A country ride in Croydon borough

For our next ride we will be heading south along woodland tracks, a chalk down, country lanes with lunch in a country pub. You would think we were in deepest rural Surrey but the whole ride stays in Croydon borough. Our lunch stop is the Wattenden Arms. Before that we use leafy tracks in Woodcote, stop on the top of Farthing Down for the views and there are clean, provisioned toilets too. We ride the beautiful Ditches Lane to Chaldon village then turn round into the tree lined track Green Lane to Coulsdon Common and our lunch stop. Then we take side streets mostly downhill to Purley and our finish at Queens Gardens.

There are packed gravel dirt tracks and uneven ground so narrow tyres are not suitable. We lunch at 13 miles and our stop on Farthing Downs is at 8.6 miles. Having something to drink and something to nibble on there would be good.

We will start from Queens Gardens CR0 1GY at 10am. The total time for the ride will be approximately 4 1/2 hours, maybe 5, returning to Queens Gardens 2.30 - 3pm.

The ride is 19 1/2 miles, about 3 hours cycling. Please bring a water bottle. You will need to keep hydrated. Also an inner tube. If the valve on your tires is Schrader (short and thick, same as a car tire) you will need a pump too.

To chat about these rides, find out more info and see who else is coming, join our WhatsApp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/HFVOnWScHzi0Ss1w1leYrE