Thameside Loop to Woolwich

Report from Jamie, edited by Bruce.

A healthy turnout of 17 at Canada Water with Jamie Leading. All confident riders and we had an unusually swift and trouble-free ride to Woolwich. Stopped at the condemned flats on the riverside approaching Woolwich (see Guardian report).

The first shock of the day was that John had swapped his electric bike for a manual one with the joke being that having languished at the back [Really? Ed] of many rides before he now appears to be much faster. This must be the first ever case of a rider swapping an EB for a traditional leg powered bike and this resulting in higher speeds. The second and possibly biggest shock of the day was coming around the final corner to Woolwich only to see to our utter amazement that the Woolwich Ferry appeared to be moving about on a Saturday. We had unfortunately just missed it, so I used the time to reconnoitre the north tunnel lift which I discovered was VOR [Vehicle off road, Ed] at the north side. When I returned everyone seemed very happy to wait so we all opted for the ferry.

After a much-requested coffee stop we set-off through Royal Dock and made good speed to Island Gdns where both lifts were working fine. On arrival to Cutty Sark, we said our goodbyes and a couple of riders were happy to get themselves back to Canada Water whilst a group of us joined a large crowd to watch two tugs skilfully positioning an enormous luxury liner onto its mooring.

Many thanks to Ashe and Nigel for marshalling and to David and Mike for backstopping.

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