• Ride 1. 10 Interesting Things
• Ride 2. The 2025 Southwark Cyclists London Marathon Ride 

Ride 1. 10 Interesting Things

Ten riders plus ride leader John S. took part in this ride. Here is John’s reort.

We set off briskly from Peckham Library just after 10am on a clear morning, which soon turned to sunshine, a group of eleven en route to London Bridge. There we slowed down, meandering our way along Eastcheap to our first stop – Two Mice and the Cheese – and then heading up to the Aldgate Pump (whose story is recounted, along with the others, in the notes posted below).

We then had a nice long uninterrupted run across to Giltspur Street, to see the Watch House … only to meet, as we approached, the never-ending convoy of cyclists doing the Tweed Ride, interspersed at regular intervals by buses, coming towards us. Too good to miss! We paused at length to watch them go by and to take photos.

Onwards we went, to Holborn Viaduct and down Fetter Lane to Fleet Street. There we saw the statues of the two queens, Mary Queen of Scots (sitting above a branch of Pret) and her nemesis Elizabeth I (the oldest outdoor statue in London, made in her own lifetime and brought to its present site at St Dunstan’s in the West when its original home at Ludgate was demolished).

It was time for a break … though we paused briefly on our way to Aldwych to hear the story of the delivery of the anonymous manuscript of Gulliver’s Travels to Benjamin Motte, bookseller, at Middle Temple Gate in 1726.

A leisurely break followed, before we proceeded on our way, following a circuitous route that brought us to Brydges Place, which we entered with care, emerging one by one, with appropriate assistance, through one of London’s darkest and narrowest alleyways, into bright sunshine by the Coliseum. Then we walked, threading our way through the crowds, to the south-east corner of Trafalgar Square, to have our group photo at (what once was) London’s smallest police station. Down Whitehall we flew, to more crowds, but undeterred, we edged our way in to the Embankment at Westminster Bridge, to see the wonderful Thames Tide Gauge Hut, and to peer over to glimpse the Lions’ Heads that dot the Embankment and mark the danger level for the water below.

Our sight-seeing completed, we enjoyed a long and peaceful run along the river to Southwark Bridge, from where we struck south to Great Suffolk Street, and on via Burgess Park to Peckham Library, with the sun still shining down.

A big thanks to Mike for backmarking, and to Jean for marshalling!

More photos from Jean

Ride 2. The 2025 Southwark Cyclists London Marathon Ride 

Ride leader Jamie and several marshals meant a group of 23 on this ride. 26 miles is a long ride, but better to be riding than running! Mind you would have been nice not to have all the traffic… We were lucky with the weather – mild and quite a bit of sunshine, Here is an edited veersion of Jamie’s notes lifted from WhatsApp/Southwark Cyclists.

I rode the full route to check it the day before for changes etc which took me 1 hour 40 minutes. By contrast the same route on Saturday took us 4 hours 23 minutes (not counting a 30 minute coffee break plus an extended 15 minute comfort break). Obviously crossing multiple lights & junctions etc with 23 riders clearly takes far longer. That said Ed and Geraldine our amazing marshals ensured that a pleasingly swift pace was maintained throughout most of the ride.
The Command and Control element of this ride was a real challenge for many reasons not least of which occurred when heading back into London on the Highway. We ran into some very heavy and prolonged slow-moving traffic. Understandably some riders were reluctant but after 30 minutes of near stationary and crawling traffic I made a command decision to weave carefully in and out of the outer lane. Again, our marshals helped enormously with this manoeuvre. The entire jam of one of London’s principle roads had been caused by four enormous articulated trucks that had bizarrely been permitted to double park blocking two lanes to deliver building materials at the same time as much of the preparations for the marathon were taking place. Sheer lunacy.
With Birdcage Walk, Horse guards Parade and The Mall closed for the mini marathon I was determined not to get trapped for hours again this year inside the Police cordon as happened last year whilst trying to get on the Mall. I thus approached the finish this year via Northumberland Avenue to get access through Admiralty Arch which the Police had told me the day before would be my best option. This seemed to spook some riders who took flight elsewhere which was entirely my own fault for not mentioning it in my safety brief.

Comment from Amanda on WhatsApp: Really well done Jamie. I thought that was a very difficult ride to co-ordinate and manage – given the traffic, route and cut off areas that you had checked out the day before. A good lesson learnt for me about traffic weaving, which got the whole group to the finish a little earlier – both sides of the arch – brilliant. Excellent Marshalling by Geraldine and Edwardo too. So really, really well done.

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