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

===

RIDE REPORT

The Mad Ride 05/10/08

We'd planned a ride that visited 5 local former Victorian mental
institutions, each of which was on the top of a hill. One of our more
senior members recalls the days when these and many more were still
open for business and that when someone was committed, they were
deemed to have "gone up the hill" and everybody understood what that
meant. 6 of us booked in today, each worthy of 'going up the hill' as
the weather was far too abysmal to be cycling for fun. What started as
morning drizzle became much heavier on the journey out to Selsdon
although there was some welcome shelter for a puncture repair, just
before the first site.

Warlingham Park is the former Croydon Borough Asylum, built in 1903
and closed in 1999. It's now known as Great Park, an upmarket estate
with new housing but the asylum's water tower with it's lofty clock
faces still stands. We pressed on to a late morning stop at Knights
Garden Centre in Chelsham and a welcome break from the rain. No one
really wanted to move but once we'd dried out, it was time to press
on.

As these asylums were all on hills, we knew we'd be in for some great
descents and Bug Hill is far less painful freewheeling down instead of
struggling up as we did some months ago. However, it was back uphill
for the visit to the old Caterham idiot and imbecile asylum, still in
operation as a mental hospital although with slightly more compassion
than our forebears could manage. Only a couple of the original
Victorian buildings remain with a small estate of new residents'
housing for those with learning difficulties taking up much of the
site.

The rain hadn't given up but we nearly had if it wasn't for the
thought of the pub just being a couple of miles down the road. The
Harrow has always been a good place to stop for lunch but the food was
on top form today and very reasonably priced. The only downside was
one rider being told off for eating sandwiches inside, the first time
this has happened in over 3 years of rides. We were again in no rush
to leave but then the rain stopped so we set off, hoping for a drier
afternoon. Unfortunately, we simply rode straight back into the rain!

A careful recce of this ride had discovered a concrete path through
the woods heading towards Alderstead Heath caravan park.
Unfortunately, the second part of this shortcut is through a field.
The timely torrential downpour sped up our decision making process as
we faced the choice of trying the field path or going the long way
round down a hill just to climb straight back up. And so that's how we
found ourselves bogged down in London Clay, wheels no longer able to
turn, mud in every crevice and only one rider on a mountain bike. It
was the worst decision we've ever made! An unscheduled stop in the
wood at the end of the path saw everyone attacking the clay with
sticks just to try and get the wheels turning again followed by
several passes of deep puddles. But clay doesn't come off that easily.

Wet, cold, muddy and now completely defeated, we trundled into
Netherne-On-The-Hill, a brand new village on the site of the old
asylum from 1909. There's a mixture of old and new buildings and a
very eerie feel discovering an isolated village that never has any
passing visitors. In keeping with the trend from Warlingham Park, the
water tower still stands but this one is converted to 4 fancy
apartments. The new roads are named after prominent former members of
staff. Netherne asylum was basically an overspill from nearby
institutions and specialised in treating patients with stress,
senility, melancholia or other "mental handicaps". The market garden
has disappeared but the sports ground that was integral to the care
the patients received is still there. The asylum's church is now a
leisure centre.

We couldn't spare much time to explore because we all desperately
wanted to get the clay off our chains and brake blocks. The two petrol
stations on the A23 didn't have a hose between them so we rode
directly into Coulsdon but there's nothing there since the bypass
killed the village. Nearby Cane Hill asylum was on our hit list but no
one fancied going back up another hill, even though it is currently
being demolished and chances to see the buildings are obviously
limited. Instead, we cut the ride short to go home and sort our bikes
out.

It's a shame about the weather so we'll do this ride again as the
route between the sites is very enjoyable. We gave up with 25 miles on
the clock after being out for 6.5hrs. See a couple of pix on Flickr
(some from the recce ride) at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157607765790052
or
http://tinyurl.com/phc015

"There they stand, isolated, majestic, imperious, brooded over by the
gigantic water-tower and chimney combined, rising unmistakable and
daunting out of the countryside - the asylums which our forefathers
built with such immense solidity to express the notions of their day."
From Enoch Powell's "Water Tower" speech of 1961. He was a leading
proponent of Care In The Community but it didn't become reality until
1980.

See http://abandoned-britain.com/PP/canehill/1.htm for a photographic
tour of the impressive Cane Hill asylum. It featured as a cartoon on
the cover of David Bowie's Man Who Sold The World LP, presumably a
reference to his half-brother, Terry Burns, a Cane Hill patient who
later committed suicide.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/MWSTWUS2.jpg

===

RIDE REPORT

Croydon Family Ride 04/10/08

Croydon Council arranged hundreds of activities for their Family
Learning Week. They asked us to provide a cycle ride so we chose a
family-friendly route from South Norwood Country Park up the Waterlink
Way to Ladywell Fields and back again. 14 riders from diverse
backgrounds, including 2 youngsters, enjoyed our leader's sensible and
much improved interpretation of one of Sustrans best local routes. The
swirly cycling bridge in Ladywell Fields was so much fun that
everybody went over twice!

We'll be following the same route on Nov 16th on the way to Surrey
Docks for lunch. If you don't know it, come along.

===

NEW RIDES

As promised last week, we've got a pretty full programme up until
Christmas posted on the website. There are still one or two gaps to
plug but hopefully they'll be sorted by the end of this week. If
there's a ride you want to do or if you fancy leading (easier than you
might think!) then let me know.

===

HOW DO YOU STAY DRY?

I'm not quite mastered wet weather riding. I always get wet. Click
over to the South London Cyclists forum if you've got a top tip:

http://www.southlondoncyclists.org.uk

===

NEXT WEEK

IMPORTANT! A change of plan.The proposed ride will be too muddy if the
wet weather continues so we're now going to do a version of the Yew
Tree Way. Starting at Hurst Green station will cut out a hill, leaving
a gently undulating ride along very lightly trafficked lanes. There
are a couple of choices of country pub for lunch and it's a slightly
shorter ride than normal. Meet outside East Croydon station (by the
CEX shop) for a 9:45 Group Save ticket buy. We'll be catching the
10:05 that arrives at 10:21. Fares as low as £2.40, depending on
numbers.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189

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