Ten riders turned out for the club MTB which is on the first Sunday of the month, which I was leading in Trevor Hughes’ absence.
Myself, Dave Repson, Mick Ayliffe, Andy Huddart, Andrew Adams and Barry Toogood from the Kingston Phoenix met at Cheam Station.
The weather was good, a sunny morning with little in the way of a breeze from any direction, very good cycling weather.
We headed for the secondary meeting point at Carshalton Ponds via the top end of Sutton and it was here we picked up Mick Curtis along the way.
We met Dave Elliott and Paul Martin and proceeded on our usual route along the River Wandle towards Morden Park.
At the south side of Morden Park we picked up our final club rider Paul Kelly.
Our ride took us the usual route through to Merton, Wandle Park, Summerstown, Wandsworth and finally onto the Thames and elevenses on the riverside in Putney.
After elevenses the group split three ways as is fairly usual. Some wishing to go the flat route back, Messrs Elliott and Martin; some semi flat, Messrs Ayliffe, Curtis and Kelly; and the latter Messrs Huddart, Adams, Toogood following me the long way around to Kingston.
Therefore Dave Elliott and Paul Martin retraced their route back along the Wandle. Paul Kelly led the Mick’s Ayliffe and Curtis on a gentle climb via Putney Park Road back over Wimbledon Common.
I led our group of four via the The Beverley River over the back of Barnes Common emerging near the pond at Barnes Green.
I decided to do this to cut off the Thames north loop towards Chiswick, which on a sunny summer’s day is packed with walkers, dogs, joggers etc and so slow it’s not worth bothering with for a cyclist!
A new back street residential route avoiding a little bit of busy road at Barnes Green was used, something I’d looked up on Google Earth specially for the ride. It proved useful and I will probably use it again.
We rejoined the Thames Path just west of Barnes railway bridge and had a pleasant sunny ride to Richmond.
Richmond’s Thameside crowds to my surprise were not too bad considering the good weather and before long we were approaching my next planned new route exploration at Ham House.
The route was good, but as with all new routes explored I made a slight error and turned left one turning too early!
This didn’t in the end make too much difference, just got us joining the intended path a little earlier than planned.
Such is the way when exploring a new route!
Once again we were off the Thames Path for the same reasons as the first time, too busy.
Our deviation took us to the rear of Ham House past the Polo Field and into the residential streets of Ham and presently back onto the Thameside at Teddington Lock.
At this point Andrew Adams peeled off for home and then there were just three.
The three of us headed along the Thames to Kingston and then back onto the usual Hogsmill River route taking us back through Worcester Park, Stoneleigh, Nonsuch Park and back to Cheam the starting point.
For myself the distance was 34 miles, time not fast, but then a Sunday ride along the Thames never is!
Time around 3h:40m
Paul White