Maps 176 and 177 – London and the Thames

One of the most frequently asked questions I get about my adventure is ”what will you do when you get to London?”. There were many possible ways to approach crossing the capital – and it had to be done – but in the end I made a success of it by adopting two solutions in one day, one either side of lunch.

Part one, which I had considered well in advance, was to ride the Thames Path. This involves keeping as close to the course of the river as you can, around every twist and turn, of which there are plenty. In so doing, I could keep traffic to a minimum, and make route finding as simple as possible. It also more or less guaranteed a lot of pretty scenery and great views of different parts of London. But this would be a much slower route due to inconsistent paths, people in my way, and considerably more miles.

Part two, which I had not considered at all, was to enlist the help of a local cyclist. And yet, through a series of happy coincidences, that is exactly what transpired when I made spontaneous contact with Penny (@pennysrays) who I had previously encountered on a train in the Scottish Highlands. The power of social media brought us together again for lunch in Richmond Park, after which I had the best imaginable bicycle tour guide and route master, who went above and beyond in taking me just about everywhere I could have wished to go in London on a bike!

Parts one and two put together added up to a truly memorable day, made all the more special since I was also joined in the morning by two separate companions: first, my friend Neil, and then my daughter, Izzy. Throw in an unexpected passenger ferry and a gorgeous sunny day and you have one of the highlights of the trip.

The day began with a glorious ride across Windsor Great Park, setting the tone for natural beauty and traffic-free cycling. Neil pointed me towards the correct exit gate and soon I was riding instead with Izzy as we wove our way to pick up the Thames Path just after the bridge in Staines. From here all the way until I reached Kingston bridge, more than two hours later, it was glorious.

This part of the Thames is a succession of boats, riverside homes, locks, swans (including a stray black one, marooned in the wrong hemisphere!), rowers, and inviting riverside pubs and cafes. It is all very English in the best way, and you could get very used to it. Then suddenly the gentle scenery turns abruptly to grandeur as you cross the bridge at Hampton Court and are confronted by the red brick Tudor palace and its extensive gardens. At the next bridge I crossed to Kingston on Thames and left the river. I was soon riding with all the other serious lycra clad cyclists through leafy miles of traffic free roads in Richmond Park, complete with its herds of deer. This is a precious green lung in the heart of the metropolis, and according to Penny, who I met at the Roehampton Gate, the main cycle track for London’s serious riders. There was certainly plenty of evidence to support that. I think I might start to get island fever if it was my main quiet place to cycle; but it was magnificent nonetheless, especially decked out in its autumn colours.

After lunch outdoors at the park cafe, Penny took me all over the place and I just followed as she applied an intricate knowledge of the best ways to get into Westminster. Don’t ask me how we did it. I remember Clapham Common and Wandsworth Common, and lots of very attractive residential streets. I have no idea how she joined it all together. But we rode at a pace and with a confidence that betrayed many years of living car free in the capital.

A sudden whim took us on a slight detour to visit the newly opened Battersea Power Station. This has been many years in the making, after the huge iconic riverside structure stood empty for decades. By coincidence I was passing by just a week into its new lease of life as a cool shopping / leisure / housing development. It is a huge internal space and they have done a nice job of keeping the industrial feel of the building. Around it to the rear are rather Gaudi like modern housing developments, and I was pleased to see places at ground level for children to play. I think the whole thing works – or will when it is all completed. But as huge as it is, this is really just a microcosm of the much greater forest of high rise development in this part of London. It is pretty overwhelming and on a scale that none of the other cities in Britain come close to, even in the fastest changing places like Manchester. London really is a world of its own.

With time not on my side, we rode over Westminster Bridge and along the cycle superhighway on the north Embankment, all the way to Tower Bridge, where we crossed back again to the south bank, inching along in heavy traffic. All around were iconic sights, glowing in today’s golden late afternoon sunshine. Penny took me all the way along new cycle lanes to Greenwich and we parted company by the Cutty Sark. What a great way to experience the excitement of a pulsating global city. I could never have managed all of that alone.

From there onwards, however, I was on my own. I followed the Thames Path again for as long as I could; but this was now a different London and different, bigger, muddier and more industrialised Thames. The path got narrow and made many sharp turns. I made it a little beyond the Thames Barrier, to around Woolwich, where the path was interrupted by yet more new waterside housing developments. So I decided that the road was now the better option and covered the last few miles to Dartford, in Kent, on mostly brightly lit main roads as the dusk turned to darkness. London was well and truly behind me and the real and less salubrious world of the Thames Estuary had replaced it. But more of that tomorrow. In a bizarre end to the day, I ate in a Beefeater next to a Premier Inn, and stayed in someone’s house in new housing almost directly underneath the Queen Elizabeth II Dartford Crossing bridge. It felt like no man’s land; but it was cheap. My bike spent the night around the corner in the fancy new employee cycle shelter outside the bridge CCTV control room. Don’t tell them. It was the best place I could find in the circumstances.