August 18, 2023
Final day (29): Rainham to Twickenham
Our hotel, Berwick Manor, has seen better days – and busier ones too. We were the only guests breakfasting at 7.30 am, and last night they opened the bar just for us. We actually had to bike a few km to a very busy Premier Inn restaurant for dinner afterwards as the Berwick's was closed, with no plans to reopen.
However it was comfortable enough and our bikes spent the night securely in the conference room.
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We’re soon ready to tackle the final day of this cycling tour. From the hotel, there’s a stretch of busy country road which we’re keen to get over with. With no shoulder, there’s no Plan B; nothing to be done except pedal quickly and hope for the best.
Tour Leader, Chief Navigator and now Health & Safety Director – Bruce – has been using RideWithGPS to plot our routes on this tour, which we then upload to our bike computers. (I feel the need to compensate for my lack of titles but Journal Writer doesn’t sound as impressive. Media Manager?) He checks routes against Google Earth to make sure all is as it should be but we’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well the software has done at finding off-road paths, like yesterday’s lovely ride through the Ingrebourne Valley.
Today’s route has had a super-thorough interrogation, but we still don’t know quite what to expect on some segments. So it’s a nice surprise once we reach Rainham village to find a lovely wide bike lane waiting for us on the outskirts. From this point we are in touch with some sort of bike path all the way into London.
We have to keep our wits about us though. The path sometimes narrows, changes sides of the road or disappears. Still, we’re making progress.
Around Dagenham, there’s new signage and we’re suddenly on the CS3 bike route – Cycle SuperHighway 3, that is, part of a much-vaunted network of London bike routes. It’s a path with ideas above its station, truth be told, ranging from a full-blown two-lane highway to a cut-down version barely wide enough for two bikes to pass each other, to sometimes just squares of blue paint on a road stamped with CS3, as if to say, I’m still here but figure this bit out for yourselves.
The path runs alongside a main road bringing vehicles into the city from the east. The traffic roar is incessant and the grubby, rubbish-strewn environment doesn’t appeal.
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At last, CS3 turns away from the road and takes us to a modern shopping centre amongst city tower blocks. It’s quiet and clean . . .and it has a coffee shop on the corner. This is more like it.
The Thames and Tower of London are just around the corner. I find it hard not to stop every few minutes to capture a skyline or street scene. Progress slows a little.
And then we’re riding along the river on The Embankment on a fully separated, two-lane proper cycle highway. It’s brilliant!
At Westminster Bridge we turn right and traverse Birdcage Walk, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. The only hiccup is being held up right outside the Palace for 15 minutes for the Changing of the Guards. This is a surreal experience. There are thousands of spectators behind barriers on all sides. We’re part of a group of six cyclists who have been waiting for the last of the horses to clop out of view. Finally, we’re waved on and all six of us ride around the Victoria Monument, watched by a huge audience keen to see something happening. This experience does nothing to sway Tour Leader’s republican (small r) leanings.
We take a detour from Hyde Park down to a cycle shop in Chelsea that buys bikes. We negotiate, get a good result (we’ll bring them back when we’ve stripped and cleaned them), and rejoin the route.
On the final stretch now, and heading south-west, we’re still on cycle paths through the streets of Kensington, Hammersmith and Chiswick. Painted lines now though but they do the job.
Finally, we sight a familiar Tesco’s supermarket and the roof of Twickenham Stadium. We’re at our destination, the home of our London relatives.
This last segment of our tour – from Harwich to London – was the Great Unknown. We knew we would enjoy riding in Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands – all countries with cycling infrastructure and, of course, a cycling culture. But this small portion of England has exceeded expectations. It’s not and probably never will be like Europe (nor will New Zealand be) but London in particular has made a start. Let’s hope it continues with the needed infrastructure.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 1,552 km (964 miles)
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I enjoyed being a ‘couch cyclist’ 😊
Thanks, look forward to seeing you soon.
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Enjoy your family time and stay cool!
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