The storms were subsided by Saturday, the wind down, the electrical charges in the high atmosphere in stable equilibrium and on a decent day for cycling there was a tidy crowd turned up at Nonsuch Mansion for an afternoon ride including several newcomers; not first timers but, even better, people who had tried us out for the first time recently and chosen to give us another go.
Thus while stalwart Lynda took a "short" ride to Ashtead, I ended up with fourteen followers for the "long" ride scheduled for Hampton Court, which is a big group to lead around the Metropolis on a Saturday afternoon.
Apart from a little more waiting around than is usual, however, it all went smoothly. I briefed everybody about the need to ride in groups and leave gaps for the traffic, appointed Tony, a late arrival, as back marker so that I only had to look for an orange coat to know we were all together, and Maggie rode half way back in order to maintain a gap in the middle while we were on the road. Maggie managed that difficult task as well as anybody can.
Just out of Nonsuch Park I got some unsolicited advice from a man doing some building work on a house in St Clair Drive to "mind your speed, you lot, this is a residential area" when I was doing less than Colin Q's recommended 8mph for Beginners and would have fallen off if I'd gone any slower. Unfortunately the sage advice from just behind me not to deign the cheek with a reply was received too late. Otherwise we toured the residential areas of South West London with dignity and without further incident.
As we made our way through Long Ditton I worked out that the coffee shops on the green at Thames Ditton were not going to cope quickly with such a large group and we might still be there at nine-o-clock in the evening with some of our party cakeless. The Thames Path, too, I reckoned would be crowded on such a pleasant day, so our usual stops at Eight on the River or the cricket club might best be avoided, and decided upon the Pheasantry. They have closed the Eastern side of Hampton Court Bridge to cycles (both sides used to offer shared cycle paths), so there was some unplanned crossing and re-crossing of the road but soon we were enjoying Bushy Park and what someone on television called its rotting deer.
And the Pheasantry was open, and had enough seating capacity for us all, and was unusually efficient, so our only gripe was that the prices had not come down and one of our number was pooed upon by a pigeon. There Maggie took the photo below before we made our return journey over Kingston Bridge and through the water works to Berrylands.
A pleasant day out. Thanks to Tony and Maggie for your help and everyone else for your company.
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