The Northern Line ends here, deep in suburban South London, and Morden is the place commuters come home to. It is a district of semi-detached houses, parks and shopping streets, built mostly in the 1920s and 1930s when the Tube arrived and turned fields into suburbs almost overnight.
There is a surprise hidden in the middle. Morden Hall Park, owned by the National Trust, is a green oasis on the River Wandle, with meadows, wetlands, a rose garden and old snuff mills where tobacco was once ground into powder. The river, which powered dozens of mills in its day, is now clean enough for trout, and the park is a peaceful place to walk.
Morden is also home to the Baitul Futuh mosque, one of the largest in Western Europe, built by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, with a dome and minarets that stand out among the suburban roofs. It is open to visitors at certain times.
Coming back from the Chilterns and the Thames Valley, the final stretch takes you around the M25 and in through Kingston or Sutton. Traffic is heavy at rush hour, and the A24 into Morden is often congested. Watch for buses, cyclists and pedestrians.
There is fuel on the A24 and the London Road, and plenty of cafés near the station. But if you have half an hour, leave the bike by the park gates and follow the Wandle under the trees past the old mill wheels. It is about as far from the M25 as you can get while still technically being within earshot.