- Canada Water-South Bank – Deptford – Canada Water Loop
- Greenwich to Lesnes Abbey
Canada Water-South Bank – Deptford – Canada Water Loop
Another lovely sunny day, just right for the 14 riders gathered at Canada Water. Used a slightly different meeting location, adjacent to Decathlon. Our usual meeting place in Deal Porter Square is now busy with stalls for the new Saturday Market. Set off just after 10am with Bruce leading. Headed down to the river at the Salter Statues, then followed Cycleway 14 to Blackfriars Road. From there north along the C6 to Lower Ground and followed this to the South Bank. Found an intriguig display in Bernie Spain Gardens. A platform with mirrors, then a short “trail” to a largely pink inflatable. Apparently all in aid of selling a new gin! Stopped by aluminium Airstream trailer that makes churros (“The Sweet Spot”) and some of us enjoyed those. Started to eastward leg but were impeded by a large outdoor stage (The River Stage) being set up next to the National Theatre. Delayed further by a young man who told us the stage was for dance shows and we should come back as he was teaching line dancing at 5pm. Continued the ride by joining C10 at Cornwall Rd then following that all the way to Deptford Creekside, an area that is changing fast. Joined the Thames path next to the creek and turned to head back along the Thames path. Safely at Decathlon just after 12.30 having enjoyed a relaxing ride. Many thanks to Jane for back marking for the entire ride.
Greenwich to Lesnes Abbey
Ride report from Amanda who acted as RIde Leader.
17 riders left Cutty Sark at 9.30. The earlier start time works well here at this tourist spot as there is at this time of year an expanding amount of food/drink and fairground rides setting up on the concourse. Weather was a perfect day for a cycle, warm and sunny. A very simple, there and back, predominately on the same route, with a couple of short-cuts on the return.
We set out along the south-side Thames Path, passing the O2, Thames Barrier and Woolwich Arsenal Heritage Site, with all the new and old structures that make this whole section of the path so cyclist friendly to ride and chat. Amazingly, ALL sections of the Thames Path were open. We turned to enter Gallions Park and rode lakeside towards Thamesmead Tor (our mountain!). We encountered an incident here, unrelated to us, that really upset prople and made us somewhat subdued through our next section to Southmere Lake. We rode up onto the Plumstead Ridgway, which, like almost all grass verges in the last few years, has been left to grow wild on either side, making some sections along it a bit of a squeeze through -luckily without stinging nettles. Path section barriers were difficult to get through for bikes with wider handlebars – this is really annoying, because these bikes are the ones most suited for the sand & grit trail path along most of the Ridgeway. New development going on at the lake did not hinder our access and climb to Abbey Wood’s Lesnes Abbey, where the gardens were spectacular at this time of the year and provided the perfect backdrop for our coffee break.
We returned pretty along the same route, albeit taking a shortcut to Woolwich Arsenal and another cutting out Greenwich North Peninsula. Returned to Cutty Sark at 1.39 due to a few unplanned stops. One rider left his helmet at the Abbey. Thank you to Eduardo for returning and retrieving this with the rider. Thank you to Mike, Eduardo, Jamie and Mick for Marshalling and back-marking.
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