Halloween in Hertfordshire - Pumpkins and puddles
Following a late night at a Halloween fancy dress party the clocks going back at the end of British summer time was a mixed blessing, in theory an extra hour in bed could be had but a desire to finish my ride in daylight still meant an alarm call at 5am and just four and a half hours sleep.
A stress-free journey down a quiet M1 had me ready to roll from the car park at Verulamium park at 8am.
The metcheck weather app and BBC news both predicted a dry and bright day for St Albans and Hertfordshire with potentially an afternoon high temperature of twenty degrees, the reality was a damp, drizzly morning and a temperature on the chilly side of ten degrees. The rain jacket was a must but I mistakenly decided not to put on my overshoes and within a couple of kilometres it was clear it was going to be a soggy socks types of day.
Verulamium was the Roman city located in the southwest of modern day St Albans much of the ancient city remains unexcavated but the museum from where I started the ride is home to mosaics, coins and other treasures excavated from this large Roman city.
I rode through the park exiting opposite Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, possibly the oldest public house in Britain, made a promise to myself to grab a pint at the end of the ride and headed up the short hill to St Albans Cathedral. The oldest site of continuous Christian worship in Britain the cathedral stands over the place where Alban the first martyr gave his life for his faith over 1700 years ago. Alban became the first British saint and is immortalised by the city in his name.
With my Scott Foil now in hibernation my current winter bike, a trusty Kinesis Crosslight Pro Six made its first appearance in this 92 County challenge since my puncture plagued adventure around Worcestershire, the second county ticked off more than four years ago.
With the memory of that ride still painful I had invested in some Hunt Four Season all-road tubeless ready wheels and Hutchinson Fusion 5 Storm tubeless tyres. I’ve been lucky with tubeless setups so far with few of the messy and troublesome experiences that abound on social media about this “marmite” technology and not once in 3 years and nearly 30 thousand kilometres have I needed to do anything other than top up a tyre with a few strokes of a mini-pump or a squirt from a CO2 cylinder to keep me rolling.
The one issue I have encountered with tubeless technology is poor compatibility between rims and tyres resulting in sore thumbs and sweaty, sweary sessions trying to seat the tyres on the wheel rims. This Hunt/Hutchinson Fusion combination was an absolute breeze to fit with no blood, sweat or tears spilled and not so much as a tyre lever or air booster need to seat, seal and inflate the tyres at the first attempt.
My research into Hertfordshire attractions hadn’t thrown up too many must see’s but had recommended a few villages home to celebrities. Radlett was one such place currently home to war of the worlds composer Jeff Wayne and in the past notable personalities such as Simon Cowell, Alison Moyet and Premiership London based footballers like Dennis Wise, Kolo Toure, Alex Song and Harry Winks. With a list of celebrities like that I’m not sure what I was expecting but in reality it was little more than a large, pleasant village with a few posh looking bistro’s and restaurants. Popular undoubtedly because of its access to London and high quality private schools it didn’t however strike me as being worth paying the average house price of £900k for.
Skirting along the north-western border of the county the wooded lanes carpeted in the golds and ambers of autumn were a pleasant interlude from the repeated urban landscapes encountered in St Albans, Borehamwood, Hemel Hempstead and Radlett which had made the first 40km feel a bit like an extended commute.
The Hub Coffee and cyclist’s refuge in Redbourne was a little treasure of a find. I hadn’t planned on a stop so early but the diverse collection of cyclists gathered both inside and out suggested a stop was essential.
Stood behind possibly the biggest cyclist I have ever met, the queue for coffee and carrot cake was made up of riders from all parts of London who told me they regularly use this tiny little cafe jam packed with bike racing memorabilia on their two-wheeled escapes from the clutches of the M25.
The carrot cake certainly didn’t disappoint, it was great to see such a selection of riders congregating. from an octogenarian tandem couple to dedicated road racing teammates, MTB’ers and touring types young and old, all drawn to this gem of a cycling cafe.
Travelling east to Hatfield, Harpenden and the outskirts of Welwyn Garden City the route had returned to busy urban sections interspersed with the occasional relief of a traffic free cycleway including the excellent Cole Green Way which, starting at Hertford football club follows an old railway line along four miles of well-maintained path to Welwyn Garden City.
Hatfield house built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury was closed with the tourist season now over until next spring, the stable yard was open however offering a glimpse of a place where Queen Elizabeth I and her brothers and sisters had spent much of their childhood playing here whilst growing up in the Old Palace nearby. Hatfield house is still home to Robert Gascoyne-Cecil the 7th Marquess of Salisbury.
The rural lanes out to Albury, returning back through the tidy, well groomed, Little and Much Hadham villages provided a relaxed and easy couple of hours cycling with far less traffic, gentle terrain and good, pothole free road surfaces. On the downside it was all pretty unremarkable and featureless.
As the light started to fade I pulled up for a quick photo-stop at Rye House Gatehouse. The gatehouse is all that now remains of the 15th century Manor House and is notable for being one of the first brick-built buildings in the country.
Conscious of limited daylight I was hesitant to take up the offer to park my bike inside made by the enthusiastic volunteer who rushed out to greet me as I posed bike and Baby Nik for the obligatory bike in shot photo. However, once he had played the sympathy card of telling me he’d only had three visitors all day my resistance crumbled and in I drifted, clopping up the stairs in my cleated shoes to take in the view and historical information.
As I left my enthusiastic guide preparing to lock up he looked rather concerned as I explained I was hoping to reach St Albans before dark, “I couldn’t get there in daylight, by car, never mind a bike, be careful” he called out as I headed off chuckling to myself.
Joining the Lee Valley country park at its Northern end for just a few kilometres I stopped for a stroopwafel looking out over the river and made a mental note to plan a trip one day along its 40km of trails from Hertfordshire to the Thames in London’s East End.
As I crossed the railway at the level crossing into Cheshunt, back into busy urban streets and another rain shower, my thoughts turned to getting the ride finished rather than exploring the sights around me, but the Folly Arch at Swanley Bar and the Alban Way trail snapped me out of my traffic induced glumness and saw me back to the car just as the last of the light evaporated.
Keeping the promise I made to myself I quickly stored the bike, changed and headed to Ye Olde Fighting Cocks for a pint.
Judging beer quality after a 170km ride probably isn’t candid, even a bog-standard Carling would get a decent score in this situation but the 3 Brewers Blonde Ale, brewed locally using local ingredients and water direct from a borehole in the town was a refreshing, citrussy treat in a traditional pub setting.
The ride in numbers
172 km Distance
Elevation Gain 1160m
7hrs 57 min moving time (22.1km/h)
4 SIS Tropical Fruit gels
1 Flapjack
1 Stroopwafel
1 coffee stop
3 bottles of water
1 pint of Beer – 3 Brewers Blonde Ale 8/10
5 categorised climbs (easy ones!)
No punctures
Finally if you’ve got a spare quid in your pocket my justgiving page to raise vital funds for the Midlands Air Ambulance is live Keith Jones is fundraising for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (justgiving.com)
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