- Ride 1, The Full Wandle
- Ride 2. Bermondsey Tour
The Full Wandle
12 riders. Leader Amanda. 9.30 start at London Bridge (Southwark Gateway Needle). Ride alomg south side of Thames to the Wandle “delta” in Wandsworth. Break at Abbey Mills. Finish at Wandle Park, Croyden. Most return home by train from East Croyden.
Comments on WhatsApp (The Vulnerables). Laure: T”hank you for another lovely ride, Amanda.” Shelagh: “..a lovely ride especially th section from Abbey Mills to Wandle Park”
Bermondsey Tour
Bermondsey, the area along the Thames between Rotherhithe and Tower Bridge and bounded to the south by the Old Kent Road, has a long history. The wharves along the Thames were used to import food which in turn spawned food processing factories inland. The social history was interesting too. Dickens describes it as having the worst slums in London but in the early 20th century Bermondsey was a pioneer in slum clearance and social housing.
The ride started in Rotherhithe at Canada Water, 9 riders with Bruce leading. Proceeded to the Bermondsey river front via Southwark Park. First stop the ruins of the Edward III Manor house (1353), next to the Angel pub and the statues of Dr and Mrs Salter, pioneers of social and health improvement in the first half of the 20th century. A short distance along Bermondsey Wall East took us to Cherry Gardens where we could view the Supersewer site, now looking quite empty as the final phase of this huge project is being completed. Headed next inland to Clements Road where we saw signs of work to redevelop the old Peak Frean biscuit factory, opened 1853, closed 1989. This large industrial site led to the area being nicknamed “Biscuit Town” . Next to the shopping area on Southwark Park Rd called “The Blue” after the Blue Anchor Pub. There is now a fine mural that includes real local figures from Bermondsey’s history including a row of ladies making biscuits and the well known fishmonger whose stall was a fixture in the Blue street market.
Next stop Abbey St where the first London main line rail terminus was built at Spa Rd. This section also took us along a stretch of the Bermondsey Beer Mile most of whose premises are in arches under the railway. Further inland we passed the old Bermondsey Town Hall (1930 – 1965) and the fine brick Health Centre on Grange Rd built by Dr Salter in the 1920s to provide free (or nearly free) health care for the poor. Further west along Grange Rd we reached the shiny new Pickle Factory development. This is, as the nane suggests, partly on the site of a long gone pickle factory, but also adjacent to the site of one of many tanneries in Bermondsey and the fne art deco Alaska Fur Company building, now also flats. Turning north we stopped at Grange Walk where there is a short run of 17th century cottages and a splendid 19th century girls charity school building. Our meandering route next took us back to the waterfront at Butlers Wharf where we stopped to look at St Saviours Dock, the setting for Dickens famous scene where Bill Sykes fell from a waterside slum building to his death. Our final stop was Bermondsey Street. This was the route the monks took from Bermondsey Abbey to the waterside landing places in medieval times. The abbey and the monks are long gone, but there is an old church, St Mary Magdalen which is on the site a church dated 1082.
Bermondsey St was “en fete”. The festival was revived this year. Stalls lined the length of the street and were also in adjacent Tanner St and Leathermarket St Parks. With the sun shining the street was packed and we had to walk our bikes. Enjoying the buzz distracted us sufficiently that we were running out of time. In consequence we abandoned the final bit of the planned route and headed back to Canada Water arriving there pretty much on time. Route at https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1G-3W6xSCsWXFZPea5hSb5sd2yCSylZ4&usp=sharing
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