, which means returning home around 11am and this can cause friction and the return trip is hilly and can be tiresome.
Cover: 10/10 – plenty of cover if you're really stuck and there's always Hunger's End, the caff.
Distance: 32 to 34 miles in total.
Verdict: A caff, a railway station, a music shop and an eccentric man who shaves in public – in short a great place to be.
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| Andy at the Tatsfield Bus Stop. |
The Tatsfield Bus Stop –
On the outskirts of Tatsfield on the junction with Clarks Lane and Approach Road.
Convenience: 9/10 – just a little further than Botley Hill, but well worth it because of the bus stop.
Cover: 9/10 – a great bus stop. Unlike the Tatsfield Village bus stop, the side panels are solid wood, hence it scores one extra point.
Distance: 16-miles round trip.
Verdict: Arguably the best covered bus stop in the area. We've sheltered here from the snow and rain in the past.
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| Andy at the Tatsfield Churchyard. |
Tatsfield Churchyard –
a peaceful churchyard on the outskirts of Tatsfield village.
Convenience: 9/10 – a little further than Botley Hill, but a downhill cycle from Botley down Clarks Lane.
Cover: 5/10 – in the summer, the trees might help and there is a wooden and covered gateway, but generally, you're exposed.
Distance: 16.5-mile round trip.
Verdict: If it's not raining, a great place to be: it's peaceful and scenic and puts things in perspective.
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| The pond at Tatsfield Village. |
Tatsfield Village –
A pleasant village with green, pond and pub.
Convenience: 9/10 – not as far as Tatsfield Churchyard, but there's not much in it.
Cover: 8/10 – a wooden bus stop would provide excellent shelter from the rain AND there's a shop where we once bought teabags, having run out, so it's a great place in a crisis – in our world, no teabags is a crisis. The side panels of the bus stop, however, have been knocked out to provide 'windows'.
Distance: 16.5-mile round trip.
Verdict: A good destination, but there's always that danger of having to converse with chirpy locals passing the bus stop en route to the newsagents.
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| Vintage car on the green at Westerham. |
Westerham –
a Northern Kent village famed for being the home of Sir Winston Churchill. Hotels and coffee shops abound.
Convenience: 9/10 – for a long while in the early days it was our default ride. A good 22-miler there and back and pleasant in decent weather.
Cover: 6/10 – none really. Plenty of benches but they're all exposed and while there are shops and a hotel, the bikes would need to be left outside, unattended and unpadlocked.
Distance: 22-mile round trip.
Verdict: A great place that we need to visit more often.
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| Jon in the snow at Woodmansterne Green |
Woodmansterne Green –
a nice place once you get there, but a boring, suburban ride so not a regular haunt of ours.
Convenience: 9/10 – roughly 12 miles all told and it takes around 30 minutes to reach it through suburban streets.
Cover: 7/10 – no cover on the green but there is a church across the road and we've often sought refuge under the gateway in torrential rain.
Distance: 12-mile round trip.
Verdict: If it wasn't for the boring ride, it would be a great place to visit, but we like scenic, rural routes the best.
