Ride 1. Kensington Gardens; Ride 2. Spitalfields
London Bridge-Kensington Gardens Loop
The idea behind this ride, apart from all the interesting places the route would pass, was to use the Cycleway Network as much as possible. 12 riders set off across London Bridge with Bruce leading and dropped down to Upper Thames St to join Cycleway 3. Steady ride to Westminster Bridge then turn inland on C3 to Buckingham Palace. Big crowds here as you would expect on a holiday weekend. Up Constitution Hill and across Hyde Park along Rotten Row to West Carriage Drive. Left the cycleway here to do a loop to Kensington Palace and back. Stopped at Queen Victoria’s statue, gleaming in the sunshine, for a short break. This was the far point in the ride and we were there well ahead of schedule thanks in part to the Cycleways. Completed the loop back to Hyde Park via the Albert Memorial (also shining in the sunshine) and had a well-earned coffee break at the Park Sports Hyde Park shop and cafe. Coffee service was pleasingly efficient. In the past this conveniently located cafe had been a bit slow.
Started back by continuing C3 over the Serpentine and up to Victoria Gate. Here C3 ends. We turned east along North Carriage Drive to the exit north to Connaught Place, just before Marble Arch. Continued on back streets including Seymour Place, even quieter than usual due to the bank holiday. Joined Cycleway 27 with a 2-stage right turn into Crawford St. C27 is a bit of a disapointment after C3. No cycle lane, no portection at junctions. Contiued across Baker St then round the 1-way at Marylebone High St to Devonshire St and on across Portland Place and Gt Portland St to Cleveland St. This is the end of the Borough of Westmnster with it’s non-existent cycling infrastructure. Now we enter Camden, a borough that has a more positive attitude to active transport. Immediately there is a cycle lane – OK, its very narrow, but it has been there for years. Continued across Tottenham Court Rd, much mproved now it is back to 2-way, briefly on to Gower St passing UCL, then into Torrington Place. Here we join a piece of cycling history, the first segregated cycle lanes in London, must have been about 30 years back. These run to Judd St where C27 is joined by C6. Followed these across Greys Inn Rd and down the delightful little path in Ampton St at which point we turned south and rode past the new build at Mount Pleasant. C27 has now left to continue eastward while we headed south along C6 into Farringdon Road. Good segregated paths here, one on each side of the road. Much better than the bidirectional paths that TfL loves so much. Cruise down under Holborn Viaduct shortly after which we have a light-controlled crossover to continue on C6 on a bidirectional path. This took us over Blackfriars Bridge on a very nice segregated cycle lane to Nicolson St where we said goodbye to C6 and joined C14, C14 is an ex-Quietway and here uses mostly Union St with not much segregation. At the junction with O’Meara St we stopped to admire the “scoop” cut into the new building to allow the round window of the next-door church to remain visible. Last part of the ride saw us leave C14 at Bermondsey St, ridng north to Tooley St and back to The Needle at London Bridge.
Even with a good coffee break, did the 14 miles well within 3 hours. Cycleways not only make cycling safer, they also speed you up.
Thanks to Simon S, for back-marking. Route at
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1qkrX4KxPAZfk9xDVDZM5tWq_oaj4kBQ&usp=sharing
London Bridge to Spitalfields Market
Photos by Jean
12 Riders on this short ride led by Jamie. From WhatsAp (The Vulnerables). Jamie’s summary “A rather disjointed route but we got there eventually”. Jean commented “Thanks Jamie for a great ride via Covent Garden”
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