sociable cycle ride Saturday January 4th starts 10am

[Sally Eva]

A ride to start the decade. Begin as you mean to go on. These easy-paced, two hour social rides are a good way to build fitness, and learn routes around our city. Forget "no pain, no gain". This is learning without pain.

We start at the Dulwich Clock Cafe, in Dulwich Park, SE21 7BQ, at 10am. The ride is circular so we return for 12 noon. The route uses quiet streets. parks and paths. It's an easy ride, suitable for all types of cyclists.

From Dulwich Park we will head up to Dawsons Heights where there are great views across northern Dulwich to the skyline of central London. Then to East Dulwich and the Dulwich Hamlet football ground. When we first rode this route there was uncertainty about the future of this old ground where the club has been settled since the 1890s. It's still there after a long fight for life against US property developers.

The group will come back though Dulwich Village and up College Rd to the tollbooth. Dulwich Estates charge a small toll on the south part of College Rd. Dulwich is home to the last remaining tollgate in London. The tollgate is located on a private section of College Road, SE21, which runs from the junction with the South Circular Road to Fountain Drive. The college reckons it helps to control the volume of traffic and heavy goods vehicles using this section of the road and lessens the environmental impact on the surrounding area. The ?1.20 per vehicle comes in handy too. Cyclists go free.

Now down to the south end of Dulwich to a castle or, at least, it has Kingsdown House that looks like one. On to Belair Park and finally the Herne Hill Velodrome. There's always lots of activity at the velodrome: on the track and the mountain bike trail plus plenty of children learning to ride in the area inside the track. From the velodrome it's just a short hop back through Dulwich Village and into Dulwich Park. The route is here:

This ride is organised by Bruce Lynn and friends on behalf Southwark Cyclists. We are the borough branch of the London Cycling Campaign. The LCC campaigns for more bike-friendly roads across London and we concentrate on the same thing in Southwark. The whole series are called Healthy Rides because they help you to be healthy but more than that they get you out of the house, meeting people and gaining confidence on your bike and the road.

You can contact Southwark Cyclists on [email protected], tweet us @southwarkcycle; or text Bruce on 07729 279 945. Our website is here: https://southwarkcyclists.org.uk, the LCC website is here: https://lcc.org.uk. All our stuff is free and open to everyone no matter where you live. Enjoy.