Park life

For one reason or another I had not been on a cycle for a while, since the outing noticed at reference 2, so I thought it time to have another go and it was off to Clapham Junction to give one a whirl.

Proceedings started with a pair of return tickets for Carshalton in the ticket machine at Epsom. Someone must have bought them and then rushed off to catch their train without taking them. The barriers at Epsom are often open, so one might easily get to Carshalton before one noticed. £2.70 worth.

Serious outdoor goings on at CrossFit Clapham Junction, with two teams of muscular young people taking it in turn to go at it on the treadmills, with a leader calling the beat.

Off to Battersea Park where I failed to notice any of the young Wellingtonia which I had turned up on a previous visit. See, for example, reference 3.

But there was a handsome monkey puzzle, unusually with branches all the way down. 

With lots of cones on the way, if not quite as big as the ones I had come across at Ealing the year before, as noticed at reference 1.

Puzzle apart, I was reminded what a handsome park Battersea Park is. Lots of mature trees and lots of other stuff to enjoy, for example, the formal gardens put in for the Festival of Britain in 1950 or so. Not to mention all the two-legged entertainment on offer on summer days. See reference 6. We must find time to take some picnics there - something we have done in the past, but not recently.

Pushed on through Vauxhall, onto the Albert Embankment, where the Indian philosopher Basava was still present, this time without attendant crowd. I think the idea was that he should be opposite, gazing at the Houses of Parliament, but perhaps some people had that idea more than others. See reference 2 for previous notice.

Clearly on a roll, as I pushed on through Waterloo and London Bridge, making it across Tower Bridge for the first time for a long time. Even longer since I had taken a beverage in an old style boozer in this very road. Long gentrified or into casual dining I should imagine. With the last crossing possible being that noticed at reference 4, more than ten years ago, although I have not checked very carefully.

[I think the white triangle in the middle of the snap above is the sloping roof of an office building, not some artefact of the image processing systems deployed to bring it here]

Swung left past the Tower of London, past the monument, past the grim looking Custom House (see Richard Church). Passed a couple of interesting looking churches which I might have visited had I thought to take a bicycle lock along. Over Southwark Bridge - which was a bit of a pull - swung right and so back to Waterloo.

The only mild alarms during the run of getting on for a couple of hours - probably my longest in time yet - and my longest in miles for a while - were a few cars passing too close for comfort. Drivers of taxis, buses and lorries were consistently considerate.

Picked up a sandwich from Upper Crust at Waterloo Cheese and tomato. Not as grand as one from Orée, but serviceable and not as expensive. Just in time to pick up a train to Epsom, so I had to find a seat where I could eat more or less in private. No platform library at Raynes Park.

Along the way, I wondered how the US Secret Service could be sure that the jumbo gifted to POTUS did not contain anything untoward, in particular some kind of tricky bugging gear. A jumbo is a very big and complicated piece of machinery and one might think that it would be easy enough to hide something in one.

And so back to Epsom to deal with the trolleys noticed at reference 5. Plus a quick visit to Wetherspoon's where I learned that the terrace tables were numbered from 400 for easy identification.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/06/ealing.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/on-bike.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/wellingtonia-88.html.

Reference 4: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/2012/01/scotted.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/05/trolleys-853-and-854.html.

Reference 6: https://batterseapark.org/.