B Ride 31 October 2012

19 of us set out from Addlestone. I forgot to call the register and it would embarrass me to have an incomplete list. We went to the river in Weybridge and then all the way along the towpath to Kingston. There were a few puddles but no mud, the path surface is quite reasonable and it was good to be by the river with no traffic. I'm conscious that going north doesn't suit everyone so we lost a few along the way. We stopped briefly at Hampton Court for a photo:

 

Anyway we got to the Boater's Inn just downstream from Kingston where we had a pretty good lunch at a table looking across the river. After lunch we went to Richmond Park which looked lovely with the leaves just turning We entered at the south-western corner and left by the Star and Garter. Then to a idiosyncratic cafe called "The Original Maids of Honour" (by Kew Gardens) where they provided "delectable pastries":

 

We only had two possible candidates for maids, they didn't seem eligible as maids in the traditional sense so I reckoned they must be old maids:

 

 

We had got down to only five at tea, a rather high wastage rate!