Roy's triangulation

Inspired by Dave Vine's planned ride for December 31st I had planned to do the western part of it in early January. It fell foul of lockdown after I had loaded it to the Garmin. So on Friday, after the rain cleared, I resurrected it at short notice. I followed my usual route to Teddington via Horton, Thames Ditton and Hampton Court and continued north through Strawberry Hill to Kneller Gardens. I had realised that this was very close to home for Simon and he didn't need much persuasion to join me for coffee. 

Then I headed into the wind (and the unruly dogs)  along the River Crane path, past the shot tower and on to Hanworth. 

 

Here the parks were very quiet and my next challenge was the curly bridge over the A316.  Fortunately the wind abated for a while so I cycled over it without being blown about like a piece of washing. Then I was onto roads unridden since Graham Hill was leading the As ( or was it Bs?). I cut left of Oak Avenue along Old Farm Road ( I assume a relic of pre suburban times) to Roy Grove in Hampton.

Here a cannon buried in the turf marks one of the points where Major General William Roy started the baseline of the Ordnance Survey in 1784 measuring a distance of about 5 miles to an accuracy of 3 inches. 

Then it was back to Bushy Park for a west to east traverse ( more children to avoid than dogs here) and across Kingston Bridge before heading home.

PS: to save writing another blog. Today I headed out to AllezNutrition's van at the top of Staple Lane for coffee and cake. Out via Downside and Ockham. Then down to Shere and home via Gomshall, Abinger Common and Balchins Lane to Dorking. Good to see David and Jennie on the A24 path.