• Ride 1. Snowmen in the City
  • Ride 2. Buckingham Palace

Ride 1. Snowmen in the City

Photos by John S.

Report by Ride Leader Jane C.

Persistent wet weather from early morning led to a number of cancellations ( I don’t blame them!), but fortunately the rain had eased off by our start time at 10h00. 

Just six of us set off across Blackfriars Bridge and into the labyrinth of “Fleet Street Quarter” to follow the trail of Raymond Brigg’s snowmen – individually decorated by different artists to represent The Twelve Days of Christmas song. FSQ is a Business Improvement District set up by local enterprises in 2022, covering the zone between Fleet Street itself, Ludgate Hill, Chancery Lane and Holborn – it aspires to shape the whole area into a “thriving and vibrant destination” in which to live, work and visit, but only from Monday to Friday it would seem as there was nowhere open for coffee/refreshments!

As a small group we completed the trail quite quickly – riders listened patiently (and possibly appreciatively) as the ride leader sang 3 (self-penned) new verses to the Snowman song in Gough Square, Holborn Circus and Playhouse Yard. As we had finished early we decided to return to Waterloo the long way round via the Embankment cycleway to Parliament Square and Lambeth Bridge where we stopped for coffee at the Riverside café at Lambeth pier before returning to Emma Cons Garden at 12h30.

Ride 2. Buckingham Palace from Canada Water

St James Palace
Leaving St James Palace
Photos by Bruce

Report by Ride Leader Simon K.

The forecast on Saturday was for rain of a Biblical deluge, which meant that Bruce and ride leader Simon K were the only two to meet at Canada Water.
In the event the rain wasn’t nearly as bad as had been forecast. Having had confirmation that at least two riders were at London Bridge we set off to meet them. We were greeted with much surface water, though by 10.00 the rain had virtually stopped. There were four riders at London Bridge so six of us set off en route for Buckingham Palace where Simon gave a short historical talk. Next stop was St James’s Palace where the Proclamation for King Charles had taken place on a balcony overlooking a courtyard. On our return we avoided the cycle lane on Westminster Bridge which these days should be renamed the tourist lane. Three riders left bound for a sensible warming coffee at Hay’s Galleria whilst three carried on to Canada Water arriving back about midday. Within half an hour of finishing the sun made an appearance. Many thanks to the Famous Five who turned up despite the wet conditions and made for an enjoyable ride, even to Tony G, who insisted on asking questions he knew your leader hadn’t mugged up on.

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