Monday 8th July:  Weather: 12°C to 17°C: Sunny morning with clouds threatening rain after lunch

Cycling:  33k Circuit from Richmond to Hampton Court Palace and Richmond Gardens, 6k walk to Putney Return

Time:  8am to 3.30pm, Walk to Putney, train to Richmond, Cycle Circuit, Train to Putney, Walk to Wyfield

Accommodation: 14a Wyfold Rd Fulham

Highlight today was our cycle ride to Hampton Court Palace along the Thames Path after hiring bikes from Richmond, then returning through Richmond park to see the deer. 

Today is our last day in London, and Ian has planned a cycle ride.  We’re up early at 6am and have a cup of tea, then breakfast of meusli and strawberries then plan our route.  Ian had already sussed out the Richmond Cycle Hire based at Richmond Main Station, so we walked the 2.4k from Wyfield Rd over Putney bridge to the main station at Putney and caught the South Western Railway train direct to Richmond, a 10 minute trip.  It took us another 20 minutes to find the Cycle place buried in a corner of Richmond station, and we’re soon away on three sturdy bikes plus helments for £20 each - the  cheapest of all the cycle hire places we looked at in Richmond.  

Walking down the High Street pushing three bikes in peak hour was a bit slow, but we’re soon on the path and away.  It’s a beautiful sunny morning as we ride along the Thames path to Teddington Loch, then Kingston on Thames, and finally we follow the the brick wall to Hampton Court Palace.  Unfortunately, the Garden Festival I saw previously was finished, so we didn’t have access to the gardens, but the palace itself is still a site to behold.  We have a photo taken, with some yobbo crashing our photo outside the Palace, then continue return along the cycle path to find a seat in the sun where we have a coffee and cholcolate chip cookie we had bought from Marks and Spencer at the Station near the Cycle Hire place.  

It’s already 11.30am when we leave, and Ian had planned to cycle through Richmond Park to look for deer.  There’s just enough time to do that and get back to Richmond by 1.30pm as we only had a 4 hr time slot and the owner wanted to close early anyway.  At Teddington Loch, we turn up a path in the direction of Richmond Park and immediateley we’re cycling along darkened avenues of trees.  We’re not sure where we’re going but there’s lots of walkers and cyclists around.  Problem was no signs and we soon found out that some of the paths we had been taking were supposed to be “cycle free”.

We head for the roads crossing the Park and soon we realise we’re heading in the wrong direction, and google maps doesn’t help because it wants to take us down walking paths.  We stop to check google maps, and then spy the deer.  A small herd hiding in the flowers. A sight well worth getting lost for.  We hail a cyclist and ask him how to get back to Richmond and he gives us directions but we have to pedal fast to get back to Richmond by 1.30pm - which we do by the skin of our teeth.  

It’s only a 5 minute wait to get the train back to Putney, then a 30 minute, 2.4k walk back to our apartment in Wyfield road - just in time to see the end of the de Minaur Match which he wins in 4 sets against Frils. Then it’s time to pack and I need to offload some of my gear to Ian by placing his duffel bag inside my larger duffel bag, and stuffing my stuff I don’t want in Helsinki around the edges.  Meantime, we watch Fritz defeat Zeverev in five sets .