Arcadia on Thames: Richmond to Putney cycle circuit

In an earlier post, I described my cycle ride along the Thames between Putney and Westminster. Today, I moved upriver and did a circuit between Teddington and Putney. The Thames around Richmond and Twickenham has always been a favourite place of mine, with the far reaching views from Richmond Hill, the many attractive historical buildings beside the river, and the green acres of Richmond Park. By an extraordinary coincidence, the night before my planned ride there was a programme on telly about the history of the Thames hereabouts, especially its attraction in the eighteenth century for creatives striving to realise their Arcadian visions (BBC4, "In search of Arcadia"); the programme included a plea for the conservation of the area from Sir David Attenborough, who is a resident of Richmond.

My GPS track is here: I have shown it (in blue) on the same map as the Putney-Westminster ride (in maroon), plus Ham House to Hampton (in orange) to give a description of this whole stretch of river.

I started from the car park at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park (free at the time of writing, though attempts have been made to introduce charges). I cycled down to the River at Ham, then cycled upriver on the towpath to Teddington Lock. Here, I crossed to the 'North' bank on the long footbridge over the River. Then I followed the North bank as closely as I could to Putney, where I crossed back over: this time, just to be different, instead of using Putney road bridge, I used the footbridge beside Putney railway bridge. Then I followed the towpath along the South bank back to Richmond, before climbing the road up Richmond Hill to take in the view before returning to the car.

Whereas the route along the South bank is more or less continuous towpath, the route along the North bank is rather more fragmented, stretches beside the river being interwoven with some quite busy roads away from the river. Nevertheless, the North bank has a succession of fascinating places: probably with as much if not more heritage per mile than anywhere along the river.

Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park (no bikes allowed: look around before starting the ride)

View towards Heathrow from 'Henry VIII's Mound', in Pembroke Lodge Gardens

Typical track in Richmond Park

Thames at Ham

Ham House

Teddington footbridge

Strawberry Hill: Gothick villa created by Horace Walpole (1717-97), son of PM Sir Robert
(see also Walpole House, Chiswick Mall, below)

Radnor Gardens: the rather ugly building (now a school) is on the site of Pope's Villa and Grotto

Eel Pie Island has been a music venue since Victorian times: it reached its heyday in the sixties, playing host to bands such as the Rolling stones and Black Sabbath

Monument to Alexander Pope (1688-1744): little remembered now, but he did some good one-liners: 'fools rush in where angels fear to tread' etc

Somewhat risque statuary in the Italian fountain, York House Gardens

Dial House, next to York House Gardens, was owned by the eponymous tea dynasty from 1722

White Swan at Twickenham, one of many venerable pubs along the river

Palladian Marble Hill House, built for Henrietta Howard, mistress of King George II when he was Prince of Wales

JMW Turner's house, Twickenham (just north of Marble Hill): recently restored and open to the public

View across river to the Star and Garter on Richmond Hill: formerly a home for wounded war veterans, now sold off as luxury flats: I guess we just don't have enough wounded veterans any more