The Lea Valley Country Park campsite was actually pretty nice. Having been brought up in the LV I've always hada bit of an affection for the place, although I couldn't wait to get out when was 18. The entrance to the camp-site, in one of the grimmer parts of London, off the busy Meridian Way with the railway the other side of the road, past a multiplex cinema - there aren't many campsites with a multiplex on-site are there? - and a leisure centre doesn't look too promising but once on site it's fine, with a golf course behind to provide a bit of greenery. I imagined it would have barbed wire all round and a controlled access, which was why I was a bit concerned about getting there before it closed, but it was actually just like any other camp-site, and that doesn't seem to be a problem.
We decided it was time to head for town. A quick pootle up the Meridian Way and we found our way to the River Lea towpath, through some of the extensive parkland and marshes that border the river. We pedalled through Hackney Marshes & on towards Bow, unfortunately missing the cut-through at Victoria Park that would hsve got us onto the Hertford Union. Realising our mistake however, we got onto Mile End Rd and headed for town. A motley peloton passed us, plainly heading for Hyde Park, and we tacked on the back as far as the City, where I veered off for Euston whilst Matt stayed with the pack to get to the Prologue.
I got to the CCN Meeting where the salient points were as follows.
Next conference to be in Oxford = will we get Boris there? Maybe. Theme is "Changing the climate on our roads"
Some groups are struggling - Tyne bikes is on the way out, Leicester has become a social only group. Now that the board has a few members on it - Rod King from Warrington has just joined - perhaps we can do a bit more development work.
The National Cycle Planner project is making progress, with OS agreeing to supply base data.
Board was duly impressed that I had cycled down but unwilling to pay cycle expenses!
Following the meeting made for Marble Arch, the next meet-up point. Caught up with Mike Edgington, who having finished his course has moved to Birmingham - we'l miss you Mike, come up and visit sometime. Matt was stuck in the crowds somewhere but eventually made it and we went down to catch a bit of Prologue:
Eagerly waiting the next rider
Yes we made it to the Prologue!
Watched a bit of riders zooming past, then got bored and decided to head for the Pub,
as originally planned. Most of central london has been closed to motor traffic, so althugh it was still very busy it was a pleasure to wend our way through the crowds, and on to the embankment which was gloriously free of traffic. We got to the George, grateful for a drink, and Ruth and her friend Alexei turned up, so it all worked out pretty well for meeting people. They headed off for a bbq, and we headed up to a Turkish retaurant at the top of Brick Lane, which I would recommend to you if I could remember what it is called. We ate well and headed back up through Stoke Newington & Hackney to the riverside, witnessing some pretty hairy cycling on the way. Back on the river at Lea Bridge, and we stopped at a riverside pub for a nightcap, watching the moon rise over Hackney Marshes and the last trains glide over the landscape, before heading home.
Sunday morning I set off to see my brother - a mere 13 miles or so up the valley, nothing really - and then set off back through Broxbourne Woods, re-visiting some of the haunts of my mis-spent youth (I'm not kidding) got to Cuffley just to see the train leaving , so continuing over to Potters Bar (there are some hills in this area, I can tell you) for a train to Kings Cross, which meant I could just stroll over to St P. for the train back to Sheffield, in the company of Ruth and Trevor Mayne our fellow pp from Penistone.
Saw this couple of excellent Goths at St P.
That's all folks!
==posted by Simon
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