Saturday social cycle ride: early start and a bit longer

[Sally Eva]

An unusual starting place too. The group will meet at 9.30am on Saturday December 15th at Southwark Needle, on the south east corner of London Bridge, top of Duke St Hill, adjacent to London Bridge station. If that is still not meaning much to you then a picture is attached. It's easier to get to London Bridge station on the train than to ride up by bike. There's level access at East Dulwich but Peckham Rye station is a lot more challenging. Right now it looks as if trains to London Bridge will be running but it's always best to check here http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/PMR/BFR/To on the day.

Having arrived at the right place at the right time the group will ride into Central London and look at some of the Christmas lights. The plan is to get to extend the westward reach of rides to Notting Hill. They will also take a turn through the chaos of the Parliament Square road works to celebrate the first election with both sexes voting (anniversary Dec 14th).

Wikipedia says ?The British General Election on the 14 December 1918 was held just a month after the Armistice. Under the terms of the new Representation of the People Act, the electorate now included most women aged over thirty and all men over twenty-one. A special provision also lowered the voting age to nineteen for those who had served in the war. The new electorate, at 21,392,322, was nearly triple that of the previous election of December 1910 (7,709,981).? This was often referred to as ?The Khaki Election?.

The ride will finish at 1pm back at London Bridge. Somewhere there will be a cafe and loo stop. It should be quite a ride but all at the usual stately pace. Everyone is welcome. Children should bring a well-behaved adult. This series of Saturday morning rides is organised by Bruce Lynn and friends on behalf of Southwark Cyclists. We are the borough branch of the London Cycling Campaign. Everything we do is free and open to everyone no matter where they live. No need to book though if you need help getting to the Needle, you could text Bruce on 07729 927 945. Enjoy.

our website is here: https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk