Following The Summer Sun!

On a beautiful late summer day I decided to enjoy the River Thames by cycling along a path by its side, which offers beautiful scenery along much of its journey to the sea. I started my cycling tour in Twickenham, which is on the Thames Path. The route, mostly along the River Thames at its most dappled green, is flat and scenic, with only a short section on the road each way – and even then it’s mostly smaller residential roads with little traffic.

On the top of the hill you can see the Petersham Hotel, which has an amazing view of the river, a fantastic restaurant, and a delicious afternoon tea. If you can stay in this hotel you won’t be disappointed, and is not that far from central London as well.

Further along I stopped by Hampton Court bridge. This modern bridge is the fourth on the site. The bridge has three wide arches, is designed to be able to carry quite heavy motorised road traffic and is constructed of reinforced concrete, faced with red bricks and white Portland stone.

I also had the opportunity to admire the gate of Hampton Court Palace, and have a look at the palace’s surroundings. Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, 11.7 miles south west and upstream of central London on the River Thames. I’ll make a post about this Palace in the future, It’s a very interesting place to visit – and is reputedly haunted!

The river is beautiful and the palace complements the lovely natural setting.

Everybody seemed to be enjoying this lovely end-of-summer day. You don’t get many of these in London, so you need to make the most of them when they come.

On the way back from cycling on the Thames Path I stopped at Richmond Park. I had the opportunity to see the deer. There were a lot of them on this day. It’s incredible that in the middle of the city you have a park like this. The deer in Richmond Park are wild and unpredictable.

In the park there is a beautiful plantation. The Isabella Plantation is a 40 acre woodland garden set within a Victorian woodland plantation planted in the 1830’s. First opened to the public in 1953, it is best known for its evergreen azaleas, which line the ponds and streams and at their peak of flower in late April and early May are stunning and gorgeous in their colour and profusion.

This cycling itinerary is a very unchallenging one, on flat surfaces. You could spend all day doing it. I think that it is a good way to explore this area of London from a different perspective.