The Criminals of London Ride

Yesterday, to break up my efforts for the Rapha 500, I took part in an interesting ride that than the theme of the criminals of London. The meeting point was the tried and tested outside the National Theatre. Wheels were to roll at noon sharp but I had totally misjudged my timings and had to frantically cycle about six miles in very limited time to get there. I arrived fashionably late by a couple of minutes but luckily the pack had not left. Saying hello to a few familiar faces we set off.

Our ride leader was Bob and the first stop was the building of New Scotland Yard. There have been a number of locations for this but it is now the Curtis Street Building on the Victoria Embankment.

New Scotland Yard 

The next stop was near the former Libyan embassy where on 17th April 1984,  PC Yvonne Fletcher was fatally wounded by a shot fired from the embassy. A very sad day to say the least.

Former Libyan embassy

Next was a location where a Russian exile was alleged to have been poisoned with a radioactive substance, subsequently dying not long after.

Next was the former Iranian Embassy where in may 1980 dramatic scenes were played out and viewed by millions on television. After stalled negotiations The Special Air Service were given the all clear to storm the building.

Iranian embassy siege

The next location - 70 Gloucester Road was where John Haigh, commonly known as the acid bath murder, tried to dispose of his victims in drums of acid.

Acid bath location 

 Not too far away was the house owned by BBC presenter Jill Dando who was shot in the head as she entered her house on the morning of 26th April 1999.

Jill Dando's former home

The penultimate location was where Sidney Street once stood. In 1911 the Siege of Sidney Street involved a gunfight between two Latvian revolutionaries, the police and later the army. It was the first siege in Britain to be captured on camera and some of the footage included the then Home Secretary, Winston Churchill.

The Siege of Sidney Street

The final destination was Blackfriars Bridge where on 18th June 1982 Roberto Calvi, an Italian banker who had fled Italy was found having under Blackfriars bridge with his clothing stuffed with bricks.

Blackfriars 

As we cycled along I saw lots of locations where even more gruesome goings on took place that were not covered in this ride. London - like many major cities I suppose - has lots of dark secrets, if you look hard enough. 

This was a very enjoyable ride and it was great to see some old faces. I particularly enjoyed riding and chatting to Jenny - The Mile Monster and tried to enlist her in to some rides planned for next year. Many thanks to Bob for leading the ride.

2019 is not far away. In all I cycled 45 miles for this ride if you include cycling there, the actual ride and the ride back. This means that I only have about 25 miles to go for the Rapha 500 and I hope to get this done tomorrow. Watch out for my blog post on that!

Christmas Lights Ride 2018 + Link to Video

It has been quite a while since I did a Christmas Lights Ride on a Brompton. With December particularly mild, I fancied taking the Brompton and my camera out for a poodle around London to capture the Christmas Lights. I asked a few friends, David and Anne were free, along with Chris.  The meet point was the London Eye at 23:30 on Friday 21st December.

As I set off there were a few spots of rain followed by some heavier stuff. Consulting lots of weather apps informed me that it was not going to last long.

It was great to see Anne and David and the last time we did see each other was back in February for the Lumiere and Canary Wharf lights event.

We had all decided that we would cycle until about 03:00 a.m. as we all had other commitments on Saturday and in three hours we would be able to cover pretty much all the best bits of the Christmas Lights.

London - as always - looked rather stunning in its nocturnal guise and yet again never fails to disappoint. All the lights and decorations were in many ways a bonus.

As we progressed we were never too far away from people who had been out at the office party or just having a night out. Electric cars stopped on double yellow lines for occupants open a door and throw up on to the side of the road. Others tottered as they walked - often held up by more sober colleagues and over-zealous bouncers, with a short fuse had had enough. Christmas!

As we reached Regent Street it was hard to believe that it was late December as the temperatures were so mild. It was also hard to believe that it was approaching 02:00 in the a.m. as everywhere seemed so busy!

Halfway up Regent Street we nipped across the road, heading to Carnaby Street. The shops were of course closed but it was still packed with people going in and out of clubs.

With Regent Street done we headed to Oxford Street, which if anything was quieter than anywhere we had been so far.

The Christmas Display on South Molton Street has not changed in several years but still looks good and always asking for lots of photos to be taken.

Our final port of call was New Bond Street and Piccadilly. Peering through the iron gates with managed to take lots of photos of the several arcades that frequent that area.

With the time approaching 03:00 a.m. we called it a day as we had seen pretty much all we wanted. Saying our goodbyes we all headed in different directions. Many thanks to Anne, David and Chris for their company. 

I cycled along Piccadilly towards Hyde Park and managed to reach home before 03:25 a.m. which I was rather pleased with. In a few days time I hope to start clocking up the miles for the 'Rapha 500' and I will almost certainly clock most of my miles in and around Central London.

Below is a link to a video. I managed to shoot this in 4K so try and watch in that quality if you are able. Hope your enjoy it.

Click here for the video