It was wet and very
windy during the night but thankfully a nice morning. I was away
just after 06:30am and wheeled my bike through the bluebells and
back to the muddy lane. I continued north through the woods and
reached Oliver’s Lane. There were a couple of runners out enjoying
the morning. I reached the main Maldon Road and followed it towards
Colchester town centre. I soon found the Railway Station and joined
the many commuters heading towards London.
I was told to head to
the end of the train with my bike and it was a long way along the
platform. I couldn’t find a bike icon on any door so wheeled my bike
into the last carriage. I was lucky getting on this early train and
we trundled on towards London Stratford Station.
Arriving at Stratford, London
When the guard came
to check my ticket he said there wasn’t a dedicated bike carriage. I
was at Stratford London Railway Station at 08:10am and wheeled my
bike through the adjacent shopping centre to find the road to head
towards central London.
On the way into town
Although busy I was
pleasantly surprised to find a blue pained cycle route along the way
which was separated from the main carriageway by a low kerb. The
main problem for me was the other cyclists who chased around without
consideration for others. As I approached Whitechapel I left the
cycle lane and had to negotiate my way through the extremely busy
traffic.
I was glad to
reach ‘The Embankment’ where I could cycle by the Thames without
problems. I stopped for a while at Cleopatra’s Needle. It had
nothing to do with Cleopatra. It was presented to the United Kingdom
in 1819 by the ruler of Egypt and Sudan and was erected here in
1878.
Bronze Sphinx by the needle
I continued to the
very busy Westminster Bridge to take a few tourist type photos. I
continued cycling around Waterloo Railway Station and wheeled my
bike in through a side entrance. I caught the 10:42 Basingstoke
train and found that it had a dedicated cycle carriage.
Big
Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north
end of the Palace of Westminster
I drove home the way
I’d come on Sunday. B3349, A33, M4, A404, M40, M42 then a very busy
and slow M6. Got home about 6pm.
My bike on board
On the drive home I saw the amazing
Dipley Mill.
The C.16th mill straddles the River Whitewater at Dipley, near
Mattingley. Corn was ground here until 1921 when it was
converted to a private house.
Return to
Whittle Wanderer
