By prior arrangement with Steph our sub-group convened for Elevenses at The Pheasantry in Bushy Park which suited many of our riders but the only Nor'Wester was Gill, a frequent flyer with them who joined us there, with Ray Youlden doing the full ride from Cobham.
We rode North and were soon cruising along the path by the River Crane to the Shot Tower, built in 1826 for the manufacture of small bore shot. Still following the Crane we crossed the Hanworth Road and ventured into the Pevensey Road Nature Reserve on a very rough path where we would all have been glad to have mountain bikes with big knobbly tyres. It isn't clear if the path was designed and built as an assault course or whether it is a naturally occuring miniature scale english version of the rollercoaster roads in the Missouri Ozarks. But it was fun and some of us were happy to get off and walk through it. Had it been wet we may have sustained casualties. We concluded that it had all the hallmarks of a vintage Steph route. The paths through Hounslow Heath became easier and we found ourselves on quiet roads with safe places to cross the big A roads (A30, A4) until Cranford where we could take the easy route through Sipson to Harmondsworth. As the famous Great Barn is open only on the second and fourth Sundays of the month we didn't attempt to visit it.
Lunch was good at The Five Bells. There seemed to be only two prople runnning the whole operation but most of us had pre-ordered. Some had to wait a while for delivery but we enjoyed the food when it arrived. We had parked our bikes in the garden and it was a pleasant day so we parked ourselves there too. Despite a tardy departure from Bushy Park our team arrived five minutes ahead of Team Steph which had started out from Cobham. After lunch Steph's group were less disorganised than we were so she left ahead of us.
We headed up to Hayes Town to join the Grand Union Canal and came off at Bulls Bridge to take quiet roads leading to Osterley Lane which skirts around to the North of the park and the Middle Lake. Thence into Wood Lane and on to Isleworth and the Thames Path. We crossed the bridge in Richmond and rode up the hill and found that Steph and her A team had stopped at Pembroke Lodge for Tea. For many of us the warmth of the day called for an ice-cream.
We were pleased to welcome to Alan Clark on the ride. Alan has been a CTC member for a very long time and although he is a working man he has been a frequent flyer on Saturday rides. Mick Arber, now a seasoned Wayfarer, and freshly recovered from his recent conquest in the 100 mile Tri-Vets event, volunteered to be our back marker so we have him to thank for shepherding the team during the ride. Although she has been out riding frequently on Saturdays this was the first time Yasmine has been able to ride with us this year and we were pleased to see her.
Thanks to everyone for sharing the adventure and to Steph for coming up with a very well planned and most interesting ride.
~ Tim C
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