RIDERS x5- Nick F (me). Followers- Lesley, Gerrie, Paul S, Stephen S.
After a timely departure we were soon passing by and admiring the quirky old church and adjacent wild meadow in Old Northolt village before skirting Bunny Park then on to the well appointed Brent Valley Golf Club House for elevenses where our arrival was made in fine style with a slow motion topple from Stephen. Those damn clips! Suitable refreshed it was off to Kew Bridge via the quiet back streets of Hanwell and Brentford with a quick stop to marvel at the rusting hulks slumped abandoned in the Thames mud at Brentford. Our steady progress whilst admiring the views along the Thames path towards Richmond was interrupted by a wide trio of walkers and a patch of damp leaves when Lesley had a slippery mishap which necessitated a short recovery stop before continuing on to Twickenham Church Street for an outdoor lunch at the Eel Pie pub which we all agreed was excellent. After some deliberation Lesley decided to let 3 trains take the strain home so we all set of to say our farewells from Twickenham Station then headed off towards Hounslow Heath and Cranford Park mainly along the Crane pathway. Despite being 4:40 everyone elected to take a well earned cuppa and hold a wrap up meeting with the dinosaurs a mile from journey's end. First up on the agenda was to call Lesley who reported feeling ok and having had a very pleasant journey home while the rest of us groaned we all felt we had done more than the 32.5 recorded miles which illustrates the effects of 10 off-road miles. Next up was the weather which had forecast a heavy shower or 3 but all we got was a few rain drops and a decent show of sunshine so our luck was in there. Finally everybody said how much they enjoyed the ride (aren't Loiterers are always so polite!) as it included quite a few new locations so I guess we'll repeat this one with a few tweeks to keep up the interest.
Nick