Our meet-up at North Cheam took place in wind and rain this Wednesday, not a great start for the day's adventure. And yet, there were six of us, hardy riders all, with cheery good mornings for each other and it was good to be out.
Jane, Anne, John, Colin, Frank B and I set off shortly after 9.30 to make our way to coffee at Walton-on-Thames. We headed through Worcester Park and Malden Manor, crossing the Hogsmill river and winding our way up to Tolworth. Here Jane peeled off to attend to another commitment, with praise from us all for even coming out this atrocious morning.
The rest of us continued through the Dittons and via the Angel to Weston Green. The rain was easing off and turning into showers as we headed west, and had more or less stopped as we arrived at the Riverside Barn theatre cafe. Here we met Bill, Tony H and Bernard; Frank C arrived a little behind us all and we enjoyed our coffee together in the garden marquee.
We agreed to head to Kingston for lunch, and phoned the Spring Grove to book nine of us in. Most of us then cycled across the Walton Bridge to follow cycleways through Halliford, Sunbury and Hampton.
Tony lead us up a delightful little lane off Halliford Road through Sunbury Cemetery, and we followed him along School Walk, a quiet and pretty little detour which somehow also turned out to be a shortcut. It was really a pleasure to enjoy an extra 10 minutes or so of traffic free cycling, and find ourselves back on track when we emerged.
Soon we were crossing Bushy Park and heading into Kingston. We found Bill already at the pub, as he had followed the South side of the river through Thames Ditton and Surbiton, arriving about 10 minutes earlier.
We all enjoyed a good lunch together before heading for home. The rain had cleared and I think we probably all made it home in the dry!
~ Helen
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