It was a dull grey day in South London and only the usual suspects turned up at the Pavilion Cafe in Beddington Park. Maggie came along to test ride her back injury, take a photo and return home and it was my first ride for a bit as I was recovering from the it-might-as-well-be-Covid virus.
We decided upon a modest ride to M.E.D, at Merton Abbey Mills, where we had not been for a while.
It was a bit of an urban jungle kind of ride. These are hard times for a lot of people and we travelled through places where it is showing. The new, broad, tarmacked cycle lane on Beddington Lane takes you smoothly enough from the burnt-out motorcycle in Beddington Park to the broken glass alleys of the Industrial Estate where, in this corner of this year's London Borough of Culture, you certainly would not feel comfortable walking on your own even in the daytime, and felt none too comfortable cycling in the day.
Neither is Mitcham Common a Richmond Park, and there I unwittingly rode through spilt paint and left a trail of broken white lines on the road. The back streets around Mitcham Eastfields seemed more litter-strewn and desolate than I remembered them. But hey, the rain held off and the traffic was light and the beauty parlours were not filled with sailors and the road surfaces were better than some in the better-off boroughs we cycle through on other days and once we had staggered our way over the big junction at Colliers Wood we found a more comfortable world with MED stacked with tasty, if pricey, pastries.
We were going to go back over St Helier but Roger was pessimistic about numerous road closures so we used the Wandle Trail and there Ken cheered us up a bit with a detour to see the crocuses emerging from hibernation in Ravensbury Park.
Crocks and crocuses in Ravensbury Park
At least we all got out and had a bit of a ride and the company as ever was welcome and the length and pace were ideal for convalescence.
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