Home in the dark; Beddington Beginners 19 November

 By Paul

We were really lucky with the weather on Saturday; we have all got soft with increased temperatures, and it seemed cold, but the heavy overnight rain had moved on and we actually had some sunshine.

The problem with meeting at two, though, is that darkness falls so quickly and South London's busy streets are no welcoming place for nervous cyclists on a dark Saturday evening.  Consideration of the light, and uncertainty that the cafe at the Rookery in Streatham would have room inside, led us to opt for the (not so very) long way round to Merton Abbey Mills.

There were eleven of us, including two returners, Jim and Jackie, and a regular with other club groups but a not-so-regular rider with BBs, Frank.  Our traditional route through Mitcham Common, Mitcham Eastfields, Figges Marsh and Colliers Wood has quite a lot of off road but a significant chunk of this, the Beddington Farmlands Nature Reserve and the little corner of Mitcham Common between Beddington Lane Halt and Croydon Road was going to be unrideable for Matthew and Thomas and their articulated Little People Carrier, so Colin used the less scenic route through the Beddington Lane Industrial Estate, crossing the tramway at Therapia Lane.

The roads were pretty busy but we comfortably negotiated the various intersections and minor hazards being hooted only occasionally and had a pleasant tea at Med.

Our homeward trip was through the early dusk and by the time we got to Beddington Park, several riders had peeled off home before we remembered that we should take a photograph.

A pleasant ride in acceptable conditions, and little Thomas apparently insisted upon riding a significant chunk of central Croydon on his tricycle, which gave his parents a welcome lie-in, so tired did it leave him!

Hampton Court sunset; Nonsuch Beginners 12 November

By Paul

Yet another unseasonably warm day saw a fair few riding to Nonsuch on Saturday, but when we got there we found ourselves in a film set.  They were making a programme about weddings, apparently, and they didn't seem to want too many cyclists involved, even as extras, so our fifteen minutes of fame was postponed once again.

The long ride was scheduled for Bushy Park but Steve left it late, even by his standards, and we had an alternative leader in Sue lined up when Steve suddenly appeared.  Just like that!  Everyone wants to ride with Steve, so he disappeared with a dozen or so for a Nigel route through Richmond Park to Bushy Park.

That left eight for my group, and I opted for a different route in order to avoid conglomeration.  We had a pleasant, even-paced ride on the Woodies and Berryland Station route to Kingston, where the market was as crowded as any of us has seen it since before the pandemic; so much so that it was sensible to get off and push.

As we entered Bushy Park, the youngest fully paid-up member of our club decided he had had enough of sitting in his trailer and wanted to ride.  We agreed to go on to coffee and cake at the Pheasantry where Matthew and Thomas would join us when he got fed up of riding, but we had all finished our refreshments when they had still not appeared, so we sent out a search party and it turned out that Thomas was riding the entire distance.  Unsurprisingly, we had a tired three year old but with a chocolate bar bribe he was persuaded to sit in his trailer, his dad had made coffee at home and brought it in a Thermos cup, and we were able to set off home while Steve's group were supping away.

It was a good job, too, because dark descended pretty quickly for our ride back through Thames Ditton back to Berrylands and thence home.

The pictures below are by Sue.

No ride to Barnet; Nonsuch Beginners on Guy Fawkes Day

 Paul writes

Saturday was a grey and pretty miserable day and this leader was just not in the mood.  Eleven of us turned up at Nonsuch Park and luckily it included four registered leaders; Steve, dependable as ever, to lead a longer ride, Lynda wanting to go somewhere shorter, Tony, who was down on the rota to lead a short ride up to the Smallholdings, and Diane.  Because it was on the rota we had agreed to meet Roger and Anna, who were also not in the mood, at the Smallholdings.

Steve went off to Eight on the River, taking Diane and John.  Tony needed a haircut, though, and we all decided that we preferred tea and coffee and cake to sitting and watching him in the barbers, so I agreed to do his ride and off he went to have his barnet beautified, and Maggie and Matthew and little Thomas came with me through Sutton and up Carshalton Hill.  We left Lynda and the others mulling.

It is years since we did this route, because it is so short, and I had forgotten that for Beginners it is quite hilly (though none of us were Beginners anymore).  It was a pleasant enough ride, and when we got to Flitton's R & A were there already and we all went into Blossoms cafe.  "There is always time for coffee" says the friendly sign, but it was contradicted by the sign on the door which said they closed at four and further so by the lady behind the counter who had watched with horror as we came through the door and greeted us with "You know we close at three thirty".  It was just after three.  Still, the tea came and the other staff were friendly so we had a half hour chat before making our different ways home.

On the way we passed a new coffee place, called Naturally Thinking, on the Telegraph Track going down to Boundary Road.  We might be trying that next time.  If it's open.

The whole experience was so thrilling that we forgot to take a picture, so here is one we took from the car on the A23 early on the wettest Sunday morning in recent history while driving our grandson to Stansted Airport.  (It was the annual London to Brighton veteran car run).