The first Friends ride was such a success that we’re doing another one. Regular Bike Show guest Patrick Field, father of the Dunwich Dynamo, five time Paris-Brest-Paris finisher and three-times-distilled, 100% proof London bicycle guru, has offered to lead a ride to St Albans and back.
Patrick describes the St Albans as “an under-rated tourist destination”. In pre-Roman times the Celtic Catuvellauni tribe had a settlement here. Under the Romans, it was the site of the second largest city in the British Isles after Londinium. It’s still got a bit of Roman wall, a Cathedral and a pub that stakes a claim to be the oldest in the land. And a cycling campaign whose members promise a warm welcome to their patch.
We’ll set off at 10am from outside Jones Dairy, 23 Ezra Street E2, just off Columbia Road flower market. We will head north through Stoke Newington and Barnet by a nice mix of high streets, lanes and suburban/rural B roads. Lunch at St Albans where a train bail-out option will be available and the ride will continue via railway paths to Hatfield (another train option) then straight back down the old Great North Road. Less than 100 kilometres in total.
* location TBC.