CENTRAL LONDON SIGHTSEER 25/03/07

This time last week, we had no ride booked. It looked set to be the
first weekend in the history of the club with no ride. Fortunately, 5
of our ride leaders rose to the challenge with the honours going to
the first two to offer their services, both with similar ideas for the
route. With just 4 days to go, the finalised route was posted to the
PHC e-list and sent out to the LCC Rider list. What a pleasant
surprise then to find 18 last-minute riders at the library for the
start.

A sightseeing ride of Central London is something that has been talked
about before. It's really not very far and there are a couple of nice
routes to get there. This ride used the Waterlink Way to Greenwich
which is always popular. The challenging spiral ramp over the railway
at Ladywell Fields saw a 'refusal at the first' for the second rider
which had a domino effect of the rest of the pack. You need a good run
up in first gear to get over it!

The unreliable cafe at the other end of the bridge was closed which
meant pushing on to Greenwich for a morning stop. That's a decent 13
miles of cycling before everyone piled into the Wetherspoons for a
coffee. After a quick group discussion, it was decided that despite
being behind schedule, it was preferable to stick with the quieter but
longer riverside route. It's so well signed that the leaders didn't
need their maps.

Crossing Tower Bridge is a first for a PHC ride. Then the sights began
to stack up quickly. Turning left at the Tower of London and past the
Monument, London's cheapest tourist attraction, and onto Poultry where
the ASL box at the head of the junction wasn't large enough to
accommodate 18 cyclists at once.

Next up was St. Paul's Cathedral and then direct to lunch at a
different Wetherspoons pub to the advertised one, Peverall's Oak in
High Holborn. The leader thought the original choice of the Lord Moon
of the Mall might be too crowded with tourists, as it is at the top of
Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, so he'd checked on the Wetherspoons
website the previous night, found their City pubs weren't open at the
weekend, but the Peverall's Oak is in No Man's Land between the City
and the West End, IS open on Sundays, and thought it might be quieter.
Good move, as it turned out. We didn't get there until about 1:30pm,
but it's a double-fronted pub with railings across the front for
locking bikes to and we found a whole corner with about 5 free tables
(necessary for 18 people). Cheap drinks, cheap food (although the
standard Wetherspoons menu meant we could have picked what we wanted
to order at the earlier one in Greenwich!), and no problem eating your
own food.

A couple of busier roads were necessary on the afternoon stretch but
no problem with a group of experienced riders. We headed along High
Holborn, Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road to go through
Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall, round Parliament Square and along
Birdcage Walk to Buckingham Palace. The it was straight on past
Victoria station and over Chelsea Bridge to Battersea Park where we
switched leaders.

Plough Road started the return south towards Clapham Common where the
original leader dropped out due to a mechanical failure (and the
report ends). I assume the ride went over the Common and back to
Streatham Vale along LCN5 via Tooting Common as that's the most
logical quiet route to Pollards Hill.

Well done to everyone who offered to help. Report relayed (in much
greater detail than published here!) by Jim B. No pix but everybody
knows what Buckingham Palace looks like.....

===

Next week is another train-assisted ride, this time to Merstham. It's
only 18 miles but it features a fantastic 5 mile stretch of
traffic-free cycling through the magnificent open countryside of South
Park on mostly well surfaced tracks. We'll lunch in Outwood again,
same destination as the recent joint ride with the Anerley. 9:30am
outside East Croydon or meet us just after 10:00am at Merstham
station.

===

Check the Flickr site for the missing Eltham Palace pix and the Merton
Cycle Quest pix:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pollardshillcyclists/sets

Mark
PHC Co-ordinator
07711 688189