River and Palaces GPX Route
The Thames, seven royal palaces, and four centuries of London hiding in plain sight.
Four hundred years ago this stretch of the Thames was lined with royal palaces, grand villas and country estates. Wealthy landowners built their homes here, close enough to reach the city when needed, yet far enough to escape its noise, filth and disease. A Palladian villa built purely to show off. A duchess who out-survived the Civil War. A house so strange its owner invented a word for it. All before Richmond Park.
Ride Details
Ride Level: Easy (Green)
Distance: 42 km / 26 miles
Terrain: Riverside paths, royal parkland, cycleways and quiet roads
Bike: Suitable for all bikes
Includes: GPX route file
The Route
Start at London Cycle Workshop on Sheen Lane, easily reached by train to Mortlake. The route picks up the Thames almost immediately, past Chiswick House, a Palladian villa the Earl of Burlington built in 1729 purely for entertaining, never for living in, with gardens that outclass the house.
Onward past Syon House, low and castellated from the park side, where fat contented cows graze a landscape that looks arranged rather than grown, and a lake now reflects aircraft lining up for Heathrow. Marble Hill House follows, built for Henrietta Howard, mistress of the future George II, who turned the wealth it gave her into independence and a formidable circle of friends.
Strawberry Hill House is next, and it's the strangest building on the route (more on that below). Then the Thames carries you on to Hampton Court, where the route gives you Christopher Wren's Baroque additions for William and Mary rather than the Tudor front. Red brick, white stone, tall windows over the Long Water. One of the best views in London.
The route finishes in Richmond Park, Henry VIII's old hunting ground, still doing a reasonable impression of one. The deer are entirely unbothered by everyone sharing it with them now.
Strawberry Hill and the Invention of "Gloomth"
Horace Walpole, son of Britain's first Prime Minister, built Strawberry Hill from 1749 onwards as a monument to his own collecting habit — paintings, medieval relics, apparently even strands of Edward IV's hair. He invented his own architectural style for it and called it "gloomth." Some of the battlements are decorative props. The gallery ceiling is papier-mâché. Walpole also wrote The Castle of Otranto here, generally regarded as the first Gothic novel, after a nightmare he had in the house.
A short detour also takes in Ham House, built in 1610 and barely altered since, transformed inside by Elizabeth Murray, Duchess of Lauderdale, who navigated the chaos of the Civil War and somehow prospered whichever side was winning. A useful skill.
Finish
The ride closes in Richmond Park, deer grazing, cyclists ranging from head-to-toe lycra to definitely not, which is a decent metaphor for the ride as a whole.
Start and End Points
Start and Finish : Mortlake Station
Ride Details
- Distance: 42 km | 26 miles
- Climb: 70 m | 230 ft
- Percentage off-road: 50%
- Trail surface: Riverside Paths | Royal Parkland | Cycleways | Quiet Roads
- Technical Grade: Green - Easy
- Mudometer - Riverside paths can be soft after rain but the route is largely rideable on any bike year round.
Is this ride for me?
Easy (20-40 km)
Expect a gentle ride ridden at an easy pace.
With few or no hills on well-maintained gravel paths, bike lanes and shared-use paths. These rides are suitable for riders who can pedal for about an hour without stopping.
Suitable for all bikes including hybrids and e-bikes. Wide tyres recommended after wet weather.
Read more about our grades here
Is my bike OK for this ride?
This route can be completed on any bike. Wide tyres are an advantage on the riverside sections after rain.