Ten riders out today: Bill Martin, Bill Kent and myself met at Cheam and then headed for the ponds at Carshalton. There we found Adam Domaingue, Dave Elliott, Trevor Kite, Tracy Caudle, Lucinda Gould, and Trevor Hughes our leader. (We met Andy Pearce later.) The route, something we haven’t done in a few years, was along the Wandle Trail to Wandsworth and followed the Thames to Putney.
Elevenses right by the Thames in Wetherspoons and then we continued along the Tow Path to Kingston. At the Spoons we met Andy Pearce who was sitting outside in the sun and so we followed suit. A lovely morning, warmish @17°C and nice views of the river over breakfast.
The onward route had been planned to continue to follow the Thames Tow Path, but the Oxford-Cambridge boat race had the path blocked for miles, so we took a road route to rejoin the river in Mortlake. After Kew Bridge we encountered notices stating ‘Tow Path closed’ – with of course as usual no advice or notices regarding any diversion routes. Fortunately a nice lady selling ice cream from a van advised us on the two options and we backtracked, crossed Kew Bridge and continued west on the north side of the river as far as Richmond Bridge. There we crossed back to the south bank of the Thames and continued through Ham, Teddington Lock and onto Kingston Upon Thames.
We left the river there and picked up the Hogsmill River back to Worcester Park and after cutting through the residential streets found ourselves back in Nonsuch Park, the end of the ride for me.