Claygate with the Pollards Hill Cyclists
Posted on Sunday 7 January 2007 by Mark Dawson
Hands up who didn’t come today because they didn’t want to get wet. The forecast was terrible and that probably accounted for the relatively low number of 7 on this joint PHC & CTC ride. However, the weather was fantastic, very mild and I was even blinded by the sun at one point!We started with a meander along the Wandle Trail to Carshalton, cleverly avoiding all the barriers that force you to dismount. Then it was backstreets to Sutton and onto Cheam for Nonsuch Park and a morning stop. I never tire of that small stretch of road behind the Whitehall with the cute wooden cottages.
The key to this ride is that although it’s very suburban, it uses short green links to take you on a direct route that a car wouldn’t be able to follow. However, after all the rain, there was no way we could use the bridleways on the way to Claygate. It’s horsey country and they were impassible when I’d been out that way earlier in the week. So I had to revise the route at the last minute. Fortunately, the Hogsmill Path is tarmac through King George’s at West Ewell so I kept that bit in.
Once over A3, the ride finally becomes rural but you’re pretty much in Claygate at this point. We’d made such good time that the Foley Arms wasn’t even open. I think this was a combination of a smaller group, no mechanical problems, relatively flat route and having a good backmarker who can get us through junctions in one go so we’re never waiting for people to catch up. We’d still gone at the usual slow pace. By the time the bikes were locked up in the beer garden the doors were open so we were first to order food.
I tried a new route on the fly for the return by heading towards Long Ditton where we picked up a route we’ve ridden before. We couldn’t go through the Joseph Hood Rec because of the mud so after the short stretch of busy road at Tolworth we headed for Bushy Mead and sought out the path alongside the fishing lake on Cannon Hill Common. It was slightly muddy but nothing too bad as the path is on a hard surface.
A short detour in the John Innes Conservation Area took us past Ronnie Wood’s old house and studio. A quick nip through a forlorn looking Kelsey Gardens put us back on track for the afternoon stop at Morden Hall where the group separated after tea and cakes. 3 of us carried on to Pollards Hill taking the unusual step of going through Phipp’s Bridge estate and along roads behind St Peter’s church to Mitcham town centre. We took a quick look at the formerly underground river at Three Kings Piece and then back to base.
Out for 6hrs, see the pix on Flickr.
As always, most of these pictures are taken whilst riding the bike. Amazingly, this picture below just won the inaugural Merton photo competition and is the January picture on the new Merton calendar:
Seems like the awards are just flowing in!! I wonder if the judges had any idea how this was taken!!