Having struggled up Reigate Hill last night, it was a matter of seconds to relocate myself this morning to the country park at its summit to enjoy breakfast al fresco from the small cafe there. It was a hot, hot day already, and there were plenty of people out to occupy the deck chairs arranged in the shade of the large trees. The view to the south, down over rural Surrey and beyond, was vast and green and lovely, looking out at much of what I had crossed yesterday. But I was heading the other way, in towards central London. I had almost reached the edge of the urban spread already, and the M25 was close by.
I had to reroute immediately, however, because my chosen minor road in towards London was this morning being used by many hundreds of cyclists all heading the other way in the annual London to Brighton bike ride. So it was no place for me. Instead I ended up on the A23 Brighton Road heading north, which landed me three miles later in the town of Coulsdon, where the sprawl begins. I know Coulsdon well, because my grandparents lived here all throughout my childhood. At least I thought I knew it. But it had changed. A lot. I guess everywhere has, but I passed through here feeling very little nostalgia for what I found. It felt bigger and busier than forty years ago, and it probably is. But with that it seems to have lost some of its character. Only the public library seemed as I remembered it. I didn’t linger.
The road took me in through affluent suburbs like Purley, and before long I reached Croydon. I have no particular love for any of these places. Croydon has become a high rise satellite of London, with some better buildings now mixed in with the brutalist sixties office blocks. But that apart, it’s impossible to really distinguish where one place ends and another starts. I made use of the cycle lanes when they were available, which was at least some of the time, and made my way across Tooting Common, and then along Tooting and Mitcham High Streets. It was all unmistakably London, and offered up a vibrant world of many cultures all melded into one. But for me this is way too urban now for comfort.
I emerged unexpectedly at the corner of Clapham Common by the tube station, and I suddenly knew exactly where I was. The big open green spaces were full of people enjoying the weather, and I fit in easily among the plethora of other cyclists. Ten minutes later I was confronted by the magnificent enormity of Battersea Power Station, now at the heart of a huge area of swanky urban redevelopment, and altogether a cool place to be. I cycled around the perimeter to the Thames waterfront and had just enough time to drink it all in before I was boarding the next Thames Clipper fast water taxi service into the heart of the city.
In my opinion there is no finer way to see London than from the river, and over the next hour or so, we travelled under every bridge and past every famous sight as far as Tower Millennium Pier. The whole history of London plays out before your eyes for a fraction of the cost of a tourist Thames boat trip, and today it was a popular thing to do, with passengers from many backgrounds taking their selfies in front of Big Ben, the London Eye, The Shard, the OXO Tower and many more places of significance. The whole scene was magnificent. As an aficionado of taking bicycles on ferries around the UK, this was an opportunity not be missed.
I disembarked by the Tower of London to find my nephew Thomas waiting for me, already prepared with a Lime rental bike. I dutifully followed him without much idea where we were heading until we arrived at the side gate of his newly purchased flat in Hackney, right across the road from the impressively spired parish church, and a short stroll past inviting bars and restaurants to the green expanses of Victoria Park. At the other side of the park, along the canal, is the Olympic Park and the Lea Valley, so it’s really quite a pleasant area to be located. It feels quite up and coming, possibly even already arrived. His dad, my brother Paul, turned up soon afterwards on a business trip from Edinburgh, where things were a little cooler than the oven that was London today. I hadn’t cycled anything like yesterday’s mileage; but that left plenty of time to enjoy a very pleasant and unexpected afternoon and evening of family fun.
