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| Tea and cake at Flowers Farm, Christmas Eve 2018. Pic by Andy Smith. |
I leave the house later than usual. We are meeting at 0800hrs. Dawn is breaking as I ride through suburban streets, heading uphill. It's Christmas Eve, traffic is heavier than usual, I wait longer to cross the Addington Road and then speed through the churchyard, past the pond and on to the Limpsfield Road. Andy is waiting. We decide to head for Godstone and Flowers Farm. It means riding down Slines Oak Road and through Woldingham, something we haven't done for a long time, or perhaps not that long ago. We both recall the occasion not when a deer scampered across the road in front of us. Woldingham is quiet as we pedal along Butlers Dene Road on onwards towards the golf course via 'the off-road bit' I so despise, but today it seems easier than in days gone by and why this should be so I don't know. Andy and I both marvel at the houses we pass. "Who needs such a large house?" says Andy. Nobody, I reply, but it must be a way that rich people use up their cash, an investment. We ride down Gangers Hill, over the M25, over the A22 and on to the A25. It's a short ride to Flowers Farm where people are queuing to buy turkeys and the shop is overflowing with colourful fruit and vegetables. There's a café – and it's a good one. We've been here before. The cake is excellent, there's a roaring fire, a wood burning stove, although it's warming up as we arrive. Cake is ordered: a lemon cake and an apple cake plus a pot of tea and some slices of apple. "I haven't had an apple in ages," says Andy. "Me neither," I reply. We wait for our order to arrive and when it does we tuck in. This is my sort of place, I could sit here all day, staring out of the window, eating cake, sipping tea, but we can't stay too long, we have to ride back, and it's a hard slog, a very hard slog, not initially, but once we round the corner, taking a sharp right turn, the hill hits us hard, but it's not that hard, not as hard as the Westerham hill, although much shorter. It is a short, sharp shock and we both stay on our saddles, emerging on to The Ridge unscathed. We are back in Woldingham on the other side of the golf course. We sail past the club house and into Woldingham, stopping at the top of Slines Oak Road where we part company. No ride on Christmas Day, but we will be riding on Boxing Day, weather permitting. I sail down Slines Oak Road and hang a left on to Butlers Dene Road and then further along I turn right on to a gravel track that is peppered with puddles. A man with a large Alsatian dog is coming the other way. I turn left on to the Slines Oak Road and follow it to the Limpsfield Road. There's a steep incline, but I stay on the bike and turn left towards Warlingham. Much more traffic now, people doing 'last minute Christmas shopping', the stores will be packed today, I think, as I ride into Sanderstead, past the pond and head down Church Way towards home. I have a lot to do too (last minute presents, helping people out here and there) and soon it will be evening, time to hit the sack and wake up on Christmas morning.
