B Ride 17 July 2013

About 20 of us set out from Kingston, ("about" because each time I counted I got a different answer). Tony H led us to Kingston Gate of Richmond Park. Seen on the way, two wonderful shire horses:

We crossed the A3 and then across Wimbledon Common, parts of which were really hard work, a mixture of sand and loose gravel.The shade was nice though. Then a slightly complcated route through Wimbledon. I'm not sure at what point the numbers reduced but only 16 made it to lunch. It proved rather difficult to keep the group together, with so many people and so many traffic lights, often we had to stop because the group was split. We lost a couple on the way but they made it through their native good sense. 14 of the 16 were: Anna, Ed, Françoise, Frank, Lynda, Gillian, Ian, Pete C, Pete ?, Ray, Robin, Sandy, Tim and me.

Since it was the hottest day of the year it was good to be able to cool down in the pool. In several places in London it reached 32 degrees. (Françoise took some photos which I hope she'll put on the blog).

We set off again just before 3.00:

We went though Crystal Palace Park and Sydenham Woods (a fragment of the Great North Wood which was a natural oak forest that covered most of the area of raised ground starting some four miles (6 km) south of central London, covering the Sydenham Ridge and the southern reaches of the River Effra and its tributaries. At its full extent, the wood's boundaries stretched almost as far as Croydon and as far north as Camberwell).

We joined the river at Battersea Park and followed it as far as Wandsworth Bridge, on the way:

We had tea at Fulham Palace, which is really rather super. It's astonishing how much wealth the church had. The Manor of Fulham was bought by Waldhere, the Bishop of London, from Tyrhtilus, the Bishop of Hereford, about 700AD. The Manor covered the whole of what is now Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing, Acton and Finchley. The Bishops owned other manors in Middlesex, Essex and Hertfordshire.Fulham Palace was one of several bishop’s palaces within easy reach of London, essential for attendance at court and Parliament, but away from the over-crowded city. In the 16th century there were 177 homes for 21 bishops, now there are 43 for 42.

By the time I got home I'd done 45 miles from North Cheam and I guess others had done a similar distance.