Easy Riders report for 10th January

With a frosty start and a maximum of 5C forecast it was not a day for the faint-hearted, but seven turned out at North Cheam. We arrived, somewhat numbed, at the new Hersham elevenses venue, the Bean on the Green - a very welcome haven of warmth and refreshment - where our numbers swelled to 11: John and Sandy Bayliss, Anne and John Connaughton, Ken Day, Jane Gunningham, Tony Hopkins, Terry Lowe, Bernard Power, Ray Wren and myself.

The plan was to choose a lunch stop on the return loop eastwards. Crossing Walton Bridge we were presented with a dramatic yet disturbing vista of the Thames in flood - the right-bank footpath was submerged and, on the opposite bank, front gardens and the ground area of the boatyard had disappeared from sight. Several fields had been transformed into lakes on our route towards Lower Sunbury.  It all made a big impression, though this, of course, would have been on a small scale compared with the devastating situation upriver.

Having detoured from the riverside road onto the track avoiding the centre of Sunbury, we turned south on Harfield Road and had the full benefit, albeit briefly, of a following wind and blazing sun (slight exaggeration!). Our lunch stop was the Jolly Coopers in Hampton which continues to maintain a very good standard of freshly prepared meals.

The temperature had dropped by the time we set out on our different routes home. The lower path on Barge Walk was mainly under water but levels may have been dropping gradually. There was evidence of the damage caused by last week's high winds at Raynes Park sports ground where an outsized gazebo had been uprooted and blown 30 or 40yds to the edge of the bowling green.

~ Frank