Here's this week's bits n bobs....

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RIDE REPORT

Woodies 28/09/08

12 riders for a cold misty library meet, too early for the sun to have
warmed this corner of South London. Two local teenagers wanted to
borrow a pump and ended up tagging along for a bit. An in depth
explore had been promised and a long overdue traverse of Mitcham
Common was new to some. We cut straight over Mitcham tramstop and into
Ravensbury Park, always a delight now the barriers are permanently
open and then into the National Trust's Morden Hall Park to cut the
corner to Phipps Bridge. It's not normally first choice for a scenic
ride but hidden Wandle Villa is a magnificent house and just along is
the little-known castle folly where we crossed the bridge onto the
Wandle Trail near Deen City Farm.

The Wandle Trail north of Plough Lane has been cut back and provides a
nice route almost to Wimbledon Park where Merton Council were having a
late celebration of the Olympiad. Holding back obviously worked as it
was very busy with familiar faces at Dr Bike and on the obstacle
course. Company of Cyclists had brought their 7 seater conference
bike. We stayed long enough for everyone to get a flavour of the
proceedings.

A small climb on quiet streets saw one rider turn back and we lost
another two due to an existing injury further along. Meanwhile, I had
my eye on the clock conscious of the fact that Woodies doesn't serve
food until 12:30 as I cut from one green space to another, Bushey Mead
to Joseph Hood, past the pseudo New England development at Worcester
Park and under the A3 into Woodies just at the right time. You
honestly wouldn't know it was there, tucked away down a long drive and
surrounded by Kings College's sports fields. It's very quirky inside
with tons of things stuck to the walls and ceiling, yellowed from the
years before the smoking ban. The new Sunday Roast
eat-as-much-as-you-like deal didn't work out for the only taker as it
took 45 minutes for his plate to be delivered to the table. Most of us
had finished by that point.

Approaching Nonsuch Park from a new angle showed the Mansion House in
its full glory but we sailed past into Warren Farm and onto the cycle
route south of Sutton before riding into the town centre where a
German market was in full swing, complete with live rock band in the
makeshift BierGarten (should have been an oompah band?) I'd run out of
ideas for expanding the ride at this point so we circled the boundary
walls of St Philomena's school, formerly Carshalton House, before
parking up at the Water Tower in the grounds for its last opening of
2008.

Tucked away behind a large wall, the water tower is a listed 18th
century gem built to serve spring water up to the manor house but it
also contains a splash bath, an orangery and a saloon. I'd convinced
the Friends to make sure they had some cakes on offer and they didn't
disappoint, easily justifying the one pound entry fee. You can climb
to the roof for a nice view of the manor house or the rooftops of
Carshaltons' heritage houses. We again stayed long enough for everyone
to get a flavour but we didn't really have time for any of the tours
of the House or the Hermatige.

As is often the case at afternoon stops, riders split in all
directions leaving just 4 heading towards Mitcham. We picked our way
on the new cycle track through Beddington Park and tried out the
Thames Water path behind the sewage works but it still has an
impassable section of loose ballast that you need to walk over. One
day, this will be part of the Wandle Valley Country Park but at the
moment, it just leads to a narrow path that pops you out on the
platforms of Beddington Lane tramstop where everyone went separate
ways.

Out for 7hrs, 28 miles. See the pix on Flickr at:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157607552167968
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc014

Tip: If you use the Slideshow option, click on the first image to show
the description.

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CALLING ALL RIDE LEADERS....

In recent times, we've only been able to publish rides up to a couple
of weeks ahead. That's mostly due to my erratic work schedule and no
replacement leaders coming forward early enough. I'd like to try and
firm up all the rides until the middle of January over the next week
or so (then we can get ourselves into Time Out every week!) but I'll
need volunteers for the following Sundays to come forward now:

9th November
30th November
7th December
14th December

Please let me know if you are interested. There's no need to dream up
your own ride, we can easily help with that. All you need to do is
navigate, keep an eye on your pace and make sure everyone is following
you.

(Dave w/ folding bike - can you email me? I don't know your contact
details but we should definitely try your ride)

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NEXT WEEK

Croydon Council have literally hundreds of events planned for their
'Family Learning Week'. They asked us to do a cycle ride next Saturday
so we're starting at South Norwood Country Park's Visitor Centre at
1pm and seeing how far up the Waterlink Way we can get. That, of
course, depends on numbers and the amount of youngsters and novices we
get. Feel free to come and join in and do spread the word to families
you know who might fancy a mainly traffic-free ride with a group. Two
of our resident instructors are leading but help from experienced
riders is welcome if we end up with a large group.

We weren't sure what to call the Sunday ride. There's already been an
"insane" ride when we tried to follow Sustran's barmy Route 21.
Calling it a "lunatic" ride makes it sound worse than Route 21 when in
fact it's a very pleasant route. I doubt many would come if we called
it an "imbeciles" ride. However, each of those descriptions meant
something different in Victorian days so we're opting for the Mad
Ride. Why? Because we're visiting old asylums that used to house
people fitting those descriptions. Surrey air must have been deemed to
be good for the soul as there's virtually an asylum on the top of
every hill south of Mitcham. Some are now converted to housing, others
are being demolished so it's your last chance to see them. It's not a
guided tour of each site but we do have a resident expert in our midst
who will be able to give us some detail. Lunch will probably be at the
Harrow near Coulsdon and we'll be visiting Knight's garden centre at
Woldingham for the first time for morning coffee. Lots of new routes
for you to see. It IS a hilly ride but we've done everything possible
to minimise the climbs. However, feel free to walk as we've always
time to wait, especially as those walking are often at the summit only
seconds after those who rode up. 9:30 depart from the library.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

http://www.pollardshillcyclists.org.uk
http://www.southlondoncyclists.org.uk