Streets of Richmond - a bicycle tour during lockdown

(See below ↓ for Wednesday's ride details, and the new group riding arrangements)

To the tune of "Streets of London" by Ralph McTell:

♫ Have you seen the old man cyclist on his red Claud Butler,

♫ Memories (of group riding) fading with the lycra that he wears.

♫ He doesn't find it boring, he just keeps right on touring,

♫ Carrying his home in two pannier bags*. 

Disgraceful!   Going on a multi-day cycling tour during a lockdown!    Ah, but in my defence, members of the jury, I stayed local, very local, within the boundaries of Richmond Borough.

In an attempt to find some variety within the 22 square miles that make up my home borough, I decided to try and ride along every street, over a number of days, rather than the four or five main routes that I usually use to get to and from home.

This is an interactive post: first you can sing along to the song above, and now you are invited to guess - how many miles of riding did that take?   Make a note of your answer before all is revealed below.    Bear in mind that some streets have to be ridden twice or more: if they're dead ends, or they lead to somewhere else, or because I missed a side road the first time.   And some are not streets but alleys that sometimes lead somewhere interesting, but usually not.  I didn't generally try to ride the cycle paths or towpaths.

Does that help you work out the distance ridden?  If not, how about this: there are 1,714 roads in Richmond - although some of them are very short, with just a few houses.  Population: just under 200,000.

Richmond likes to think of itself, quaintly, as a collection of villages, from Barnes in the east to Hampton in the west, via the hamlet of Petersham - blink and you miss it between Richmond and Ham.  There are a surprising number of cyclist- or cycling-related street names in these villages.  In the absence of photos of people's houses, here are some of the more interesting street names, each one proudly bearing its village name:

I think this is the set of "village" names. 

What did I learn?  Well, mainly that there are more interesting places to cycle if you don't stay quite so close to home.  But there were some lovely houses: some in places you'd expect, others hidden away in cul-de-sacs that looked like nothing, or where you might not expect such grand houses.  If I knew more about architecture then I would have more to say, so you're getting off lightly.  There are also a lot of hidden tennis clubs, pocket parks, and village greens in addition to the Royal Parks.  And maybe a dozen cemeteries, which in themselves are interesting to ride around.

Garages - what a waste!

The biggest surprise was the amount of space used for car parking.   Every block of flats or maisonettes, and every new development, has generous off-road parking provision, much of which is unused, unmaintained and unlovely.  It's often hidden down a little alleyway.   Acres of concrete, and hundreds of badly-maintained or unusable garages.  Nowadays anything more than a few yards from the house is considered too far to walk, so people park their 4x4s on the road outside their house, creating another eyesore and safety hazard.   Modern cars are simply too big to fit in most garages.   A few garages were in use as workshops, bike stores, or for restoring a vintage car, but many more had wrecked doors, or were blocked by garden or builders' waste.   I bet half of them haven't been used in years.  If all this unusable space was reclaimed, it would contribute hugely to the green space around these flats and residential areas.

Total miles ridden: 619.  Total ascent, 3474 metres, or 0.4 Everests (excludes the Richmond Hilly 50 ride) over 22 days.  * On this particular tour I didn't need panniers as I was Staying At Home.

Author: Simon L

2 Comments:

Brian Bent 29 March 2021 at 21:16 BST

I suppose you could have counted Penny Farthing Mews ? If the gates were open! ( Hampton Hill ) Simon !!

Steph 30 March 2021 at 17:55 BST

Wow I m impressed with your determination. There's always something of interest to view at bike-speed. Well done Simon.