Old faces and new; Beddington Park Beginners 18 July

Beddington Park on Saturday was not as chaotic as Nonsuch Park has been.  Eight of us were there at the appointed hour including newcomer Terri and Ann, returning after the Lockdown.  Ray was there, too; he had come on a ride last week after being in isolation but had not met in the park for four months.  Streatham Common has acquired a reputation for overcrowding and involves a get-off-and-push hill for genuine beginners, so we decided that a short ride to Coombe Wood was probably sensible; we split into two groups of four, Colin taking Terri, Ann and Sharon.  I agreed to give him five minutes and follow on with Maggie, Ken and Ray.  Colin felt that five minutes was not enough, and he proved right.  In fact, he got nearly ten minutes because Roger and Anna turned up a few minutes late with tales of rebuilding gear assemblies.

The route includes the cycle lanes through central Croydon, which are a bit scary for the inexperienced but on which the traffic is usually light even if the trams are noisy and the buses are big.  Weekend traffic is still lighter than before the plague, but there was some indecisive driving and parking to make up for the lack of quantity, and the button on the pedestrian lights crossing the busy Fairfield Road had caught the virus.

Despite the best efforts of the back-up leader to cycle slowly, we first caught sight of Colin on Park Hill Rise, and had to wait a few times at a respectful distance in the posh roads north of Lloyd Park to avoid becoming a group of ten.  While waiting, we saw two aeroplanes in the sky at once, a rare sight indeed.

The cafe in Coombe Wood was welcoming, though the only toilet open was the disabled one and the social distancing indoors is difficult; we had resolved to take our refreshments to benches in the gardens but in the event there were two outdoor tables free.

Coming home the split in the groups worked better, because we could just linger in the cafe a bit longer before going through the woods and taking the gentler of the two descents from the farm road.  Thanks are due to an understanding bus driver where we had to turn right on the Brighton Road.

We caught up with the first group again, this time at the top of the Haling Park Road climb, which is where people begin to think about making their own way home, and they waved us past.  A bit short of 20Km at a gentle 11.7 Km/h.  I said we tried hard not to catch them up!  Welcome, Terri, I hope you come again.