The powers above clearly approved of the first official Wheelers midweek ride, as day broke with a cloudless sky and a beaming sun. 

11 of us set off from the Southwark Needle at 10.15am, weaving through Borough’s busy streets, over Westminster Bridge and off into the la-di-da lanes of Chelsea. For us beasts from the East, the ride was beginning to take on a distinctly genteel air as we wheeled past the Hurlingham Club, sailed over Putney Bridge and cruised into Richmond Park.

Settling down for our first tea stop, eyes swivelled to the expensive bikes and zippy riders ,  completing high velocity laps around the park.  Brightly attired and moving at such speed, it’s hard to tell them apart from Richmond’s other colourful resident – the parakeet, a sort of brash, flash avian yuppy.

The temperature was steadily rising to a heady 28 degrees, so we ambled gently though the park and then over the Thames at Teddington.  Maybe those Richmond cyclists had made an impression, as on reaching Bushy Park and its gleaming, straight, smooth road, the Wheelers took off like rocketing pheasants and arrived panting at the portal of Hampton Court.

Here, we had a delicious lunch at the cafe and then journeyed on to Sunbury on Thames and Shepperton.  A winding meander along the Thames brought us to Staines, which doesn’t look half as bad as it sounds and, in true Wheelers form, within an hour and a half of lunch we were ready for our next tea stop at Runnymede.

Some of us chose to tuck into ice creams and crumpets, while others went off to brush up on their medieval history and investigate the site of the signing of the Magna Carta. 

With the thought of King John and his mutinous barons implanted in our minds, we finished the final leg of the ride in a stately fashion, gliding through Windsor’s picturesque streets and beneath its looming castle.  Most of us had had enough of the heat by that point and were ready to take the train home, but two lively souls cycled the 30 miles back to London, stopping off for a right royal bag of chips in Hounslow.

Annabel