URBAN SURPRISES 14/01/07

The PHC loan bikes had their first outing of the year as 21 riders
gathered at the library. The ride description had promised the
flattest route to Forest Hill. That was a mistake - there's no such
thing! The recent rain had also waterlogged South Norwood Country
Park so we went for a direct backstreet route to Crystal Palace. This
just involves two very short hills which are easily walked up if you
don't fancy riding. It's a brilliant route to know. From here we
cruised Sydenham Hill Rd all the way to the Horniman Museum.

The route was so efficient that we got there before it opened. But no
problem because that meant we were the first to get served at the
cafe! Two people decided to stay and explore the very interesting
museum and we picked up an additional rider who had arranged to meet us.

Being on top of Forest Hill can only mean one thing - going downhill!
We used the tarmac path adjacent the the Horniman Railway Trail, a
wildlife corridor on the site of the former Nunhead to Crystal Palace
line, before sailing down Underhill Road and towards Peckham where we
picked up the traffic-free Boatman's Walk along the site of the
former Peckham canal. By this point we'd gained another rider en-
route. Then it was LCN route 22 all the way to London Bridge along
the quiet roads and backstreets.

The George is hard to see from the road as it's hidden in a
courtyard. It's an amazing building, owned by the National Trust and
the only remaining galleried coaching inn left in London. We arrived
just as it opened and so there was no wait for food. It was
surprisingly quiet and we virtually had the place to ourselves.

On the way home, we hugged the Thames for a bit but the path was far
too busy for bikes so we inched over to Waterloo and picked up LCN 3,
a twisty, turning collection of backstreets that pops you out at
Clapham Common. I've only really ridden this route into London so it
was interesting to note that it doesn't work so well going south. In
particular, it's impossible to make the right turn just after the
Oval, especially with 20 cyclists.

The cafe on Clapham Common was packed so we just used their loo and
pottered off to Tooting Common where quite a few people had ice
cream. In January. Can't be bad! Most people started disappearing
homewards whilst the remainder braved the traffic down from Streatham
Common and back to base.

Out for 6hrs, see the pix on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets/72157594479061220
or
http://tinyurl.com/y63orn

Note: The London Cycle Network (LCN) routes are signposted cycle
routes that aim to use the quietest roads. The network has been
superseded by the LCN+ which is series of cycle lanes along busy roads

===

We had our quarterly meeting last week. Apologies were received from
the Secretary and Treasurer. I gave a brief overview of what we'd
done which included winning the LCC Award in November and brought
along our new OS maps that were purchased with the money we got from
CLPP. These maps are available for anyone to borrow. If you want to
plan a route, let me know.

The rest of the meeting concerned plans for the future. It was agreed
that we should try more themed rides and that one of these should
tie in with the Tour de France when it visits London in July. This
will most likely be a ride to central London then a lap of the
Prologue route around the sights. We will also do two rides to see
the race itself, one to the Prologue because you'll see the riders
several times as they lap around the circuit and one out in the Kent
countryside which we'll combine with a normal day ride. It was agreed
that we should also repeat the Viking Coastal Trail, do some more
rides to Greenwich, do a ride back out to Hampton Court, one to Esher
and to try one around Windsor on the Sustrans routes. Robert pointed
out that it is very cheap using Group Save to get out to Oxted and
that lifts you over the Downs and right into the heart of the Weald
countryside. We're still not agreed on branching out into North
London because we don't have the route knowledge that we have in
South London. Other groups do North London very well but it was
pointed out that if we join them, they may go too fast for us. CTC is
our best bet because their one star rides go at our speed.

We've had an offer from Steve W to use his car to finally get to
France and this will hopefully happen in the summer. That means
places will be very limited. We'll probably stay overnight at a B&B
or a campsite. More on this later.

===

I've added http://www.netweather.tv to our homepage. It's the most
accurate weather forecast on the net, especially if you add Mitcham
in as the location.

===

Next week's ride is on Saturday. It's a slightly hilly but mainly
traffic-free ride that traverses the North Downs all the way into
pretty Shere. Back the way we came. The paths are good so unless
we've had really heavy rain, they'll be fine. No road bikes but
tourers will be fine. Be at Mitcham Junction station at 9:20. We'll
need to get Travel Permits and then trade them for Group Saves on
arrival at Dorking.

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189