The 2026 London Ride to Silvertown, 18 March. A sunny day with shadows.

 

There were forty eight riders on the start list for this year’s London Ride, but that was because the organiser had missed two more because he did not check his spam folder.

The victims were in a generous mood, however, perhaps because it was a beautiful Spring day and the coffee at Pembroke Lodge kiosk is pretty good and comes promptly.

Early birds at Pembroke Lodge

Obviously, the main purpose of the London Ride is to give us all a nice day out on the bike headed into the Metropolis rather than, as on most other Wednesdays, away from it.  But it also gives us all a chance to ride with club members we do not normally go out with; this year, though the bulk of riders were A and B groupers, there were regulars from every other part of our club; Cheam and Morden, Saturday Beginners and Easy Riders.  The idea for this year’s ride was for us all to try out the cycle shuttle service in London’s newest sub-Thames road tunnel at Silvertown but on the way we went through Mortlake and Barnes, Hammersmith and Holland Park, Kensington Gardens and Hyde park, Marylebone and Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and Embankment, Blackfriars and Tower Hill, Whitechapel and Limehouse to lunch at West India Docks.

A few bikes having lunch at The Ledger Building, West India Docks

It was a pity that Wetherspoons had not banked on the warm weather, for a pub which on every recce had been well-nigh deserted, was packed to the gunnels, sans curry, sans zero Guinness sans garden peas, sans half of everything.  That was trivial, though, compared to the fact that Clive’s group arrived with the news that David J had had a serious tumble and was on his way home with Jennie on an Uber.  Broken collar bone, broken shoulder blade, Tottenham season ticket holder.  Get well soon, Dave. 

Singing in the sun.  Covent Garden

Evolution gone mad.  The traffic light tree.

I had been fretting that the river crossing would be awkward but John’s group went early, the bus drivers were flexible and the only modest wait was undergone by the group whose leader made a tiny directional error enabling the crafty lot following behind to nip in and take that waiting bus.  By then we had suffered a second accident, when Chris H was wiped out by a reckless madwoman on a Lime Bike doing a quarter of a ton over the bridge spanning Bow Creek.  Unlike the perpetrator, Good Samaritans Bob and Mick A stayed behind to help Chris out, Mick taking him to St George’s A&E on an Uber.  Dislocated shoulder blade.  Get well soon, Chris.  Bob finished the ride on his own, which was a shame, for him and for us.

The accident put a real damper on my group for a shuttle bus ride in silence and for the ride back through Greenwich, Deptford, Millwall, Walworth, Kennington, Vauxhall and Pimlico to cross the river for a fourth time and finish at Battersea Park.

Thanks are due to my five co-leaders; Clive, Simon L, Madeleine, John A and Tim G.  Thanks also to Maggie, Clive, Simon , Dave W, Tim G, John, Madeleine and Dave V who each accompanied me on at least one of the recces and who provided important input.

Thanks, too, to everyone for your good humour and patience, but we all agree that especial thanks must go to the Met Office for the weather they provided.

Here are the reports from group leaders.

Clive's group

.....at the tree sculpture

...at Greenwich, the old Naval College

....and looking back across the river to Canary Wharf

Simon’s group.

It’s a special pleasure to lead a beautiful ride through London, especially on a sunny day.   Credit goes to Paul for route design, and successive London mayors for creating surprisingly quiet cycle routes through the city, on a route that passed so many interesting sights and superb views.  My group was a mixture of A and B group riders and we all enjoyed a relaxed ride through the heart of London, only encountering traffic at Shaftesbury Avenue, where an ambulance crew were treating someone who I think was hit by a bus.

.....on the river at Greenwich

...weaving along the river on the Greenwich Peninsula

After a sunny lunch we went a bit off-piste through the heart of Canary Wharf, down past Billingsgate and the traffic light tree sculpture before rejoining Paul’s route for a smooth bus ride under the tunnel, and more outstanding views of the city from Greenwich.   Thank you to Dave B for back-marking, and especially to Paul for devising such a varied and scenic route.

My group

....at the Cable Street Mural commemorating the so-called riot of 1936 when the dockers confronted Oswald Moseley's Nazis

Madeleine’s group.

....at Cable St

• After all the rain and lack of inviting cycling weather, it was great to be back in saddle ride and test those winterised thighs
• Lunchtime sun basking was glorious, as were the wonderful building and marvellous toilets at the lunch stop
• We followed the post-lunch route to a blind alley in Silvertown, which luckily I recognised as the wrong place to be. After backtracking, we rejoined the correct route - just behind the group that was supposed to be behind us! So we had a little more basking at the Silvertown Shuttle stop - and plenty of time to get organised on the next bus
• After an attempt at an early finish (to let the legs rest at last) the whole group - with the exception of their valiant leader- voted to take the uber boat from Greenwich to Waterloo. The leader went on alone, but was soon caught up by the rest of the group when they discovered the waiting time for the boat. All made it onto trains at Vauxhall, a little later

John’s group.

The fifth group started out from Pembroke Lodge in splendid sunshine and made good, enjoyable progress through the south London suburbs, except for a very lengthy wait at the Sheen level crossing.

When we reached Holland Park we found that we had caught up with the earlier group and so we passed them and had a very pleasant ride through the London parks. 

When we got to our lunch stop we found that there was a considerable wait for food and so we decided to ride on to the shuttle and seek lunch south of the river. We stopped at the riverside Cutty Sark in Greenwich and then rode into the final stretch of an excellent and well planned route.

                             

.....on the Silvertown shuttle

When we got to Kennington we began to split up, one going for the train from Vauxhall, two more making their different ways across Clapham Common, two more splitting off in Tooting, leaving one more heading via the Wandle Trail to catch a train in Sutton.

A splendid day out.

Tim’s group

Over fifty cyclists must have met at Pembroke Lodge today to enjoy a day in what proved to be the warmest temperatures this year so far. Our chief leader had organised us into six groups and I was to lead the last group out. We welcomed Gareth W who joined us for the first time today and together with a couple of others ten of us left for today’s adventure. 

 All went well as we left Richmond Park, crossed the river and made our way through to Holland Park where we ran into two other groups who were availing themselves of the public facilities. Having rallied them along we continued on-route to Kensington Gardens for a group photo opportunity. Cycling on past a variety of landmarks and places of interest we eventually got to the river where we picked up the cycle path that took us all the way to Canary Wharf. 

....in Kensington Gardens

The main hazard seemed to be the unpredictable behaviour of those riding the black e-bikes who didn’t seem to adhere to any accepted road etiquette or safety standards. We narrowly escaped a few potentially dangerous collisions. 

The ‘Ledger Building’ was surprisingly busy compared to when we did the recces but we all had a welcome break and got suitably fed and watered. After a brief group reshuffle nine of us set out on the afternoon ride towards the Silvertown Tunnel. As we approached we caught sight of a previous group who had seemingly made a slight detour which meant that we arrived at the cycle shuttle first and immediately boarded without delay. The driver was particularly cooperative and accommodating as we swiftly passed through the tunnel to emerge on the other side. A new experience for most of us !

The rest of our ride went smoothly as we passed though Greenwich and other areas south of the river to reach our final destination at Battersea Park for tea. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to making today’s ride a success and to all in my group for being so kind and appreciative. Always a pleasure to lead an eager and enthusiastic group of cyclists. A good day had by all my group.