• Ride 1 2026 London Marathon Route Ride
  • Ride 2. Fire of London

Ride 1. 2026 London Marathon Route Ride

Jamie. leading from Greenwich Park, assisted by Simon K. 20 riders.

Note from Jamie: “Simon and I had a smooth ride. The Cable Street route in and out was a dream.  One new rider who has now got the SHR info.”

Jamie on WhatsApp: “20 riders sucessfully rode the London Marathon Course today in 4 hours. Huge thanks to Simon K. for all his pre-planning input and to our excellent Marshals Chou and gloria. Ditto to Mike and Nigel our patient backstops”

WhatsApp comment from Roxy: “Lovely ride by @Jamie Pedrick – big thanks as well to the marshals for keeping everything running smoothly”

Ride 2. Fire of London

Monument, corner Pudding Lane
All Hallows Church
Golde Boy

John S. leading from London Bridge. 6 riders.

Here is John’s report:

Our little group of six set out from London Bridge into a warm and sunny April day, en route for Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire began in a baker’s shop in the early hours of Sunday morning, September 2nd ,1666. We heard of the innocent parties blamed for it, and how the baker would go on to rebuild his shop and re-establish his successful business. We glanced up at the Monument alongside, before proceeding towards the Tower of London, the eastern boundary of the area destroyed, from where we would follow faithfully the exact boundary of the blaze as shown on Hollar’s famous map of 1666.

But first a pause by the Tower. Here we could see All Hallows Church, from whose tower Pepys viewed the flames, before rapidly descending and taking his wife, Elizabeth to Woolwich for safety. But that was on Wednesday, the last day of the fire …

We cycled up Seething Lane to the site of Pepys’s house, just across the road from St Olave’s church where he worshipped, and there heard his whole story, the best account we have of the fire, from his Sunday river trip to Whitehall to inform the King, through to his being wakened by Elizabeth at 2am on Wednesday morning to be told that the houses at the bottom of Seething Lane were on fire…

We followed the fire’s boundary up to and through Austen Friars, admiring the Dutch Church, which just escaped the flames … only to find the area festooned with orange balloons, all ready for an event later in the day to celebrate the church’s still continuing role in London’s Dutch community.

And so to London Wall, and a long run across the northern boundary of the affected area. We passed the ruins of St Elsyng Spital and detoured a few yards into Cloth Fair to view no. 41. Built between 1597 and 1614, it escaped the flames and is believed to be the oldest surviving house within the City of London area. There we asked a kindly passer-by to take our group photo. Our request came as no surprise to him; he was quite aware of the house’s history.

And so on to Pye Corner and the well-known ‘Golden Boy’ statuette that marks the fire’s boundary at Cock Lane. From there along Holborn Viaduct and down Fetter lane to Fleet Street, where we paused to look at St Dunstan in the West, and to hear the story of how the Dean of Westminster brought forty schoolboys armed with buckets to dowse the flames in the middle of the night, thus saving the church. We were now just a few hundred yards from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, to which the unfortunate residents of the City had been directed to store all their worldly goods … and where, fortunately, their piled-up waggon-loads of furniture were safe. But for us, the calm of Lincoln’s Inn Fields offered a long and restful coffee stop.

Our speedy return to London Bridge followed a straight line through the fire-ravaged area… but there was one bonus stop on the way. It was reported in the Times on April 16 that Professor Lucy Munro of King’s College London has identified the exact location of the house that Shakespeare occupied during his London years, and which perished in the Great Fire half a century later, with only the foundations surviving. So we wound our way from Ludgate hill through Paternoster Court, and down Church Entry to Ireland Yard, and we all stood together on the spot which, the Times suggests, may soon become a place ‘of pilgrimage for lovers of the Bard’ … but we’ve got in ahead of the promised throng.

And so to London Bridge, just ahead of schedule , the sun still shining!

Thank you Jean for back-marking, and to Bruce for keeping an eye on us all!

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