Fifth Wednesday Ride - Tower Bridge and back - 40 miles

We were lucky on Wednesday with the weather as our two groups headed for the Tower of London.

Richard and Hazel's group of 12 headed down the Lee, before turning on to the Hertford Cut, and Victoria Park, where they had a break for coffee.

The group led by Paul started at Enfield, and headed close to the Spurs stadium, before riding past the old Arsenal Stadium and then the new one.

Paul's group continued through Finsbury Park on and Temple Bar, which once stood in Theobalds, before eventually ending up at Wetherspoons overlooking the Tower, for a well deserved and cheap coffee. Following coffee we made our way down to the bank by Tower Bridge with the Tower of London behind us. We managed to find some seats where we had lunch and awaited the arrival of Richard's group, which they duly did.

The weather had been kind and we hoped for a dry return journey, although we kept seeing black clouds. 

Paul's group set off first, traveling back via Tobacco Wharf and Limehouse Basin, doing a short stint on Regents canal, before turning off and heading along quite roads to Victoria Park, then onward for a rest at the Timber Lodge Cafe in the Olympic Park. After a welcome rest we set off for home via Walthamstow Marshes and Wetlands. Paul guided us back to Middleton House where he went home and we headed home also. Paul certainly knows his way around London and we all thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Richard set off on their return journey with the aim of using the Limehouse cut, only to find the path was closed. Fortunately, with Richard having a good knowledge of the area, he managed to put Plan B into operation!

This enabled them to get to Timber Lodge, just after we had left, for them to have a well earned rest. Once rested the group headed back, arriving at the Pindar car park around 4:30pm. 

Special thanks to both Richard and Paul for their expert leadership skills, which we all very much appreciated.

We are all looking forward to the next fifth Wednesday.

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