A lovely ride by the river

We'd agreed the meet by Facebook messages earlier in  the week. We knew where to meet but not really where we were going. This however is ok because today we are following the Lee River navigation. The main choices are which side of the river to go on, and whether to follow any of the signposted diversions.

Everyone's agenda differs slightly and we had some people picnicking and others buying the food en-route. Some had a distance in mind and others were looking for a decent pub (we didn't find one). Claire decided to do the journey on a borrowed bike with 2 slow punctures, whilst Vera and David used full on touring machines. The rest of us used city bikes. This is my second longish ride on the brompton. Whilst it's definitely do-able, it leaves me very achy and sore the morning afterwards. On this occasion we also caught the sun a little and rehydrated with beer... both adding to the fatigue.

We stopped for lunch at the Lee Valley Adventure centre picnic area and immediately caused a panic by trying to order 3 sandwiches at once.

The journey out took 2 hours. The Journey back just 1.5. We debriefed in the pub before Vera went off to work and we went home to find out if my cousin and her friend had managed to find Lincolnshire.

Mostly bikes

Today the lovely miss s bought herself a bobbin bike. She had tried out a couple, but after much deliberation this was the royal blue bike for her.

We rode back through the city of London, where I saw a guided tour stopping at the old bailey, all on bromptons.

We stopped by the allotments for a spot of bean tying and tidying before heading back via the park

As I speak I can hear toad in the hole cooking in the kitchen. A truly lovely day.