Grand Union Canal at Batchworth, Rickmansworth

Drove to Rickmansworth and parked by Church Street on a Sunday noon. Walked the steps down to Batchworth Canal Centre and was fortunate to have a canal boat trip waiting to leave. Went inside to find that the centre is just a shop and education tours are by special arrangement only. By the time the kids finished browsing canal boat models on sale, the boat had left. Not another one till 3:30pm.

So we decided to take the bike and start at the canal center. The initial plan was to cycle from midway till the Colne Valley Visitor Center some 6 miles South.

The Grand Union Canal is slightly more lively than River Cam to Cambridge. There are canal boats selling arts and books and some pretty large modern ones moored. One mile in, I realised Wen-Shan were not going to make the round trip. By the time I took a detour to picnic by picturesque Stocker's Lake and missing the turn and ended up north of the lake, it was clear that we would end the cycling early and go on a canal boat trip instead.

The "Pride of Batchworth" goes from Batchworth Lock to Stockers Lock which happened to be the same points we have just cycled. The price is reasonable but there is no interaction except the well detailed route map.

Richmond Park and Wimbeldon Common

One park is not enough. A combined "figure of 8" loop is actually 10 mile. The weather was not great and it actually showered as we were at the far end of the loop by Petersham Gate but luckily Richmond Park has plenty of big trees to shelter.

This is the plan...

We parked by Wimbeldon Common Windmill. The car park is quite big and free. I really like the forest like park with tree roots and streams. The cycle paths go along the golf course and horse tracks which means some parts were a bit too sandy to cycle for the kids.

We exited Wimbeldon Common by the A3 main road and cycled along the pavement (legally) till the Robin Hood Gate by Stag Lodge Stables. Cycling paths in Richmond Park are flatter and mostly traffic free. The shared roads are mostly safe as cars do slow down and polite in line with the nature of the semi enclosed park.

I was determined to find some deer for the kids. So we took some detour away from the main cycle paths. From there, we cycled towards Pond and Queen Elizabeth's Plantation and by the time we are lost trying to find a route through the gated Pembroke Lodge on Queen's Road towards the playground by Petersham Gate, the kids have thrown in the towel. Some off track walk and downhill excitement later, the kids were surprisingly recharged and we finally reached the park.

We had a picnic and they really enjoyed the model train and aeroplane as they watched every passenger plane en-route to Heathrow passes overhead, memorising each carrier flag design.

For cycling. every road that goes down (yee-ha!) must climb back up:( The shower came as we were half way up the hill eastwards towards Queen's Road and provided a timely rest to catch our breath.

We actually saw the most deer along Sawyer's Hill by Isabella Plantation. The route back was mainly on traffic free roads.