• Five Hawksmoor Churches
  • Waltham Forest/Mini-Holland

Five Hawksmoor Churches

New ride devised and led by Nigel J. Well designed route from London Bridge through the City and East End to Limehouse, then finishing at St Alfege’s in Greenwich. 10 riders. Nice coffee break in Mario’s Cafe (3 Colt St, just off NArrow St, https://marioscafe.uk/).

Christ Church Spitalfields
St Mary Woolnoth
St George in the East
Crossing Butchers Row on C3
St Anne’s Limehouse
Marios Cafe, Limehouse

Route (with info about each church) at https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1b7x8MnovgoVZ4KAZ2K58Ts2PhTlKPY0&usp=sharing

Waltham Forest/Mini-Holland

Ride leader Simon S. His report is below.

Ready to go at London Bridge

In the end, 22 riders set off from London Bridge at 9.35am to do a tour of Waltham Forest’s Mini-Holland cycleways. This included a couple of youthful riders accompanied by parents.  Our first stop, at Moorgate station, was to put on rain gear! But the weather wasn’t too bad as we used C13 and then C27 to go north-east, exploring areas we don’t often see: Finsbury, Hackney City Farm, Hackney Church and London Fields for example. 

As we left Lea Bridge, entering Waltham Forest, we cycled along wide, smooth, segregated cycleways. We went through quiet neighbourhoods closed to through traffic (aka LTNs), which were a joy. Motorists stopped to allow the peleton to cross junctions, and there was no hooting of horns. Wonderful! We stopped for coffee in Orford Road, closed to traffic in daytime; it’s a lovely street where people can linger as they shop. One rider suffered a rear tyre blowout in Leyton, but was able to find a local bike shop and get sorted, though had to miss the rest of the ride. 

The return route aimed for directness – through the Olympic Park, Vicky Park and Mile End Park, then C2 and C3 to London Bridge. What we didn’t expect was Biblical rain, hail, thunder and lightning as we left the Olympic Park! Fortunately this was short-lived and we finished the ride in bright sunshine.  Some riders peeled off early to go south over Tower Bridge, but the hardy survivors kept going to the Monument and London Bridge, arriving at 1.20pm

About 22 miles and mostly flat. The unanimous view was that this was a great route that we should do again.  We will!

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