All are welcome on this free family-friendly Lambeth Cyclists Neighbourhood Ride on Sunday afternoon, 21st October, taking a couple of hours to gently explore the Waterloo and Vauxhall area.The ride starts at 2pm, with a free bike check just beforehand, outside the Garden Museum (right next door to Lambeth Palace, London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury), just by Lambeth Bridge, SE1 7LB.
If you email that you're coming before Thursday 18th you'll definitely get a free bag of goodies from Barclays (doesn't include a Barclays Bike) and free back-up lights from Lambeth Council.
To register just send an email headed Oct 21 with the names of those coming along to charlie@capitalrides.org.uk . It's fine also to just turn up on the day, but there's no guarantee you'll get the lights etc. (Also check out the Brixton Neighbourhood Ride the following Sunday, October 28th)We'll mainly be on quiet back streets and we'll see plenty of famous sights, from the Houses of Parliament to the London Eye.
But there are also loads of quirky facts and unusual places along the way. We'll visit the true centre of London, discover the birthplace of Circus and Music Hall, and see the grand entrance to the Necropolis, the railway for the dead. We might even see astronauts on trees.
We'll certainly drop into The Regal, a supremely bling basketball court with real gold plated hoops.
and we'll pass by the Museum of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, home of Cocaine Throat Pastilles, Leech Jars and many more wondrous things
We'll cycle through The Tunnel, London's ever changing graffiti gallery under the former Eurostar station,
and we'll see the magnificently ornate former headquarters of Doulton Pottery, founded in Lambeth and with a factory here until 1956.
To be 'a la mode', we'll go by the Water Tower, the subject of the 100th 'Grand Designs' programme on Channel 4, shown on Wednesday 17th at 9pm. And we'll also see the Master's House (now The Cinema Museum) of the workhouse where Charlie Chaplin was once a resident.
Staying with famous former residents, we'll also chance upon memories of Captain Bligh of the Bounty,
and maybe we'll hum or sing the hymn 'Jerusalem' as we pass through a dark and satanic tunnel nearby the former home of the writer and artist Sir William Blake.
Guerilla Gardening is all over the area, and we'll visit one of the grand-daddies of the form - the extraordinary Bonnington Square. Food for thought also given the current law changes regarding Squatting.
There's also the chance to see a 'Fietshangar', the new to England, secure cycle parking so common in parts of the Netherlands.
We'll finish at 4pm where we started, at the Garden Museum, then those who feel they merit a refreshing drink can join us in Vauxhall's authentic German pub, Zeitgeist.
Again, to register just send an email headed 21 Oct with the names of those coming along to charlie@capitalrides.org.uk . It's fine also to just turn up on the day, but there's no guarantee you'll get the lights etc.
And, if you can't make this one, maybe we can see you in Brixton on the 28th?
