With a slight let up in the winter conditions (i.e. above zero, no ice, no snow) the Parks ride was on. A reassuringly large group of 12 assembled on the Green Bridge, some familiar faces and some welcome newcomers to Wheelers. Ticking off Mile End Park (1) immediately we set off up the towpath to Victoria Park (2) and then, with the towpath closed, along the roads to London Fields (3). From there we sampled some typically good Hackney permeability (one way roads allowing two way cycling) to Hackney Downs (4) and then on to Clissold Park (5). Here we had intended to stop at the café but it looked as if it was being refurbished and temporarily replaced by an outside kiosk. It may have been better weather than the last few weeks, but it was still a bit too cold for that so we pressed onto Finsbury Park (6). The café there was most definitely indoors and offered a suitable selection of drinks and food to warm us up.

We then followed the Parkland Walk (7 - yes it is a park, albeit a linear one). The going was decidedly "soft" - not much of a problem for full size wheels but a different story for the three Bromptons in the group (it took me at least an hour to clean mine properly later in the week). A short section of road near Highgate station took us to the second part of the Parkland Way with an unexpected view over London just confirming what we all knew - it had been pretty much uphill all the way so far.

A quick crossing of Muswell Hill Park (8) and then we were up in Alexandra Palace Park (9). This really should have been the prime panorama of the day but it was misty and grey - so we'll just have to come back in the sunshine.

From now on it was nearly downhill all the way home - in fact our next destination was Downhills Park (10). However to get there we had to successfully get past Wood Green shopping centre without ending up in it. A few manoeuvres around the back streets fortunately worked as well in practice as they did on the map (I confess I had not previously cycled this part of the route so was navigating from my bikehike print out). Downhills Park had the bonus of officially allowing cycling (thank you Haringey council) and so we were soon weaving around the streets again, with the next section to South Tottenham station probably having the highest number of left and right turns per hundred metres of the whole day.

Safely across the Seven Sisters and Tottenham High Roads we arrived at Markfield Park (11), which was our second café stop of the day - the café here is in a new building right beside the beam engine visited on our December ride. It is also beside the River Lee, so our route home was via the towpath to Springfield Park (12 - we may not have gone up the hill in it but we did see the bottom corner so it counts), then across to Walthamstow marshes in the Lee Valley Park (13), to Hackney marshes and then to Victoria Park and Mile End Park (already counted!).

So back to the starting point by 15.30 with 13 parks, 12 riders, about 22 miles, and 2 café stops to our credit.

Caroline

I did actually try to find one fascinating but possibly little known fact about each park - some of these interesting insights (or tedious trivia depending on your point of view) were imparted during the ride but generally it was a bit cold to hang around to listen, so for those with the appropriate mindset I've listed them below:

1. Mile End Park: In 1997 the main pathway, mounds and the Green Bridge were marked out in helium balloons to launch the project
2. Victoria Park: Is the home of the oldest model boat club in the world, the Victoria Model Steam Boat Club, founded in the Park on 15 July 1904 and still active today.
3. London Fields: London Fields Lido is the only heated outdoor 50 metre swimming pool in London
4. Hackney Downs: I couldn't find anything really interesting about Hackney Downs - sorry!
5. Clissold Park: The two ponds in the park are named the Beckmere and the Runtzmere in honour of the two principal founders.
6. Finsbury Park: In 1892 a chrysanthemum house was built and lasted until the 1960s. It supplied other parks all over London with plants.
7. Parkland Walk: It was planned to make the railway that the walk now follows a part of the Northern Line, but the start of World War II stopped the work.
8. Muswell Hill Park: I didn't realise when I planned the route that we would go through here so I didn't check it out!
9. Alexandra Palace: The racecourse in the park grounds was nicknamed "the Frying Pan" owing to its shape. It was used until September 1970.
10. Downhills Park: Has a Gaelic Football pitch.
11. Markfield Park: Some of the gardens are former sludge tanks from the time when the site was the Tottenham and Wood Green sewage treatment works.
12. Springfield Park Has a community orchard, which was a joint venture between the park users and the allotments groups.
13. Lee Valley Park: Probably the only park that you can spend a whole day exploring by bike.