67km Tour of the Royal Parks
Ride overview
It’s easy as a life-long Londoner to dismiss the central parks as ‘places for the tourists’, but this ride will show that they soothe even the most jaded of city spirits. The route joins the central parks with the south-western deer parks, using the tree-lined streets, and the contrast of the manicured with the wild is enormously satisfying. This is a ride for spring day; when the buds are bursting and over a million bulbs are detonating across the royal parks. And as spring settles into its rhythms, the early bulbs give way to flowering trees; crabs, pears, cherries, all of which turn even the dullest of days into regal splendour.
Ride Practicalities
START/FINISH: Mortlake station DISTANCE: 78km TOTAL ASCENT: 454m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: Traffic-free cycle lanes, gravel tracks, some low-traffic roads. A good ride for a gravel/hybrid bike RECOMMENDED CAFÈS/PUBS: Hammersmith; The Elderpress, Richmond Park; Pembroke Lodge, Colicci Cafe (Roehampton Gate) , Teddington; Tide End Cottage (pub) NEARBY MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Mortlake, Kingston, PLACES TO VISIT; Hampton Court, Ham House, Houses of Parliament LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: Arcadian Thames, On the fringes of the Thames, The Royal Borough, The Crocus Carpet, Heaths and Parks
The Guided Royal Parks Ride (March 17 2024) begins at The London Cycle Workshop, 42 Sheen Lane, East Sheen SW14 8LP (100m from Mortlake Railway station)
Ride Notes
Entering a tranquil world of deer, acid grasslands (a very rare habitat) and many very old oak trees is quite the thing when you live in a city as active as London. Richmond traces its origins back to 1625, when Charles I brought his court to nearby Richmond Palace to escape the plague sweeping through London. He turned this landscape into a hunting park, and filled it with red and fallow deer. Some of the trees that Charles would have ridden past still stand today. It’s fabulous riding on the traffic-free Tamsin Trail, a hard-packed gravel route around the perimeter of the park. Road bikes are fine on the surface and if you can make the early morning rather than midday on a weekend, you’ll have the path pretty much to yourself. Exiting the park, there’s a couple of kilometres of suburban riding before you enter, Bushy Park.
Red deer, Richmond Park
The enclosed park is another stocked with deer, this time on the orders of Henry VIII. Apparently it is so called due to the large number of hawthorn trees planted back in the day when it was a hunting ‘forest’. The route passes many lakes, which form part of the Longford river, a man made channel which brought water from the river Colne to Hampton Court. The first lake you ride past is known as the Leg of Mutton due to its shape. You might need some imagination to link the body of water to the back of a sheep. That apart, it’s very picturesque in spring with the weeping willows greening around its edges.
From Bushy, it’s a short pedal to Home Farm which forms part of the Hampton Court estate. As with Bushy, it is notable for its avenues of chestnut and lime tree avenues. Also noteworthy is Long Water which was created by King Charles II, as a wedding present to his bride-to-be, Catherine of Braganza.
Once out of the park, it’s a quick hop across Kingston Bridge, a ride alongside the Thames before re-entering Richmond Park.
Route Guidance; having crossed Kingston Bridge, if you are at ease with riding in traffic, continue on the road through the short and well lit tunnel, or if you’d rather, use the pedestrian crossing and continue along the pedestrianised Clarence street and left onto Wood street, before continuing on the route.
There’s a good coffee stop at the Alma Cafe in Barnes. Ride onwards to cross Hammersmith Bridge (closed to traffic) and weave your way through Hammersmith and into Brompton Cemetery.
Scillas, Brompton Cemetery
Soon after, you enter Chelsea and trees are blossoming on all sides of the road. Magnificent magnolias, cherries and many other varieties of trees bloom in front of houses which are both bijou and the grand. Sometimes you are forced to stop so delightful are the street scenes of blossom set against the magnificent white stucco of the houses. You may spot many an Instagrammer posing and pouting under the petals.
Green Park
Riding this way through London is like riding through the city’s social strata; from the crowded districts of artisans and blue collar workers in Hammersmith, to the well-to-do of Chelsea, through the titled lands of aristocracy in Belgravia to the the royal domain of Buckingham Palace and the Royal Parks. Expect trooping guardsmen, military bands, many tourists unsure as to which way to look as they cross the bike lanes. There are over a million bulbs in full flower. St. James’s is surely one of the most spectacular parks anywhere - a sinuous lake, pelicans, specimen trees, and swathes of daffodils. You ride around the park, up the Mall and onto Constitution Hill - more or a shallow rise than a hill. To your right is Green Park, which might be better named a Yellow Park, so dense are the daffodils. Quite what Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II would say about the sweep of flowers is open to debate; she banned flowerbeds in the park as her husband had a habit of picking the flowers to present to one of his many mistresses.
Serpentine Road, Hyde Park
Hyde Park is no less lovely; Serpentine Road is richly planted with more mood-lifting narcissus. In late spring Kensington Gardens, is as the name suggests, a garden more than a park. In the early years of the eighteenth century, Queen Anne enclosed thirty acres of Hyde Park for her own pleasure, and Queen Caroline, the wife of George II, annexed a further 300 acres a couple of decades later. Surrounding the palace is a wild meadow with naturalised daffodils. It’s easy to ride past the Sunken Garden just to the North of the Palace, but stopping here, even for a brief look, is well worth it. The royal gardeners produce a mighty fine show. The controversial statue to Diana, Princess of Wales is also here.
Out of the parks, the route weaves through the exclusive district of Holland Park and Notting Hill. Many more magnificent trees line the streets and grow tall from behind high garden walls. Again, for this fleeting moment in the year, you will find the Instagrammers doing their stuff under the cherry blossom.
Route guidance; Shepherds Bush; use the pedestrian crossings and the wide shared paths across the Green. Please avoid riding in the melee of chaotic traffic.
The Magnolia, Chiswick Mall
Back into Hammersmith and there are a couple of gems to enjoy before the ride’s end. The first is St. Peter’s Square, a little known paradise and the second is the magnolia on Chiswick Mall, surely the most splendid specimen in London. All that remains now, is to cross the river, following a cycle path over Chiswick Bridge and within 500 metres you are back where you began all those petals ago.
Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.
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