Start at 10.ooam at the View Tube Cafe. This year we will be focussing on the Royal Docks, and the banks of the rivers Thames and Lea. There will be short stops at sites of historical interest but for further info and photos (including some sites we will not be visiting!) see the update and expanded guide.
Lots of stopping places in the second half of the ride and the cafe at Cody Dock should be open. The choice will depend on the weather.
Ride scheduled for this evening has been cancelled due to display being cancelled due to adverse weather conditions
‘Unfortunately due to the adverse weather conditions, including strong gusts of wind, which are forecast to continue, the Event Mangement Team have decided that it is unsafe to continue with the event. We regret any dissapointment this may cause, but public safety must be our priority at all times.‘
sorry Bill
Rain before and rain after kept the crowds away from what proved, for Viv, Jonathan and myself to be a ride in dry – if grey- weather. We took in theusual, but ever changing sights of Newham, including Lyle Park, Tinity Buoy Wharf (where the only hint of rain came whilst lunch was being taken) East India Dock, Cody Dock and Three Mills.
One puncture from the usual glass on the cycle lanes around Beckton. Also the sight of systematic car parking on shared use pavement in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic(Car) Park.
Sunday’s Essex Lane’s ride followed the route from Epping station north east towards Morton, Fyfield and Willingale, before going south towards Blackmore and then west to Stondon Massey.
We had lunch at the Bricklayers, before heading to Ongar then Greensted, Toot Hill and the rollercoaster back towards Epping. The weather was amazing, warm and sunny, and the countryside still had the lush feel of summer. Leaving Epping we saw the Routemaster buses running the shuttle service to NorthWeald so we decided to make a short detour to see the spectacle which is the preserved station, vintage trains and busses recreating the transport infrastructure of the past.
The next stop was the small village of Willingale with two churches next to each other…
There are numerous stories regarding how this came about and if you are interested you will have to wait until the next Essex lanes ride to find out. After lunch we couldn’t resist a stop at Greensted church as we were passing and there was a demand for local honey. Unfortunately there was none but there were lots more local history stories.
The photos only show the start and finish of the ride, but can you spot the ebike?
This is always the biggest family ride of the year with many people coming from outside London
to take advantage of the freecycle cycling carnival in Central London, with no traffic. It was our
task to ensure that the participants were guided safely through the streets leading to the
Freecycle and bring them back after the event
This year we changed the route to include the Olympic Park, Victoria Park, a short section of the
regents canal and quiet way 13, from Broadway Market to Shoreditch and on to Moorgate and
Bank. Families gathered, their bikes were checked, tyres pumped, emergency contact forms filled
and everyone was made to feel welcome. As usual we saw some interesting vehicles, including a
scooter, a child trailer and a rider with a large sound system on his back. There were a number of
children on their first or longest road ride, who were asked to ride at the front to set the pace, the
youngest was just four years old.
The weather was fine and the ride passed very smoothly, apart from coming across a seemingly continuous running race in Victoria Park. Our excellent team of marshals worked hard to ensure that the riders were safe, had fun and arrived at the Bank to join the thousands of people on bikes enjoying a traffic free London, perhaps this is how London will look in future.
More photos here – thanks as always to Robin Stephenson.
Despite rain the children of the saturday cycle club run by hte charity Ambition, Aspire, Achieve, were keen togo out for a ride. They (and we) were rewarded by the rain stopping. We used the Greenway, including the newly opened section north of Stratford High Street, and the Olympic Park for an enjoyable (mostly off-road) ride.
We will be looking at running another round of fixing /ride on consecutive Saturdays in the autumn.
The first ride on Sunday 7th July took us out from Canterbury up the hill to the university, and then some very fashionable gravel riding on the Crab and Winkle Way to Whitstable. From Whitstable we followed the Kentish coast clockwise past Reculver and the Herne Bay Sailing club to the West Bay Cafe for lunch. A brief stop at the Sunken Gardens and we carried on around the coast to Ramsgate and our train home.
A fortnight later on Sunday 21st July we took the high speed train out to Ramsgate and continued the loop—around the coast past the Pfizer pharmaceutical site and its accompanying “Hands & Molecule” celebratory statue to Sandwich. From there we headed inland through the Weald of Kent on some fairly quiet country roads to our lunch stop at the Independant Pedaler [sic]. Some short and sharp hills, and then a long fast descent into Canterbury to take a look at the cathedral. We just missed a fast train back, so took the opportunity to have a drink at the Millers Arms by the Stour.
14 July was the new summer date for our traditional 25 mile ,off road (mostly) saunter to Rainham Marshes and Upminister. The weather was no better than on our previous September/October rides – but we escaped any rain (but suffered one puncture)..
The route was as interesting as ever.
We saw some frantic working on the northern section of the Greeway in preparation for its opeing the following day after being closed for more than a decade.
There are signs of the massive development of Barking Riverside.
We had a short stop in Rainhm Hall – the subject of an interesting blog by Diamond Geezer on 18 July.
The following Saturday we did some bike fixing at the AAA Fun Day. The all-ability bikes are particularly vulnerable to malfunction and present a challenge to repair. Nevertheless we ensured that a couple more would be available.
Other news:
Our next AAA ride is this Saturday 27 July leaving 10.30 from the Arc – see rides.
We have submitted strong support for the 5 pilot School Streets. These are all relatively easy to implement. We have suggested extending the scope in some cases and commented that they should be a stepping stone to proper Liveable Neighbourhood schemes.
There is an important current consultation on the “Greater Carpenters Neighbourhood Plan” – an area important for cycling and walking connections to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The plans look – typically for the LLDC – deficient.
There is a current consultation on closing the bridge at Browning Rd to through traffic to lessen rat running in Manor Park.
We looked with TfL and Newham Council at the the Romford Rd corridor.
The consultants for the developers of the MSG Square have contacted us after our objection to their seriously deficiant plans after our objection had been lodged. However they have not yet been able to indicate that they would contemplate changing them (and they are likely to be supported by the LLDC Planning team); nor have they shown any interest in a site visit to look again at the cycling angle.
We understand and hope that Newham Council are looking again at their original (poor) proposals for the Greengate St/Barking Rd junction.
Our next meeting is 29 July – an short evening ride followed by a chance for some informal discussion – see events.
LCC are holding a social at at 6:00PM in Look Mum No Hands (49 Old St, London EC1V 9HX). All are welcome.
Steve has devised an exciting new route for our feeder to the Freecycle on 3 August. More marshals would be greatly approciated for this event which is both fun and important in promoting cycling.
I will be leading a feeder ride to a cycle fun event in Greenwich Park on 17 August – see rides.
10 of us set off on a very sunny Saturday to ride around some east and north east London’s Breweries –as well as old favourites we found a no. of new brew sites! Crossing river Lee we passed old favourites inc Crate & Howling hops to cross Victoria park (& a family marathon in park!) to Old street brewery in Bethnal green –new to us last year. Passing Boxcar –soon to reopen, we stopped for first sample at new Mechanic Brewery also in Bethnal green.
Travelling north now the day started to really heat up passing more Hackney breweries we headed for Lee navigation canal where we rode up to Hale brewery near Markfield park –they actually brew in a shipping container –very micro! Back up canal past Beavertown who were holding a ticketed beer festival we had our lunch stop at Pressure drop brewery –however promised food was not there! after some negotiation some procured food from tasty Beavertown stalls.
Then past new brewery Ora and onto new site for One mile end brewery & Redemption –both in Tottenham. –back across canal and Tottenham marshes to new site of Wild card –next to a retro scooter shop in north Walthamstow. Past alcohol free brewery Nirvana, four more in Leyton before a stop at another new brewery Gravity well for more sampling. We spoke to keen staff at Solvay Society tap room in E11 –brewers of Belgian style beers! We passed Pretty Decent brewery in E7 to our final stop at Woodgrange market where Forest Gayte festival was in full flight and to sample Pretty Decent brew!
Prize for best dressed bike must go to Anita -8 made it back to E7 after a very hot day of riding 23 miles and 28 breweries! -see list below
The weather was sunny and warm when 19 of us set out from View Tube en route to Upshire and the mountain of cake. However there were many challenges that we had to meet before we could have our cake and eat it. We rode out of the Olympic Park under the Lea Bridge Road, the towpath was busy with walkers, joggers, cyclists and fishermen/women and on the water there were rowers, paddle boarders, houseboaters as we made our way through the distinctive areas of Springfield park and the start of the string of reservoirs extending north out of London.
Nesting swans were seen as the waterway became quieter and water fowl had more room. We had a few punctures on the rough tracks and although we managed to fix them quickly we did find ourselves returning to the same back wheel.
After we left the towpath just before Enfield lock, we followed the National Cycle Network before joining Sewardstone Road and then climbing Dawes Hill, which combined with too many cars was a tough challenge. As we rode into Chingford passed Gilwell Park scout camp, we were surrounded by the forest and we climbed up to the Queen Elizabeth hunting lodge where we had another brief stop. Turning off Rangers Road we entered the forest and followed the tarmac track towards High Beech, the track had some steep sections before we emerged from the forest at the bikers tea hut. We were soon at High Beech, which was crowded on account of the sunny weather, the forest was beautiful as we rolled on towards the Wake Arms and the busy A121. We negotiated this road without any problems and joined the small road that took us over the M25 and into Upshire and our destination, St Thomas’.
Arrival time 14:28, tea and cake served from 14:30, and with a large slice of home made cake for approximately £1.10 and tea £0.70, unbeatable value.
The ride back was uneventful with zero punctures. We detoured from the canal and cycled around Hackney marshes and through the ever changing Olympic Park as our group reduced in number with people peeling off towards home. We arrived back at Viewtube around 17:30 after an enjoyable outing. Thanks to Anita for back marking, Karen and Robin for marshalling, puncture repairs and photos; also Jonathan, some of whose photos are included here.