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Midweek fears that Andy Murray was
going to win the Men’s Final and the weather forecast predicting heavy rain
were thankfully misguided.
Before we left we introduced ourselves
to one another by first name. It was Clara’s first social ride. As we were about
to leave, we received a message asking us to wait for one more rider. Le grand
départ began at 10.15am.
We had to leave Lin at Acton due to gear failure, despite Murray’s
gallant efforts trying to fix her problem. Lin generously sent an e-mail thanking
Murray for all
his assistance. (Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone who has been helped could do
the same?).
Keeping to the back streets of Hammersmith and
Fulham we crossed Wandsworth
Bridge and then through the
labyrinth of subways under the gyratory system before reaching Wandsworth
Common and Clapham Common. Some were hoping that the café on Clapham Common was
going to be the drink stop, but Ben had other ideas: his planned stop was
another 6 miles further on!
We took the hidden alley that passes by the
front door of Brixton Prison (where Kelvin took a group photograph and Ben posed
with his Foska ‘Inmate’ top). Then a clever short cut through the Tulse
Hill Estate took us into beautiful Brockwell
Park, which Lambeth
Council wants to destroy by building a road through it.
We got to Peckham Rye
Park – our drink stop - at 12.30pm. Drinks
were brought out to us by a member of staff as the group began to cover their
arms and faces with sun cream: it was that hot!
We crossed the railway line at Lewisham Hospital using the clever spiral
footbridge where one walks up the steps whilst pushing your bike along the
adjacent ramp. Hither Green, Lee and Mottingham came and went as we made our
way up our final ascent along King John’s Walk with its hard-to-beat views of London.
200 minutes and 22.5 miles after we set off, we
reached Eltham Palace and took advantage of the 15%
group discount that included a superb free audio tour narrated by David Suchet.
(Agatha Christie’s Poirot was filmed
here).
We returned by train to Charing Cross to be greeted
by a gate assistant at Charing Cross who waved
us all through the barrier despite having no tickets. A nice touch! From
Charing Cross we went up The Mall (closed to traffic on Sundays) through Hyde
Park and along Kensington High Street until we reached Olympia where we rejoined the back
streets. We got back to Ealing around
6.30pm. It was a ride that everyone enjoyed.
Thanks to Ben for leading, Murray for being the back-stop and Dr Bike on the way out. Thanks, too, to
Tim for volunteering to be the back-stop from Charing
Cross.
Eltham Palace,
managed today by English Heritage, remains one of England’s largest medieval palaces
and the glamorous home of the Courtauld’s in the 1930’s. It combines the finest
Art Deco home in England
with the remains of a medieval and Tudor royal palace that was the home of
Henry V111. It happens to be the home of London’s
oldest working bridge. Eltham is quite simply a hidden gem. It was so good that
Kelvin signed up to become a member of English Heritage! In
a fit of enthusiasm/maddness, Tim, Murray and Francois decided to cycle
back rather than take the train - returning to Ealing in 2 hours.
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