A Group ride to Windsor, 21 October

From the Barmy Arms to Nutty Lane, as Dave summed it up.   Nineteen riders signed up, and then some of them accidentally looked at the weather forecast.  Eleven nutty riders actually came on the ride, while another eight were barmy to miss it.

The ride was planned with historic and musical themes.   Wet Wet Wet was the main act.   Read on for an armchair tour of the sights; but first, the cycling:

Report from Dave's Ducklings

Stables Cafe, Orleans House

My select group of (fool)hardy riders (Sue, Gina, Patrick, Dave W and Steve D) left 11’s in rain that was more persistent drizzle than the apocalypse indicated by all of the forecasts. We followed Simon’s route past some of the historical delights in Twickenham and surrounding area, and after about an hour, as we waved goodbye to Freddie Mercury’s childhood home, the rain stopped. The rest of our ride to Windsor was uneventful and dry, even if it was on decidedly wet roads. 

Lunch at the Cinnamon Cafe was a rare change from our usual pub lunch venues, but service was quick, the food good, plentiful and cheap….what’s not to like?!!

Cinnamon Cafe, old Windsor Royal Station

Is that steam or smoke coming off Patrick's gloves?

10% discount for Lycra

We started back out of Windsor hoping for a dry ride back, and our hopes were answered…except for the 10 minute downpour as we rode past Chez Elton John up Crimp Hill!!…the sun even put in a brief appearance as our ride came to a finish.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the ride in spite of the weather, so thanks to all for coming along and to Simon for the route.  

Dave Bartholomew.

It is tempting to call my group Simon's Swans, but let's be honest, we looked nothing like swans in all our rain gear.  (Suggestions welcome!).   

Cape, mask, steamed-up glasses...

Setting off in the rain from the stables cafe at the former Orleans House, there was limited appetite for sight-seeing, so we missed the Georgian splendour of Marble Hill House and viewed York House over the wall as we cycled by.  The slightly famous Twickenham Naked Ladies statues in the gardens were censored from the trip entirely.

Flooded railway underpass

We stopped briefly at Eel Pie Island, a formative site in British jazz and blues music.  Some 'real' Londoners in the club have memories of seeing famous bands there back in the 60s.  Onwards along the newly extended Crane Park path, past the old gunpowder factory and the Shot Tower towards Hanworth Air Park, which was a huge airfield called London Air Park between the wars, and visited by the Graf Zeppelin on a couple of occasions.  Then to Freddie Mercury's old house, where we chatted to a couple of neighbours who didn't seem to have heard of Freddie Mercury.

From here to lunch it was mainly a damp bike ride with frequent traffic light stops at road works (are they a side-effect of Covid??), along roads familiar to many.

We left the (outdoors) shelter of the Cinnamon Cafe just as the rain really came down for a bit, before gradually brightening up through the rest of the afternoon.   Between the top of Crimp Hill and Egham the roads were awash and in one place, flooded but just passable with dry feet.

Autumn colours and weather near Englefield Green

Thank you to my nutty group of Steve W, Dave V, John and Ged for persisting despite the rain, to Dave Vine for back marking, and to the other co-leaders, eventually reduced to just Dave Bartholomew, for offering to lead on a miserable day.

The Cultural bit

In Georgian times, Twickenham was popular for country mansions where the well-to-do could get away from London.   Some still remain:

Orleans house, built around 1710 by a favourite diplomat of George I, and named after the Duc d'Orleans, who stayed there.  Only the octagonal gallery survives from the main house.

Orleans House

Marble Hill House, built in the 1720s for George II's mistress, Henrietta Howard, and now owned by English Heritage.

Marble Hill House

York House, built in the 1630s for a courtier of Charles I.   The last private owner in the early 1900s was Sir Rajan Tata, an Indian industrialist (Tata Steel etc), who laid out the formal Italian gardens including the Twickenham Ladies, as they are more politely known.  York House is now the home of Richmond Borough Council.

York House

Twickenham Naked Ladies

 

Eel Pie Island is a sort of Bohemian rhapsody in the middle of the Thames, accessible by footbridge or boat.  The famous Eel Pie Island Hotel was the place to go to hear and dance to jazz in the 1950s, blues in the 1960s (the Rolling Stones played every Wednesday for a while in 1963), and heavy rock briefly in 1969, before the hotel fell into disrepair and mysteriously burned down in 1971.

Eel Pie Island and the hotel

(longer video here if you're interested)

Gunpowder was made at Hounslow Gunpowder mills on the river Crane from 1540 right up to 1927.   Saltpetre was ground in a water mill and mixed with charcoal made from local willow or alder wood.   Explosions were common and each of the mixing houses were surrounded by earth mounds to protect nearby workers.   Despite this, all the decorative windows were blown out as far away as Strawberry Hill House in 1772.   An early example of First World problems.  The earth mounds survive, as does the Shot Tower, apparently used for making lead shot by dropping molten lead from the top.

The Shot Tower, Crane Park

Freddie Mercury's family home in Feltham:

Another memorial in Feltham High Street

Windsor Royal Station