The B306 is a short but pleasant drive across a corner of south-west London, taking in part of the much-loved Barnes Common.
The road starts at Red Rover, one of the A205 South Circular's substantial collection of clogged signalised junctions with unusual names. It strikes off north-eastwards as Queen's Ride, the name presumably referring to the days when Richmond Palace was the favourite home of Queen Elizabeth I, who would journey there from London via Putney Bridge and, one imagines, this bit of road across the common.
To begin with there is dense woodland on the left and some blocks of flats on the right. There's a memorial to rock musician Marc Bolan just beyond these. After a hump-backed railway bridge it slowly opens out until there is the grassy open space of Barnes Common to the left. Closing in on the left-hand side is the B349 Lower Richmond Road, and the two roads meet at an acute angle with a very handsome and well-preserved old signpost in between. At the mini-roundabout the B349 ends and the B306 takes over Lower Richmond Road.
Very shortly, Victorian terraced houses close in on both sides, with long streets of terraces running away in both directions. The road here is narrow and usually very slow, with frequent pedestrian crossings and cars pulled up here and there.
The end approaches with a bit of fresh air blowing in from the left: the Thames becomes visible at the last moment, passing underneath Putney Bridge, and we rise a little to meet the A219 at the southern end of the bridge itself, where the road ends at a set of traffic lights.