Dulwich to Chiswick House

Report from Ride Leader Jean, assisted by John.

Despite a number of cancellations and no-shows there were 10 of us for this rainy ride to Chiswick House in West London.

Using a Royalty theme [it was Coronation Day] -we set off from Dulwich Park which has a ( Grade 11 listed) Queen Mary Gate – since Queen Mary used to enjoy visiting the American Gardens. We made our way to Brockwell park which had a monastery in the Middle Ages that was closed down by Henry VIII. We crossed over Kings Avenue after Brixton. On to Clapham Common where the nearest Royal connection I could find was a nearby pub called the King & Co! But plenty of connections near Battersea Park where access was enabled by the opening of Chelsea bridge in 1858 by Queen Victoria. In her honour the eastern edge of the park was called Victoria Rd – linked to Queens Road by Victoria Circus – Now Queens circus)- which became Queenstown Rd. The gate we exited on the West is onto Albert  Bridge Road (Prince Albert pub) and the South side of the park is flanked by Prince of Wales Road.

We stopped noting after that as we made our way along the South side of the Thames towards Putney & beyond. Not too many pedestrians or runners – maybe because of weather or celebrations and so we were able to keep a steady pace. At Hammersmith bridge we walked the bikes across the bridge (currently & with huge controversy closed to traffic) then a short distance along the North Side – walking briefly through the passage by St Nicholas’ church before arriving at Chiswick House for a welcome coffee break . Thankfully sheltered from the rain – but hard to emerge again to make our way back.

A slight shortcut around Wandsworth to leave the river and go more directly to Clapham Common – we arrived back in Dulwich park – where the rain had finally stopped – having done 25 miles – by 1.45.

Many thanks to John & to Simon who kindly did back-marker duties. John led from Hammersmith to Chiswick – since he had done the original recce.

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