two-hour social cycle ride 10am Saturday May 13th

[Sally Eva]

Riding from outside Canada Water library (SE16 7AR) to the South Bank using the Quietways. Starts 10am and ends in the same place at 12 noon. Canada Water is on the overground with lifts for bikes. I wish I could say the same about Peckham Rye Station.

After last Saturday's challenges this is a really easy ride - 14km (8.4 miles) with no hills. The plan is to use the Quietway 14 from Canada Water to Tower Bridge Road and then on to Blackfriars Road on the way out. Some work has recently started on bits towards the west, including Snowsfields and Union St. But mostly this is still just a paper route, nice and quiet to ride though because the eastern half follows the familiar National Cycle Route 4.

There should be time for a short break at Bernie Spain Gardens on the South Bank. Bernie or Bernadette Spain was one of the local campaigners who stopped the gardens being built on and local houses demolished to put up office blocks. A good deed in a naughty world.

The ride comes back along Quietway 1 which has been open more than a year and is drawing big crowds of commuting cyclists during the week. The group will follow this all the way from Upper Ground to the Millwall stadium and then get back to Canada Water using Nat Route 425.

The whole ride includes lots of quiet streets, and some off-road paths with plenty of interest on the route. The map is here: https://goo.gl/zDxw34 , or the gpx file attached and copious amounts of info on local cycling is here: https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk