From Jeff Beck to Anthony Bek; B Group from Banstead to Eltham Palace, 27 August

We rang the changes on Wednesday by travelling North East from Banstead.  The A’s had gone to Eltham Palace a while ago (and their recommendation of a pub turned up trumps).   Unlike them, our journey to Edward II’s castle was through parks and quiet roads and a woodland trail, aided by moving the start from Caterham, from where it proved difficult to plot a course through Purley and Croydon which did not involve main roads or spectacularly steep hills.  From Banstead we could zing down the hill through Pine Walk and get down to the Wandle at Beddington on a quiet route over Carshalton Hill (yes, the leader was disingenuous about there being no hills, a dishonesty for which he was chided at the finish) and past Jeff Beck’s house.

Banstead, an early start, a worsening weather forecast, and an urban ride; my initial fears were that we would have few takers.  There was a moment on Monday when the opposite looked possible; had we got enough leaders?  Then, in the end, a few could not make it so we ended up with three comfortable groups, five, five and seven.  Rarely for a B ride, and solely because we wanted to avoid overtaking, we split the groups according to the leader’s approximation of who would be slow, medium and fast.  And because the recces had shown that 40 urban miles takes longer than 40 country miles, we started a bit earlier, something I had discussed with the Community Centre manager.

It drizzled a bit on the descent of the Col de Banstead but then cleared up to a comfortable cycling climate.  Alan set out first with the Edward VI team. Paul was ten minutes later with the Queen Mary team and John A last, but always punctual, with the Elizabeth I team.  After the descent to the Wandle Valley we took the Greenwich Ride route through Croydon, and had hardly cleared that World Heritage site when Queen Molly ambushed King Ted, struggling up a slope in the opposite direction, an achievement occasioned by the failure of Alan’s Beeline which had him following an older version of the route.  Once that had happened, and Alan had rebooted, he was faced with a double puncture and a dislodged chain, enabling the Queen Lizzie’s to overtake and thus to reverse history.

Through the well-heeled suburbs of Beckenham we departed the Greenwich route and entered territory new to most who had not helped with the recces; through Beckenham Place Park and its memories of David Bowie (there's a plaque, he used to escape the paparazzi by nipping over his back wall and finding some peace in the park), along the Downham Woodland Walk and then around Grove Park and Eltham to safely cross the A20 and the Channel Tunnel railway line.  We approached the palace itself from the south, up King John’s walk where we briefly stopped for the panorama of the Big Smoke, then up the short climb to the King’s House, a splendid Tudor building of some size.  

Paul's group the first to get to see the vista.....

......followed by John's group.

 

He who is first shall be last.  Alan's group after their puncture repair test (and resit).

At £17.50 entrance fee we had to glimpse the moat, the ancient bridge, the magnificent medieval hall with one of the largest surviving hammerbeam rooves and the modern art deco house, through the iron railings.  Eltham became a Royal Palace in 1305 when Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, gave it to Edward II.  The man much responsible for its demise was Rich the Rebel, a chum of Oliver Cromwell. 

One of our number had taken the “lunch at Eltham Palace” literally and was disappointed not to enter to a silver service banquet.  Instead we went to the Park Tavern 800 yards away where we could not have been more warmly welcomed nor better served.  The landlady was outside to greet the Queen Mary’s, now in the van by some distance, and the staff of their own volition rearranged the garden furniture to accommodate seventeen bikes.

Lunch not in the medieval banqueting hall.

The route back, through every available green space, was regarded as intricate by some but I cannot stress how intricate one has to be to time lunch to coincide precisely with the heavy shower and to plot a route home successfully avoiding the showers from the incoming weather front.  Blackheath, Ladywell Fields, Nunhead Cemetery, Peckham Rye, passing Dulwich Park and the Herne Hill Velodrome, Brockwell Park, Clapham Common, Wandsworth Common, Wimbledon Common and up the hill (the gentlest route, critics please note) to Wimbledon Common for tea at the Windmill.

The Queen Lizzie’s were trailing behind by now and got as far as Brockwell Park before they split up to make their several ways home via Herne Hill, Sutton, Mitcham and Wimbledon.  So three from my group and three from Alan’s made it to the end of an ambitious ride.  But the only way I could think of shortening it was to get English Heritage to move Eltham Palace.

Five of the magnificent six who made the course all the way to the Wimbledon Windmill.  Stephen was the 6th.

Some of us got a bit damp on the way home but the ride leader takes no responsibility for the weather after the official ride is over.

