Central London CTC blog » Newcomers rides http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog Ride reports, maps, pictures, announcements and other news ... Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:52:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 The Country Estates of West London http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/2009/02/02/the-country-estates-of-west-london/ http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/2009/02/02/the-country-estates-of-west-london/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:50:15 +0000 Charles Harvey http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/?p=666 I have been on some labyrinthine rides in my time and, indeed, led some but this one took some beating. Probably only Colin Wing, our ride leader, and Tom Bogdanowicz, who was recording copious route notes on his mobile phone, really know where we went. We met at Richmond Station. It was cold then and getting colder. By evening it was snowing. The usual Sunday engineering work meant that we all arrived in dribs and drabs but by 25 minutes after the official meeting time we were all there. We crossed Richmond Bridge and the followed the north bank of the Thames for a while before heading north. The next place I recognised was Osterley Park, still surprisingly rural complete with a herd of cows. We then headed north, crossed over the M4 and joined the Grand Union Canal which we followed to Brentford. Soon we were at a tea stop at Syon Park, built by the Dukes of Northumberland and the scene of fighting in 1642 at the beginning of the English Civil War. After tea, some headed directly back into London while the remainder rode across Syon Park and followed the river to Richmond. Thanks to Colin for the ride and I hope Tom got some clear notes and photographs.

]]> http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/2009/02/02/the-country-estates-of-west-london/feed/ 0 The Phoenix Way to Thame http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/2008/08/27/the-phoenix-way-to-thame/ http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/2008/08/27/the-phoenix-way-to-thame/#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:18:36 +0000 Charles Harvey http://www.centrallondonctc.org.uk/blog/?p=470 Fortunately, we had no repeat of the problems of the 2007 ride. The trains were running normally and there was no need to find another ride quickly without proper reconnaissance. It was raining when the train arrived but the weather forecast said the weather would improve so we rode into Princes Risborough for a coffee. Sure enough, by the time we had finished coffee the rain had stopped. We rode on the Phoenix Trail, a Sustrans route along a former railway line, for about six miles to Towersey, spent half an hour at an art exhibition linked with the nearby Towersey Folk Festival and then rode on to Thame for lunch.

After lunch we visited the Thame Museum before riding via Moreton to Tetsworth on a route that started as a paved road but became an unsurfaced byway. Then it was via Adwell, Postcombe and Sydenham to a tea stop at the Inn at Emmington before returning to Towersey and the Phoenix Trail back to the station.

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