• Ride 1. A Mosaic-themed Ride
  • Ride 2. Peckham to Shooters Hill

A Mosaic-themed Ride

Here is the report from Ride Leader Eva:

18 riders set off from London Bridge to find a variety of mosaics. The first stop at Queenhithe where a 30 meters long mosaic tells the story of London from the Roman times until 2014. There is a film on YouTube which gives an insight into the creation of this public artwork on which ca 300 volunteers contributed (https://youtu.be/9iW1axPQUW8). This mosaic as well as most of the others we visited today was designed by Tessa Hunkin who is also running the Hackney Mosaic project (https://www.hackney-mosaic.co.uk/). We then made our way through the City towards Hoxton where we looked at the Shepherdess Walk mosaic and the Packington Estate mosaic. Cycling along Regents’ Canal we found a smaller mosaic in Kingsland Basin, and then in Haggerston Square the mosaic commemorating the life of Nathaniel Acton. The route took us further north to Hackney Downs, where the Hackney Mosaic project has their workshop, and we admired both the large mural inside the children’s playground, as well as the “Hackney Hounds” mural for local pet dogs. In Southgate (!) Road we found a coffee shop with enough space for all of us before winding our way back towards South London. Despite a considerable time overrun, all riders were happy to include the last stop – the railway arches off Hercules Road near Waterloo where lots of differently designed mosaic panels  show William Blake and his wife Catherine and themes inspired by his writings or their artwork. These panels are sadly in quite a bad condition, and some appear to have been taken down completely. We then made our way back to London Bridge. 

Peckham to Shooters Hill

At bottom of the hill. And yes, young Oliver made it to the top quickest!

Bruce’s annual ride to climb Shooters Hill to Severndroog Castle by the winding, steep path through Jack Wood. Nine riders up for this challenge. We set off from Peckham along the main road to Deptford Bridge. Joined the Waterlink Way path for a short distance then mostly quiet roads to Kidbrooke Village (new modern redevelopment) eventually reaching Wel Hall Pleasaunce wher we had a brief loo break. The climbing started as we rode up steadily increasing slopes to Jack Wood. Stopped there to gather ourselves before the steep path upward. Everyone got up safely with our young rider (age10/11) positively flying up. The tiny coffeeshop n Severndroog Castle was open so we had a refreshment break there.

Return route is of course mostly downhill or flat so we made good speed on busy roads to Greenwich Park. Then down the hill, Cycleway 10 to Bridgehouse Meadows, and back steets to peckham Square. With a smallish group were back in good time. Route map at https://bit.ly/2Fv5z5Z

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