1. Seven Views
  2. Battersea Power Station

Seven Views

Mike fixing Shelagh’s puncture
Morden Hill

15 riders at Peckham Square for this ride. Biting cold wind and a puncture led to shortening of ride. Here are some of Ride Leader Jamie’s comments.

“We set-off late waiting for a couple of regulars who rather irritatingly hadn’t bothered to cancel but had told one of our crew that they were defo coming. The ride was not ideal for the conditions as it involved stopping at each high view point to observe. With hindsight it would have been much better just doing a flat ride so we could keep moving. A valuable lesson learned for planning future winter rides. The puncture at Point Hill was not straight forward as Shelagh’s tyre was seriously worn. The repair [with magic spray can] only held until we reached the café in Greenwich Park when it failed again. With these delays and the windchill it was clear that most people had become cold and one or two had decided to call it a day there. I did a quick consensus and made a command decision to re-route to Peckham via Deptford where we arrived back at the correct time. It was clearly the right call for those chilly conditions.”

Battersea Power Station

Tradescant memorial
US Embassy
Control Room

Ride leader Bruce plus 14 riders set off from Peckham shortly after 10am with Barbera as back marker. Good progress across Burgess Park and into Stockwell where we had a brief stop at the memorial to the Tradescant brother. In the late 1600s and 1700s they were Court gardeners and responsible for bringing many new plants to Britain’s gardens. On past 9 Elms Station, the Sky Pool and the shiny US Enbassy to Battersea Power Station. This is now open and we stopped for 30 min so that everyone could explore the Power Station and its surroundings, adorned as it happened with an ice rink. Refreshed we rode back with Nigel now back marking using a slightly diferent route, Thessaly Rd (new cycle lane), Larkhall Park and Stockwell Bus Station. Brief stop to admire the bus station’s famous architecture with its wide unsupported concrete arches. Steadily on through Myatts Fields, Burgess Park and up Sumner Rd (as an alternative to the Canal Path). Back around 12.30 as planned. One advantage of cold weather is that people like to keep moving so you tend to keep to time! Google map of route: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1focj7gj7Pa4NiRUgKKeKc4M7X0qWvJM&usp=sharing

Back to Ride Report 2022 Index

Back to Healthy Rides Home page.