Sunday 13 November 2022

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.








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