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MITCHAM GHOST RIDE 40 people!!! The rain held off, we had our first Chopper, our first
recumbent and at the height of the ride, 40 people! What a result!
The Ghost Ride was the Halloween version of our popular family ride. We had
some good press in both local papers and did a fairly substantial
leafletting campaign of parked bikes. Seems like it paid off.
Using stories supplied by James Clark, the author of Strange Mitcham, we
toured the quiet roads and traffic-free routes of the area and stopped to
listen to the spooky stories on the way. Our first stop was just round the
corner, Pollards Hill itself, part of a pentangle of mystic London landmarks
on on a leyline between St Mary's church in Beddington and St Mary's church
in Addiscomble.
We heard about the various ghosts on Mitcham Common (including the ghost of
a motorway - the M23 would have crossed the common if it was built), the
grisly events at Rose Cottage and after our refreshment break in Beddington
Park, the tale of the ghosts of Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I at
Carew Manor and the adjacent churchyard.
We used the Wandle Trail from Beddington Park to take us past Deen City Farm up to Merton Abbey
Mills where the group started to thin as the night was drawing in. Those
that were Pollards Hill bound enjoyed a dusk ride down the newly resurfaced
Myrna Close LNR railway path whilst others peeled off to make their own way
home.
Next year, if we can get some money in, we hope to repeat the ride but use
professional storytellers and actors who can bring the stories to life.
We'll probably make it a day ride with a lunch stop instead of squashing it
into an afternoon. Stick it in your diaries now!
14 miles, out for just over 4 hours
Friday 28th October HALLOWEEN CRITICAL MASS 4 of us met at the library for a late afternoon feeder ride up to the monthly Critical Mass event. We celebrated the fact that the cycle lanes on Tooting and Wandsworth Commons were finally given the go-ahead today by riding over Tooting Common to Clapham Common and then up to Waterloo using LCN Route 3 which takes you up some amazing back roads with fantastic houses and very little traffic. Far preferable to the A3 but 2 miles longer and a bit slower.
Around 1000 cyclists gathered underneath Waterloo bridge. At the previous month's Critical Mass, police had handed out leaflets threatening participants with arrest because they had decided to deem it a 'protest'. An uproar ensued, led by Jenny Jones from the Green Party who also happens to be a member of the Met Police Authority. She wrote to Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and urged him to urgently review the situation.
There were no signs of the police leaflets this time although certain people had predicted trouble and 'bust' cards were distributed containing information on what to do if arrested. Legal observers followed the ride, seemingly on foot.
At first the group appeared to split straight away. Police tactic? Who knows. But soon, all 1000 cyclists reconvened outside Buckingham Palace with the Sex Pistol's God Save The Queen blaring from a portable sound system. The ride moves slowly so it was over an hour before we got to Parliament Square, a contentious location as protests are banned from the area but Critical Mass has no organiser and is not therefore a 'protest', it is simply a mass bike ride. Couriers waved their bikes in the air and the ride stopped for 15 minutes.
We peeled off after two hours as the Mass headed down Oxford Street. I presume the ride continued to be as good natured as the the part we participated in. The police held the traffic at side roads and explained to drivers what was happening and there were plenty of people adding to the carnival atmosphere with drums, whistles and sound systems. It's not to everyone's tastes but it's worth trying at least once.
25 miles, out for 5 hours
Sunday 23rd October SIX BELLS AT NEWDIGATE
Four Pollards Hill Cyclists braved the early start for the ride to East Croydon station where we piled onto the train to Crawley with various members of the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) already secreted amongst the carriages. We met our 5th person on the train but combined with the CTC members we numbered 18 for our ride around around the lanes of the Surrey countryside.
An excellent route out of Crawley soon saw us into the countryside but the group was moving so fast that the leader was forced to add some extra loops in so we didn't get to the lunch stop before it opened! Subsequently, a 20 mile ride had turned into 20 miles before lunch.
The Six Bells at Newdigate is a delightful country pub and former smuggler's safehouse, situated opposite a fantastic church with a wooden spire. They have a variety of food ranging from cheap cheese sandwiches to full-on restaurant quality dishes. This week they had an Indonesian theme to complement their main menu. Very generous servings meant we stayed for a good while.
