Box Hill

Last night we finally did have some rain, and today was cooler and extremely blustery. After not having rain or cloud cover for almost 3 months it was annoying that last night, when it was a chance to see the blood moon (total lunar eclipse) we could not see it due to the cloud cover - typical, isn't it!

Gavin's cousin who is riding in the Ride London Cycle Race tomorrow is not familiar with the cycle route, as he has never been to England before. The cycle race attracts about 25000 entrants and is one of the premier road races in the UK, at 160km long. This afternoon we drove him around Surrey to show him parts of the cycle route, particularly the very challenging Box Hill and Newlands Corner. The highest point of Box Hill is 224m above sea level but the route up there is narrow with many hairpin bends. During the 2012 Olympic Cycle Race the men completed 9 laps of Box Hill. Many parts of the course are through picturesque countryside, although the roads are very narrow in places. I certainly hope they have repaired all the pot holes!

We then dropped him and his bike at the station as tonight he will be sleeping in London near the start of the race as he has a 6am start time tomorrow morning and cannot get there from our house at that time, as we cannot drive him there due to blocked roads, and the trains do not run sufficiently early enough.

As luck would have it, the forecast for tomorrow is heavy rain with strong winds - the poor cyclists! We will walk up our road to watch them coming past and hopefully I can get some photos of him.

This is the view from Box Hill overlooking Dorking - there were many families out and about although it was so windy up there I felt as if I was going to be blown over!