BECKENHAM PLACE PARK

10 riders, including 3 new faces and 2 CTC regulars, ignored the weather
forecast and turned up for our first outing of the year - a slow amble to
Beckenham Place Park to shake off any NYE excesses. The route is a mixture
of quiet urban backstreets and a series of parks. We were fortunate to have
a rider with excellent local knowledge who took us through some even quieter
shortcuts than the ones we normally use. In particular, crossing the railway
in Holmesdale Rd enabled us to completely skip the busy Thornton Heath High
St.

South Norwood Country Park was our first major park and it's here that we
picked up the Waterlink Way, a cycle route that stretches from Greenwich to
Eastbourne. We used the proposed future route through an unnamed park rather
than the dull Beck Lane route to reach the unkempt Barnmead Road on the
Cator Estate and then duck under Kent House railway station.

The New Year's Day golfers were out in Beckenham Place Park, hopefully
mindful of a sign warning them that twilight was at 2pm! Because of the grey
skies and on and off drizzle, it seemed pointless and unnecessarily
miserable to stay in the park and have a picnic so we pushed on to the
Tigers Head at Beckenham Hill. Some of us opted for hot food whilst others
furtively ate their picnics so as not to upset the pub staff.

As we had made good time, we rode a mile or so further north after lunch to
pick up the Waterlink Way at Catford which enabled us to ride through the
new park and the long traffic-free section alongside the railway.

There was another pleasant route change on the return, the park path at the
end of Dickensons Lane instead of Birchanger Rd and then it was up past Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's old house on Tennison Rd, past the Crystal Palace
ground and onto London Cycle Network Route 5, through the Thornton Heath
Recreation Ground and back onto Pollards Hill.

20 miles, out for 5 hrs

Some (slightly blurry - not sure what went wrong?) pix on Flickr:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/1716107/>

Flickr tip: Don't use the Slideshow - click the first pic in the set then
you can view the comments and just click Next to move through the set.


Don't forget it's out quarterly meeting on Thursday at the Mill House on
Windmill Lane, Mitcham Common and next Sunday it's a 9:30 start for the
amazingly rural route up to the White Bear at Fickleshole.

More details on the website including ride reports with links to the places
we have been to. Go on - click the link! The logo reverts back to normal
tomorrow....

Happy New Year!

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk
07711 688189