You wait all winter for a London ride, and then two of them come along at once! The fault was all mine: the annual Wayfarers London ride is always in March. However I had been gestating an idea for a ride through the parks of South London for over a year, and I couldn't hold it in any longer. The Cheam and Morden section has not been seen in Morden for many a year, so it seemed a good idea to start from there. A new elevenses venue for us, the Morden Cafe, attracted a surprisingly big crowd, despite forecast rain all morning.
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| Graham, Robert, Paul & Maggie, Steph, Diane, David W, Lilian, Keith, David & Jennie (Alan and myself not pictured.) |
It was merely damp by the time all thirteen of us set off through Morden Hall Park, Tooting common, and Brockwell Park to admire the view of a grey and cloudy London. Steph left us sometime around here as she had other commitments in the afternoon. Dulwich and Peckham parks led us eventually to the Waterlink Way, which leads down towards Greenwich.
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| Wonderful(?) views of London |
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| Herne Hill velodrome |
Disaster befell us at Greenwich. The Gate Clock had run out of fish and chips! Also, I mis-read the table number, so my food took an extremely long time to arrive, while I presume the servers were pestering the people on a different table with my order. After lunch, it was a bit like going back in time, to last Wednesday, where we reversed around part of Paul's route through the Rotherhithe docklands. Eventually we settled onto C14 across to Southwark and Waterloo station, where the majority left for trains home.
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| The after-party |
The aprés-ride was almost as exciting as the ride itself. The select four remaining had tea and cake at the Little Bread Pedlar cafe on Lower Marsh Street before going underground to a world of graffiti artists hard at work, and then on to Westminster, the Mall, Hyde Park and Putney Bridge. I mention Putney Bridge because it was the Boat Race, packed with excited spectators, with a helicopter overhead. We decided to stay and watch the end of the men's race, and pushed our bikes through a tide of supporters to find a space overlooking the Thames, only to find that we'd just missed the finish. So instead, we made our way to Richmond Park and homewards.
It always surprises me that riding in London can be done almost entirely on quiet roads or safe cycleways; there's always lots to see and usually plenty of memories to be shared by those on the ride. Thanks to all who came along despite the forecast rain, which in the end didn't really trouble us. I hope you enjoyed it. And special thanks to Davids, Ward and Jackson, who back-marked for us.
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