Meetpoint Le Delice Cafe, Ladywell Rd, London SE13 7UZ. 9.30am
A ride to Richmond Park and Back via Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith Bridge, closed for so long, is now open for a few weeks only to cycling and walking. So what better way to celebrate it than to use it to head out west for a little trek to Richmond Park.
They’re spoilt for bridges out west and could easily dedicate this one permanently to cycling and walking. Let’s hope sanity prevails and that’s its future. In the meantime we will head out to Richmond via a south of the river route through Clapham and Wandsworth but head back using Hammersmith Bridge to trace a route through Fulham and Chelsea then back south again via Vauxhall Bridge.
It’s not a ride for beginners and you should have some experience of busier London traffic to join it. North of the river includes going through Kensington and Chelsea, not known for its safe cycling infrastructure and whilst the route avoids most of the busiest sections, there are some short stretches of busy road and some tricky junctions. We will look after everyone of course, but it’s not the best ride for people with limited experience of London’s traffic.
Apart from that, it will be an easy paced ride, with a chance for faster folk to break a sweat if they want, mixing it with the roadies on a park circuit. I intend to ride to Pen Ponds, which is a more relaxed way of riding the Park.
After that, we will return via Hammersmith Bridge and head back east via Fulham and Chelsea, crossing the river again at Vauxhall before heading back to Ladywell via Burgess Park and Prckham