Runnymede circuit

Another brilliant blue cold winter's day. I parked at the National Trust Runnymede car park (free to members), and made a circuit via Old Windsor, Cooper's Hill, Egham, St Ann's Hill, Thorpe and Staines.

My first long stop was at the Air Forces Memorial on Cooper's Hill, always a moving and tranquil place (tranquil that is except for the jumbos taking off from Heathrow and banking right overhead, as if in some sort of homage). I got chatting to a workman, who told me all the copper drainpipes had recently been stolen and he was doing a temporary repair with plastic replacements. What kind of Neanderthal would steal from such a place?

Then I descended on NCN4 - a good off road track - and branched off through Egham.

From here, it was an opportunity to pass or at least glimpse some of the locations dissected in Iain Sinclair's wonderful work of psycho-geography, "London Orbital" (Penguin edition, 2003), which I have recently been reading. In the final years of the twentieth century, galvanised by horror of the Millenium Dome, Sinclair feels compelled to explore the 'liminal' zones of London in close proximity to the M25, and sets out to walk the orbit staying as near to the motorway as he can. He started on the Eastern side of London, striking North (anti-clockwise) up the pre-Olympian Lee/Lea Valley.

This ride is thus somewhat over halfway round Sinclair's perambulations. For me, Egham was a pit stop at the Golden Cafe (coffee, bacon sandwich). For Sinclair it was a chance to visit and deconstruct (metaphorically) the Siebel building, an 'incongruous lighthouse' on the island moated by the cloverleaf of the A308 adjacent to the eastern side of the motorway. He tries to understand what Siebel does. He picks up their brochure "'Customer satisfaction', 'seamless integration' 'comprehensive upgrade' 'solutions provider'" He is none the wiser. Siebel World. Very Ballardian. Siebel seems to have been gobbled up by Oracle, and their eponymous building is now occupied by Future Electronics and renamed 'Future House'.

From Egham I took a signed cycleway down Stroud Road then Hurst Lane, passing a couple of catteries ("F.A.B. approved"), and a rather dodgy looking compound, to emerge on Thorpe Green: Sinclair claims that Thorpe has 'the longest village green in England': is this it? Across the Green and the unseen M3, St Ann's Hill hove into view. This is a must-visit for me. You can see it from Merrow Downs. Insignificant close by, but a prominent land mark from afar. I made my way on paths round the intersection of the M25 and M3 (Junction 12 of the former, Junction 2 of the latter). Its quite hard-going and necessary to dismount and walk. Then I walked the path up St Ann's Hill (cycling not allowed). On the way up, before plunging into the summit woodland, to the west you can see the tower of Virginia Park, fka the Holloway Sanatorium, built by Thomas Holloway using the huge sums he made pedalling 'patent' (aka quack) medicines and potions. Iain Sinclair describes how the buildings have now been transformed into a private housing development: " the ultimate heritage-asylum conversion". The decoration of the buildings has been preserved, but, says Sinclair, the dining hall now houses a swimming pool: " the acoustic memory track of Holloway's disturbed patients is absorbed in a steady splashing, lost in a tall space", and the chapel is a basket ball court "The Jesus figure from the stained glass window ...gazed down on the spectacle: an athlete sponsored by Nike."

At the top of the hill, where there is a fire beacon, a small area of trees has been cleared to allow views to the North, providing excellent views over Heathrow, although the trees obscure the view in other directions: In particular I was disappointed not to be able to see South towards the North Downs: my usual plea to the good people who manage these sites to do more to control the trees to allow more open sightlines. Sinclair digresses about the story of a nun-ghost, and found several abandoned car wrecks, though I encountered neither. In May 2015, an extensive area of York stone paving and steps was stolen from the summit of the hill: see comment under Air Forces Memorial above.

Next I made my way on tracks and paths to the village of Thorpe, passing on the way the hibernating roller coasters of Thorpe Park ".... which can only be brought to life by the screams of deliriously anxious punters". In Thorpe village, Sinclair encountered a smokers huddle in Monk's Walk: so did I, maybe they are always there.

The final leg was up to Staines on the shared use cycle path beside the A320 to Staines (NCN4 again), then along the tow path back to the start. I passed under the Runnymede Bridge carrying the M25 over the Thames. In"London Orbital" Iain Sinclair notes "... water shimmers, plays with sound. Here is the cathedral of the motorway.... Alma-Tedema steps leading down to the river, a bathing pool for draped and langorous Roman sirens." Though not at zero degrees C, I think (there was still ice on the puddles).

At Bell Weir Lock, the walls of the lock-keepers cottage had been covered with murals celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, and on the Runnymede meadows, a statue of the Queen looks down upon words from the Carta carved in stone, alongside the names of the Sponsors.