Five riders out today on a cold and gloomy morning: Ed Pegg, Adam Domaingue, Jenny Lee, Bill Kent and myself leading. Our route took us out through a short section of the Hogsmill River and passed some enthusiastic boffins wading around in the river, health checking for invertebrates – rather them than me in this weather!
We briefly entered Horton Park on Butcher’s Row before heading to Chessington South and across the busy A24 to climb up to Barwell Farm, our route to Claygate Common. After Claygate we dropped down a trail to Arbrook Common and onto Esher Common. We ‘iggy wiggied’ through the burbs of Thames Ditton, crossed the River Mole and onto West Molesey before bursting out triumphantly onto the River Thames about a mile from the tea stop.
Alas on arrival at the cricket club the tea stop, Miss Polly’s Riverside was as dead and derelict as I had seen it on the 27th December. Plan B was enacted and we continued on to the rowing club’s cafe. Plan B was a bust as everyone who’d discovered the cricket club wasn’t open had planted themselves in the rowing club.
A plan C was suggested by Bill Kent and so we followed him over Hampton Court Bridge into Bushey Park to the cafe there. It was fairly packed, but Jenny found us a small table and we ate expensive foodstuffs you’d expect in a Royal Park establishment; poor King Charlie is a pauper after all!
After re-fuelling the team set off with Bill Kent smiling all of the three or so miles home to Twickenham whilst the rest of us headed across Bushy Park towards the maelstrom of Kingston ‘zombie attention’ shoppers and the like. We made it through Kingston Market on the cycle path that’s so obscure that only a few even recognise it’s there and headed towards Berrylands.
The lighter stripe in the bricks is supposed to indicate a cycle path. Well done to Kingston Borough Council, project designed by an ex-army camouflage specialist I suspect!
At Berrylands we dropped back onto the trail along the Hogsmill River crossed under the A3 and made our way through the burbs of Tolworth to avoid a boggy section of path by the river in Worcester Park. In the Chessington North area I bode farewell to the group, who continued onto Cheam etc, whilst I headed back to the car in Horton Park.
Good ride Lady and Gentleman, a tad under thirty miles for me.
Miles: 29.8