As we were still feeling fairly fit, our CTC leader decided to ride up to Redhill station instead of returning from Crawley. This saw us make extensive use of the Surrey Cycleway, a signposted route linking nearly 90 miles of quiet roads and country lanes in a series of giant loops.
By popular demand, we rode into Brockham Village near Dorking to partake of the cakes at the village hall. Teas on the Green at Brockham have been a cyclists institution for 30 years now and the local toddlers group who were today's beneficiaries of the income had baked an amazing selection. Check the photo!
From Brockham we pretty much stayed on the Surrey Cycleway until Redhill station where the 5 of us thought we were being clever hopping on the Gatwick train forgetting that Redhill was of course north of the airport so we were going the wrong way! We got back just after 5:30 with an unexpected but satisfying 40 miles on the clock.
See all the photos from today on Flickr
Sunday 9th October RETURN TO DOWNE Last time we tried to get to the pretty Kent village of Downe we didn't quite make it. So we decided to stage a return, this time using a more direct route. 9 of us met up at the library on this glorious, sunny autumn day to see if we could make it second time lucky.
The quickest way involved picking up the Waterlink Way in South Norwood Country Park but turning off at Spring Park along Links View Rd to get to Corkscrew Hill. This means no fast descent down Spout Hill but more importantly, no boring climb back up through the housing estates of New Addington.
After a tea stop at Sparrows Den Pitch 'n' Putt, we rode along the undulating Layhams Road where we had our first and only mechanical problem of the day. But it was a big one - a chain snapped! Fortunately, our chain-mending expert was on the ride so we were back up and running after about 20 minutes.
Layhams Road was surprisingly busy but we soon turned off on North Pole Lane to pick up the fantastically named Jackass Lane where we came across a most unusual sight - total gridlock on a country lane. Cars were jammed solid in either direction and as it is a narrow country lane with passing places there seemed no way out of it. Despite cars parking all over the lane, we managed to squeeze through and made it to Downe in time for Sunday lunch.
We chose the George & Dragon but it is a bit of a smoky locals pub, disguised as a country pub. Still, we sat in the beer garden and had some good food and drinks before setting off again with a brief stop at Charles Darwin's house, rode along some pretty lanes to Biggin Hill and then down the extremely steep Stock Hill and up the equally steep Jewels Hill about a mile further down the road.
Following the ferocity of the recent hills we took a group decision to try a bridlepath through Jewel's Wood and come back via the long descent on Featherbed Lane, accepting that most would just walk up Spout Hill. From here it was an 8 mile, mostly downhill coast back to base.
31 miles, out for 7 hours.
See all the photos from today on Flickr
Sunday 2nd October EEL PIE ISLAND Today we had the pleasure of posing for the Wimbledon Guardian before we left. Their photographer had us pull our bikes onto their back wheel and then grin at the camera. I dread to think what we'll look like! But it's great to have the local paper supporting what we do.
6 of us left the library and rode along the old railway line towards Merton
Abbey and up the big hill on Ridgeway Place to Wimbledon Common where we
picked up 2 more riders. The descent on the Common was fairly solid after
the rain, normally it is quite loose with gravel. We then rode through
Richmond Park on the traffic-free NCN 4 route and out through Ham gate,
along the side of Ham House and onto the Thames Path by the steps for
Hammerton's pedestrian ferry. We managed to get all 8 bikes on the ferry in
one go and then rode the final part of the Thames Path to the Magic Carpet
cafe at Twickenham, overlooking Eel Pie Island. After a light lunch we went
to investigate. Public access is fairly limited but after seeing the house
with Sindy dolls planted in the garden, that might be a good thing!
After lunch we met our final rider, taking the day's total to 9, and crossed
back over the river at Teddington Lock. The Thames Path for cyclists from
here to Kingston is separated from the footpath and is tarmac all the way.
Very pleasant. We made a slight detour in Kingston to see David Mach's Tumbling Telephones sculpture and then used quiet roads to get to our 2nd stop, Thames
Ditton Miniature Railway.
This was their final open day of the year and hundreds of kids were queuing
up for a ride. We sat at the picnic benches and ate cake from the cafe!
The route home was all on London Cycle Network roads which, although
suburban, are very quiet and pleasing to ride along. We stopped outside John
Inne's former home and co-incidentally bumped into the mother of one of our
number who was able to give us a rundown of his story. 29 miles, out for 7 hours.
See all the photos from today on Flickr
See all the images of our rides on Flickr
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