Watercress & Wild Garlic 

FCCC Ride to Alresford Station - Sunday 28th July 2013


A challenging club ride south to Alresford on the Watercress Line (Steam Railway), though the hot dry weather meant that the train services were being pulled by Diesel engines only due to the risk of line-side fires. 

A lumpy route out into a strong headwind was rewarded by a generous slab of Chocolate cake in the Station Cafe. 

Beautifully kept platform

Sweet-smelling weed! Station Ad

Quick tube change before the return run

View from the back - at Brown Candover

On the route back through the Candovers there was a strong scent of Wild Garlic, unleashed by the previous evening's heavy showers. 


At the top of Farleigh Hill we crossed the route of riders doing the Basingstoke Big Wheel, the local charity ride which provided me with my first 50 miler not so many years ago!


The Route

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/255488041

Tales from the Riverbank (and the Canal tow-path) - More Commute Ride Pics - May - September 2013

The next best thing to 'messing about on the river' must be cycling alongside it. 

The Thames, in all it's twists and turns, is in my opinion London's greatest feature but that's not the only waterway I encounter as I ride to work. The Grand Union Canal/River Brent tow paths give you the impression you are far away from West London. 

It's not always possible to hug the Thames but there are plenty of routes near it's course that keep you away from the traffic melee! 

With routes through Bushey Park, Syon Park and Richmond Park you can sometimes forget where you are....Rush hour? What Rush hour?

And in Summer....golden days........long daylight hours and warm weather.....all add up to extended routes to and especially from work.

NCN Route 4 Thameside near Teddington -  Traffic free. 

                                     

Thames - near Ham

Thames - Old Isleworth

Low Tide - Old Isleworth

Stag - Bushey Park 

Unloved......

                                           





                                   

Richmond Hill - Late September evening.
There won't be many more of these after work views soon as the days shorten. 

Twickenham Bridge - more attractive from this angle than up on it.  

Riverside Creatures - Duck's Walk - Richmond

Old Boys Rowing Club - Richmond

Marble Hill House 

                                        

Richmond Bridge - view from the less busy approaches.


As the GU Canal/River Brent goes North from Brentford Quay, it skirts the parks of Boston Manor, Osterley & Elthorne on it's way to Hanwell Locks. At different points along the canal both the M40 and the Piccadilly Line go overhead but for the most part you'd think you were out in the countryside.  

                                    

Golden Glow - River Brent  - Rush hour!

Although there are glimpses of the 'other' world........the Glaxo building and some pretty striking and appropriately grim graffiti on Gallows Bridge.......

                                   

Friday Commute - 28th June 2013

Things appear on Fridays

The Friday commute ride is perhaps a bit more relaxed.....less rushed, allowing more time to notice the weird and the wonderful in and around our sprawling capital city. You just wouldn't notice these in a car.

new art at Gallows Bridge.......never mind, soon be the weekend !

Meadows not Motors - Syon Park 7.35am 

Buddha Barge - Osterley Lock (Grand Union Canal)

St Pancras and the good Samaritan - Ride along the Grand Union Canal after work

Early finish for a meeting near St Pancras Station: the prelude to a bigger and more exciting ride ahead.....more about that when it happens. Took the Grand Union Canal from Acton all the way to St Pancras......not a fast ride but a very interesting route (see pics from the 'ride across London' post from Summer 2011 http://hantsrider-cyclerides.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/ride-across-london-after-work-via-canal.html).

No pics this time as I was in a hurry but I did stop early on along the canal to do my good deed of the day. A young lad was clearly having problems with his bike on the tow path. I had a look at the bike for him and realised that a loose wheel nut on the back wheel was causing the wheel to move over and catch the stays & frame when he pedalled along. Quick tighten with a box spanner and all was well. He said 'I'm really so grateful to you'. 'No problem' I said, 'Cyclists look out for one another'.

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/305896501

Timebends #4 - Olympic Torch Ride - July 11th 2012

Ah.....remember last year's Olympics. Suddenly last Summer......it felt good to be British. Some wonderful things happened last year. Despite awful weather in June things turned out fine for the Olympics and lots of great British sportsmen & women achieved extraordinary success. Not least was the dominance of British cyclists coming hot on the heals of Wiggo's Tour De France victory. Cycling became cool!

...and before all that the Olympic Torch went around the British Isles and I rode to Basingstoke to see it.


 ....It's coming...

.....and then a beautiful ride home...

I found a bike today......

Well, it was a couple of weeks ago, actually. I was on the ride home from work, just passing Elthorne Leisure Centre, en route to the G.U Canal near Hanwell when I saw an abandoned Dawes Kalahari. I mean, you just can't do that to a Dawes!

I couldn't take it with me. For a start the chain was off and the back wheel mangled.....so, what to do?

I moved it into the bike park area of the Leisure Centre and told the staff I would bring the car back the following day to rescue the unrideable heap outside! 

Project....methinks

......progress will be slow....

Talking of which.......here is a great short film by a talented film maker called Sam Bailey. 

Love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2S6VwfHwpI

Stag morning & a windswept return - Summer commute ride

Hanworth Park to Ealing & back via Hampton, Kingston, Richmond, Isleworth 
& Brentford 

Distance 35 Miles 

The daily commute ride can get a little predictable though never dull. When time is limited and the destination always the same there isn't much room for variety of routes, but at the this time of year the longer daylight hours and decent weather make it easier to work in some variations.  

I hadn't cycled through Bushy Park since we moved from East Molesey in 1999 though my 'Summer' route took me around it on the busier main road from Hampton to Kingston-Upon-Thames. 

So, a few weeks ago I tried out a route through the park from West (Hampton) to East (Kingston Bridge) and what I found was a lovely (and largely traffic free) new route on good smooth surfaced roads/cycle paths across the parks 2.5 km span.  

Rush hour on the path through Bushy Park

It is possible to traverse the Park from a number of directions without encountering traffic, although there is a road route for cars from North to South. 

Interestingly, drivers stick rigidly to the 20 mph speed limit here making my brief crossing of this road very easy and relaxed. There are warning signs about the Park's resident Deer population but I don't understand why drivers would keep their speed down here and yet so often ignore 20 limits in residential areas where children often walk to and from school! It reminds me of the way drivers always slow down to pass a horse and rider and yet often zoom past cyclists dangerously close! It seems that when in our cars we hold animals in higher regard than another human being.   

I had to cycle close to these guys, easing up on the speed a little but they were unconcerned by my presence unlike the Does further away who were much more guarded with their new Fauns.

My return journey was a on a more established route down the Grand Union Canal from Hanwell  to Brentford. There are changes taking place at Brentford lock: the dismantling of the old covered loading area and the building of waterside apartments. The tow path still goes under 

the giant shed roof but for how much longer?  

The old.....being dismantled

making way for the new......

After the ride across Syon Park and down Thameside through Richmond, the turn on the corner in Petersham allows an escape from traffic across leafy Ham Common. 

Green avenue - Ham Common

Despite riding into a strong South westerly it was a lovely evening to be skirting the Thames. 

Thames near Kingston