Thanks are due to Andy, Simon, Mike and Tim G who, though not going on the ride, came on the early recces and helped iron out some potentially show-stopping glitches.  Thanks, too, for John and Alan in leading, and for Maggie for riding it four times with me.  Thanks to Fixie Dave for the mechanical resolution of problems that were not his.  And to everyone else for your company.

Wednesday 27^th August Ride to Eltham Palace – Alan’s Ride Report

On a bright, but cloudy morning, seven riders in the King Edward VI (Group A) enjoyed a beautiful ride from Banstead to Eltham Palace, having lunch at an “old-style” pub in Eltham and an “end of ride” tea at the Windmill Café on Wimbledon Common.

The ride followed a varied route through quiet residential side roads, scenic open spaces, and several London Parks, passing through busy urban town centres and south London communities, with some clear views of well-known London landmarks along the way.

The route also followed local London “Trails” including Addiscombe Railway Park, the Lewisham Literary Heritage Trail and the Wandle Trail to Croydon as well as passing some historic London buildings.   

The Group A riders were the first of three groups of “B” riders to start the ride from Banstead Community Centre, and after a brief shower of light rain, rode through the morning traffic in Banstead High Street and descended to Banstead Common. We stopped briefly so Chris could pick up his back light after it fell from his bike because of the road surface on Sutton Road.

We then rode through quiet local backroads around Carshalton and Wallington before reaching Beddington Park and following the Wandle Trail into Croydon. We passed Waddon Ponds on the way. Waddon Ponds is one of the main sources of the River Wandle.

We then followed a quiet route using the cycle paths through Croydon Town Centre to East Croydon Station before making our way through Addiscombe, to Addiscombe Railway Park on the now unused Addiscombe Railway track before crossing into South Norwood Country Park.

After taking a wrong turning and losing the route we fortunately met the second group (Group B), led by Paul, coming the other way! They helpfully got us back on route.

We were now the second group on the road and soon became the third after Christina unluckily suffered a double puncture in her front wheel. Dave, Nigel and Bob all helped find the site of the puncture and change the tube, needing to replace the innertube twice because of a rip in the second (new) tube. Dave generously fitted his own spare innertube into Christina’s wheel to enable us to get going and this stayed inflated for the remainder of the ride. Nigel refitted the wiring for the front dynamo hub so that Christina could continue to use her lights.

To make up time we set off at a lively pace to lunch riding through South Norwood Country Park before leaving the park and walking through the pedestrian tunnel underneath Kent House station. We then rode through some beautifully quiet side roads in Beckenham towards Beckenham Place Park.

Beckenham Place Park is a large tree-lined park with cycles routes, a Georgian Mansion and London’s first purpose-built swimming lake. We stopped at the busy café area which had cold water sprinklers with families enjoying the last few days of the summer break before returning to school.

After leaving Beckenham Place Park we followed part of the Lewisham Literary Heritage Trail along the Downham Woodland Walk (a quiet woodland path), before riding through side roads to Grove Park, Mottingham and beside the busy A20 Road. We then took a right hand turn up a steep path and through motorcycle barriers before climbing our way up towards Eltham Palace. We stopped for a few minutes to enjoy the views of the city across the fields and take a photo. We then rode down past the stables and up to Eltham Palace.    

Lunch was at the nearby Park Tavern Pub, an old-style Trumans Pub, decorated in a style appropriate to the age of the building and run in an old fashioned and “proper” way (according to the website). It was a busy but social pub with a nice garden and plenty of space to park the bikes. We arrived in time to meet the other two groups.

After lunch we rode across Eltham High Street and alongside the A2 Rochester Way Relief Road, then on through Kidbrooke, Blackheath to Lewisham Town Centre. We then rode through Ladywell and Brockley, and up the long steady “climb" towards Peckham Rye. We then rode through Brockley Park (with good views of London), across Clapham and Wandsworth Commons and through Wimbledon Park up to Wimbledon Common.

Bob and Chris made their own way home from Clapham Common, with Christina and Nigel following the Wandle Trail from Earlsfield to Wimbledon Station to make their own way home from there. The remainder of the group - Julie, Dave and Alan had tea and cake at the Windmill Café on Wimbledon Common, meeting Paul, Steph and Stephen from Group B. We all then rode across the Common to Wimbledon Village and then home.

Many thanks to Julie, Christina, Bob, Nigel, Chris and Dave for their company and making it an enjoyable day. Thanks also to Bob for back-marking and to Bob, Dave and Nigel for completing the puncture repairs. Thanks also to everyone for maintaining a lively pace to ensure we got to lunch and back to Wimbledon for tea.