A delightful roll out on Sunday afternoon around the ‘Canals, Parks and Villages of Southwark‘. This was the urban meets the semi-urban that wants to do bell ringing, aka Dulwich Vill-aaage and surrounds.
Or maybe it was simply a bicycle ride with like-minded folk?
Either way, I went along for the… ride.
Superbly organised by the Westminster Cycling Campaign, the ride promised:
“Escape the urban hurly-burly of the inner city into sudden tranquility, About 25km. TfL maps 1 and 7.”
You can’t emphasise enough how the outer reaches of Southwark change significantly from within the SE1 power base. Even at a leisurely pace you soon find yourself away from Waterloo and within reach of the more affluent areas of SE22.
I’ve been trying to pinpoint precisely where the rural [ARF!] transition takes place.
On the edges of Peckham Rye? In East Dulwich itself? Or perhaps it’s a seamless shift from Congestion Zone territory to the three-abreast lanes that some of the furthest edges of Southwark allows?
And then what next?
Don’t go falling off the edges of TfL map 7, Comrades. You might find yourself completely displaced from urban civilisiation.
The ride rolled out shortly after 1:30pm. A twenty five (ish) strong pelaton of all abilities followed Colin, yer man with the TfL maps 1 and 7 (actually he had the route already hard-coded into his exceptionally well organised inner cycling brain.)
It was an explosion of luminous day-glow wear, which wouldn’t have looked out of place back in the day as we passed the much missed Ministry of Unsound.
Memories of squat parties past, stumbling around the back streets of the Elephant in search of the next weekender big buzz around the corner.
Cycling couldn’t have been further from my mind.
The old Firkin pub has long since been tarted up. Sadly not so some of the cycling infrastructure around SE1. The non-Cycling Super Highways (BIKE LANES) are characterised by broken glass.
We passed around the back of the Heygate. Industrial sized drills and bores are already in place for the next phase of ‘regeneration.’ Escaping the urban hurly-burly will appear very different in ten years time.
A short hop through East Street Market, and the SE17 day job was soon within sight. No time for any overtime as the beauty of Burgess Park was within our reach.
This was one of the main points of interest of the ride. The ‘Canals’ reference was reserved specifically for Burgess Park. We cycled over the surface of the long lost Grand Surrey Canal, closed in the early 1970′s to make way for the urban expansion.
Burgess Park is looking stunning since the recent £8m renovation. It was always one of the high points in the Southwark portfolio. It just needed the recognition (and dosh) to bring it back to such a high standard.
Kids played / swung / cycled at every turn. This is what a public park should be all about.
We poised briefly at Chumleigh Gardens, but afternoon tea was to be taken elsewhere - Peckham, or Peckham Rye to be precise.
Perhaps this is the exact point where the urban becomes the semi-rural south of the river? ‘Proper’ Peckham has been unspoiled by progress.
And thank the chuffers for that.
Drift slightly out towards Peckham Rye however and the world of pop-ups and street food colonises this corner of South East London. We took refuse in the Peckham Rye cafe. Carrot cake remains the fuel of any weekend cyclist.
An echelon formed as we approached East Dulwich. Here’s where the Vill-aaage element of the ride emerged. You can put a village signpost in your semi-urban area, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are about to enter the folly of village fetes.
YOU LIVE IN LONDON, Comrades.
It was at this stage of the ride that the social was explored. It is not unnatural to gravitate towards riders with similar bicycles to your own. My Brompton was the ride for the day, and whaddya know - I wasn’t alone.
I was very kindly introduced to the London Brompton Club. I feel a spring and summer of mini-wheeler rides will soon take over.
Back through the backstreets of Camberwell, and then gaw blimey - we were soon riding along the Lambeth Walk. I last visited here around five years ago. Regeneration was in the air.
I still feel though that any lovely jubbly tourist is going to feel short-changed if they rolled up along the Lambeth Walk and all the cheeky chappy connotations it conjures up.
And soon we were back at The Cut, our urban starting point for the Canals, Parks and Villages of Southwark.
The perfect Sunday afternoon ride; apologies for the constant sneezes, folks.
Chapeau!