Easter Saturday ride from Beddington Park 20th April

It was Easter Saturday and the sun was shining. Beddington Park was full of families and people trying to park their cars. Colin, Roger, Anna, Roy, Maggie and Paul set off to see the flowers in Coombe Wood Gardens, perhaps some bluebells and rhododendrons. 

We left the Park as soon as we could, north of the bridge by the abandoned animal rescue building. This meant three of the group were now in unknown territory though in fact we were on the opposite side of the Wandle only a few feet away from our more familiar route.  We rejoined the usual path to cycle to Mill Lane and across the Purley Way towards Croydon Parish Church. Once through the back streets of central Croydon we cycled through Park Hill Park and out onto  quieter roads eventually stopping in Lloyd Park to enjoy the sunshine. A brief encounter with tree roots which we all managed to stay upright through and we were out of the park.  Then we made our way up Oaks Road to cross briefly onto Coombe Lane before entering Coombe Wood Gardens, where we stopped for refreshments in the Coach House Cafe. Beautiful tulips, fritillary and cowslips adorned the garden beds and a quick reconnoitre in the gardens showed that we were too early for the rhododendrons but a stunning pieris japonica caught our attention. 

Making our way back we turned left out of the Gardens to cycle along Conduit Lane and entered a wooded area before dropping down Ballards Farm Road to join Croham Road. We cycled through South Croydon and climbed our only steep hill of the day on Haling Park Road. Passing the Purley Way playing fields we crossed Purley Way and made our way through the old Croydon Airport roads. Back now in Wallington we separated on Tharp Road to make our way home.