A group ride report, 27 November, Kingston to Harrow on the Hill

The “view” from the top of Horsenden Hill. On a good day, apparently you can see six counties from here!

Outside the Castle Inn waiting for John :)

14 of us left Kingston in glorious sunshine, but expecting heavy rain, which duly arrived at around noon on the way through Ealing. There was no whingeing from this hard-core group (well, I didn’t hear any) and we arrived at the Castle Inn bang on time at 1:02. It was nice to see a couple of riders from the B group with us, and TonyH was first up the hill into Harrow!
After lunch there was a very enjoyable 4 miles or so along the side of the grand union canal, through flocks of swans, geese and even a heron which was almost close enough to touch. All went well until we reached Richmond, where the Thames was so high we were cycling in water almost up to our hubs. This forced us to backtrack and find a different (busier) route into Richmond Park where we split up and headed for home as it was almost dark. A very enjoyable ride, many thanks to Hans and Brian for back marking and to Simon for the suggestion regarding Horsenden Hill (and the photo).