Lawn Tennis, Mozart, Fossils and Kayaks

Today's Pedal Power Kennington was, by request, to Chelsea. We nipped over Lambeth Bridge, past the home of the Major who wrote the rules of Lawn Tennis to the new Pimlico Academy (stopping to admire their climbing wall), and then just south of Sloane Square where we admired the house Mozart lived in when he wrote his first symphony.

Next stop was a shop specialising in crystals and 140,000,000 year old fossils, selling for £220,000!

We went past the Royal Hospital for the Chelsea Pensioners and turned to cycle down the Kings Road, stopping for some chips from McDonalds. We made our way down to the Thames at Battersea Bridge and took the lovely shared use pavement along the river past Albert Bridge to Chelsea Bridge where we admired the Kayakers in the small dock, before making our way back on Cycling Superhighway 8 to Lambeth Bridge and home. It was quite a long ride for our Year 6 cyclists, coping with some proper London traffic at dusk. They did really well.

From small acorns..

We had a small Pedal Power Kennington ride today with four pupils (three regulars, one new). We cycled over Waterloo Bridge to Covent Garden, for the Apple store, market and street entertainers. Then over to the law courts and chambers (unfortunately Ede and Ravenscroft were shut so we couldn't ask to try on a judge's wig). Returning via Blackfriars Bridge, one moment we were hemmed in by taxis, cars and vans, the next we were a small group amidst the thousand plus cyclists attending the LCC Flashride. The children were gobsmacked. I suspect there'll be more attending the next ride!

Bike the Borough last Sunday

It was a gloriously sunny day to cycle through Lambeth enjoying Archbishops Park, Clapham Common, Tooting Common, Brockwell Park, Myatts Field Park, Kennington Park and the South Bank.

While more than the first year, numbers participating in Bike the Borough aren't yet huge - the maximum in our group was about 20 at any time, so I'd reckon maybe two or three hundred people did all or part of the route.

It's a delight to discover parts of Lambeth you've never seen before. I found two blue plaques I hadn't seen before and as I headed for home from Archbishops Park I passed a railway arch lock up  and noticed this submersible used in the filming of BBC's The Deep (2010):

WOW what a great ride and visit

Pedal Power Kennington had been looking forward to today's ride for months, ever since I'd found out it is possible for a group to go up the 334 steps of the Palace of Westminster Clock Tower and see Big Ben strike the hour!

It's something very few people get the chance to do....and it's free at the moment (though an entrance charge is in the offing)! You have to write a letter of request to your MP and they can ask the authorities to arrange the visit for up to 16 people (a big thanks to Kate Hoey, our MP. You then send your list of people and other details about them to the authorities two weeks before the visit to get police clearance, and roll up at the appointed time on the day.

The tour is brilliant, but you're not allowed to take photos so you'll have to book your own tour (or, for a sub-prime experience, watch it online ) .

What made the trip even better for our group is that most of us live or go to school within sound of the bells, plus about half the group were born in St Thomas' Hospital directly opposite - the first photo of my daughter has the clock face in the background.

We had a quick practice ride, then set off as it started to rain. We went over Lambeth Bridge and, being in good time, went along the Mall to Buckingham Palace before cycling to Parliament Square and parking our bikes on the racks outside Portcullis House.

After the tour it was straight over Westminster Bridge (past the first Ice Cream van of the year parked and trading in the bus and cycle lane on the red route) and back to Kennington. Not a long ride but a great afternoon out that we'll remember for a long time to come.

A small but wonderful group ride

Pedal Power Kennington had a gentle ride down the northbank of the Thames to Chelsea Bridge, went over it and mosied around Battersea Park before taking the south bank back via the Tideway houseboat village

 stopping by the MI6 building to scavenge the foreshore which yielded a tasty coconut we enjoyed eating at the end of the ride.

Shiny, shiny West End

After the seemingly obligatory hour spent fixing mechanical issues and attaching lights, the Pedal Power Kennington ride to the xmas lights in Regent Street and Oxford Street was ready to go, but with a deadline to be back in 45 minutes! A light drizzle for a few minutes didn't dampen our spirits and made the West End all shiny. We went up to the Mall, through to Trafalgar Square and up to Piccadilly Circus.  A quick glance at the lights on Regent Street then it was across to Leicester Square, down to Trafalgar Square, along Whitehall and back across Lambeth Bridge.

Two of the lads hadn't ridden with us before and totally loved it. Where next?

Kennington takes on the Arsenal

Fourteen Pedal Power Kennington Cyclists rode to Arsenal Emirates Stadium today to get a behind-the-scenes tour.

We had a good 6 mile ride to the stadium where we were admitted through the Directors' Entrance before going up to try out their exclusive match seats

and admire the view they have of the pitch


Next stop, the players' changing area (where I managed to fail to take a photo of the amazing group bath!)

and out to the pitch through the players' entrance

Starting to cycle back we stumbled across Theo Walcott doing a photo-shoot in a phone box, and I failed to get a photo again. We arrived back in Kennington as dusk arrived after a really good day out.

We had a couple of children who were under 10 with us and everyone managed to cycle the 12 miles comfortably as we took a leisurely pace and it wasn't too hilly. Those who were with us now know that it's easily doable - let's hope this rubs off on their mates who didn't come along this time.

Thanks to Arsenal for giving us this tour free of charge and to Southwark's School Travel Plan Manager for negotiating that.