Today we did a 95 km tour of London, but not before joining Tony (English Tony from our accomodation) who offered to take us around the island in his boat.

One side of the island is the original Thames river, and this side was dug out during the reign of King Henry VIII.

Hampton Court Palace is upstream by maybe 500 plus metres. The river near the palace was described as more of a broad and twisting stream, subject to the tidal influence still. The main channel was dug out and made straighter providing a grander entrance and providing some flood relief to the local village.

The island is great. Private access, brilliant views, and a lifestyle unknown to many city dwellers.

A broad outline of our cycle ride today. We covered a lot of ground. At times we were on busier roads, particularly in inner London. Often there were cycle lanes.

We mixed it with the famous London black cabs, red double decker buses and some super crazy food delivery people on bicycles.

We followed the Thames path on sealed and non sealed sections.

We rode through wonderful open spaces such as Richmond Park and Bushy Park.

Some photos of our day.

We arrived at Kensington Palace gardens. There are specific routes you can ride. Very popular spot.

We then scouted through Hyde Park and on towards Buckingham Palace and the Mall.

Riding down the Mall was great, quite traffic free, smooth. This road is so often seen in Royal ceremonies including the more recent coronation of King Charles, and funeral of Queen Elizabeth.

It is also a road on Zwift’s London course, with a reverse sprint section here, but I did not sprint 🤣

Then we arrive at Trafalgar Square, and it is fairly busy from here around to the Tower of London, predominantly on roads and cycle lanes. We walk at roundabouts crossing at lights where possible for safety.

At the Tower of London we cross Tower Bridge. It is super busy here on the bridge between vehicles and tourists crossing.

We then headed north to cross the Thames again and head to Westminster.

We then headed up through more parks, gardens including Battersea.

Past the Trek shop, popped in, popped out.

Onto Wimbledon, and we thought about having lunch in the cafe there, but the security guard insisted the bikes not be within our visual sight and out of sight around the corner. We moved on.

In the neighbouring Wimbledon village, up a hill, we found a nice pub with outdoor seating, next to our bikes, and had a lovely lunch. As I ate, this is the sign I could see that made me smile.

Through Wimbledon common area and heading to Richmond Park.

Richmond Park is one of eight Royal Parks in London. It is around 2,500 acres in size with over 600 free roaming deer. It is an extraordinary oasis in a big city where you can walk and ride.

Popular with cyclists doing very large blocks, there is a speed limit of 20 mph, but many capable cyclists ignore that using it as a training, racing circuit. I was climbing one hill and had a guy straight line the bend towards me and he was moving more like 70 kmh plus.

The park will be closed this Sunday for a duathlon. Great location and many thousands are competing including our friend Chris.

Some view of the park.

Hampton Court Palace was next, famous as a residence of King Henry VIII having ‘acquired’ it it in his usual style from Cardinal Wolsey.

Back onto the Thames River beside the palace grounds.

Onto Bushy Park another Royal park in London. About half the size of Richmond it is still extensive and provides amazing walking and cycling for locals, and also the deer that breed well. Signs were up re the annual cull.

Dinner with Chris and Marion completed another wonderful day.

I’ve know Chris through cycling (Zwift), when we were both with the same club and would do the same events.

We enjoyed our dinner together, lots of laughs and grateful for the opportunity to meet friends face to face.

Some closer up maps of our route.

One more day left riding.

Thanks for reading 😊❣️