Canal Museum
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Canal Museum 2008

Fifteen people came along for Ealing CC's ride on Sunday 20th. This was additional to our usual first-Sunday-of-the-month ride, and we'd arranged to meet Barnet's LCC group at the lunch stop. Since the pub concerned, "The Constitution" in Camden, was going to be catering for thirty or so we chose our food at the Town Hall and the ride leader phoned through the order before we set off (something we'll have to consider for future rides if we keep getting large numbers). Our destination was the London Canal Museum so we took the towpath from Park Royal to Kensal Rise, leaving at Great Western Road to go north and east through Maida Vale (turn right at the tube station) and St Johns Wood (very nice) to skirt round the northern edge of Regent's Park. Before Camden's one-way system we lined up two by two into a compact peloton, curved round Mornington Crescent and into the first of the segregated cycle tracks, reaching the pub shortly before the Barnet group. The pub is right next to the canal but is cut off from sunny Ealing by the Islington tunnel.

The museum is small but worth a visit, and the building itself is an old ice house built long before the days of fridges.

We had a sociable tea break, the ride leader caught up with old friends from his Barnet ride-leading days, then set off south to join the segregated paths of Bloomsbury for the run home. The navigation is dead easy as it's straight on for several kilometres, with only a right-left jink at Tottenham Court Road and a left-right jink at Marylebone High Street. Keeping a dozen riders together through all the traffic lights was impossible though. (Maybe next time we should rendezvous at Hyde Park since it's so easy. Hmmm... )

We crossed Hyde Park into Knightsbridge in light drizzle, then south and west to Fulham by Lillie Road; useful, direct and quiet, and dry by now. Under Hammersmith Bridge and home via Chiswick High Road and the A4 path. Little by little we'd dwindled as people peeled off for home and were down to just me and the backstop by South Ealing Road so turned for home to put the kettle on. 43 easy km in all.

You can see the route on here

Thanks to David Lomas for leading.