London Clarion Cycle Club Rides and Events
London Clarion Cycle Club
Rides List and Club Diary 2020
Tours / Cycling Weekends
As a cycling club we organise long weekends away cycling in Europe. In 2019 we organised a trip to Dieppe in France and a bank holiday weekend cycling in Belgium and France. These events are reserved for members only.
As a cycling club we organise long weekends away cycling in Europe. In 2019 we organised a trip to Dieppe in France and a bank holiday weekend cycling in Belgium and France. These events are reserved for members only.
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Club Rides
Members receive emails with details of forthcoming rides. As a club we organise a wide variety of club rides throughout the year suitable for all types of cyclist. The average speed of our club rides is a leisurely 11 mph and the distances covered varies from 20 to 80 miles. Our general ethos on a club ride is to cycle somewhere interesting with a lunch stop about half way. Our rides normally finish at the pub. We are proud to be a club for cyclists of all abilities. This is a video from our recent club ride from central London to Heathrow. Popular club rides include London to Windsor, London to Brighton, London to Southend, Surrey Hills and Epping Forest. |
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Saturday 26th September - Ride to the Isle of Grain.
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Starting in Deptford we will cycle to Greenwich then to Dartford and on to Gravesend, with an excellent view of the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge along the way. In Gravesend we will briefly rejoin the Thames before following the former Thames & Medway Canal in to the desolate marshes, past the Victorian Fortresses at Cliffe and on to St James' Church Cooling with its "little stone lozenges each about a foot and a half long" where Dickens set the opening scene for Great Expectations. On across the peninsular, through the enormous BP refineries to the Isle of Grain Battery which stands defiant in the estuary. Then back past Southend, viewed from the south side, through All Hallows and back through the marshes to Greenhithe where we will cycle along the Thames and underneath the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.
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Then to the site of the Joyce Green Isolation Hospital and along its former tramway. After a quick stint along an inevitable dual carriageway, we will then follow the Thames all the way back to Deptford via Erith, Thamesmead, Woolwich, Greenwich, the O2 etc.
Please bring a picnic lunch, snacks for the ride, a spare inner tube and a waterproof.
It isn't a race and we've got all day so if you think you can manage the distance then let's be having you!
It's 90 miles there & back.
If you don't fancy riding back all the way, we will be passing near Rochester, Gravesend and Dartford which have train stations; though you will need to find your own way to them.
Recent rides have been limited to paid up members but for this ride, non-members are also welcome if you want to invite a friend. That said, in line with current Government requirements, anyone intending to come on this ride must register Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/isle-of-grain-ride-tickets-119803273817
Date Saturday 26th September 2020
Start Time: 9am
Distance: 90 miles.
Elevation Gain: 2951ft
Route: Has been emailed to members.
Please bring a picnic lunch, snacks for the ride, a spare inner tube and a waterproof.
It isn't a race and we've got all day so if you think you can manage the distance then let's be having you!
It's 90 miles there & back.
If you don't fancy riding back all the way, we will be passing near Rochester, Gravesend and Dartford which have train stations; though you will need to find your own way to them.
Recent rides have been limited to paid up members but for this ride, non-members are also welcome if you want to invite a friend. That said, in line with current Government requirements, anyone intending to come on this ride must register Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/isle-of-grain-ride-tickets-119803273817
Date Saturday 26th September 2020
Start Time: 9am
Distance: 90 miles.
Elevation Gain: 2951ft
Route: Has been emailed to members.
Cycle to Edward Carpenter's Grave the famous English Socialist, Poet and Philosopher.
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Details:
This ride will be to the grave of Edward Carpenter and back. Date: Start Location: The Dynamo Cycling Cafe, 200-204 Putney Bridge Rd, Putney, London SW15 2NA Start Time: 9am Distance: 57 miles. Elevation Gain: 2,766ft Route: Will be emailed to members. Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, philosopher, anthologist, early gay rights activist and animal rights campaigner who wrote the Clarion Hymn 'England Arise'! He is buried in Mountside Cemetery, Guildford in the same grave as his companion George Merrill. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is also buried nearby. |
Georges ride along the Thames to Boulters Lock via Windsor
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Details:
This is one of our traditional, summer rides which is led by George Fenwick along many picturesque parts of the Thames including through Runnymede and Windsor. We will cycle to Boulters Lock and back to Central London. Date: Start Location: The Dynamo Cycling Cafe, 200-204 Putney Bridge Rd, Putney, London SW15 2NA Start Time: 9am Distance: Elevation Gain: Route: Will be emailed to members. |
Cycle to Cambridge (with train back)
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Details:
This members only ride will including meeting at 8.30am for Breakfast (to leave c. 9.00am) at The Sir John Oldcastle (JD Wetherspoon), 29-35 Farringdon Road, Farringdon, London EC1M 3JF Date: Start Location: Start Time: Distance: Elevation Gain: Route: Will be emailed to members. You will need to purchase your own train ticket. |
The Charles Dickens Great Expectations ride
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Details:
This unique ride will visit many of the places from Charles Dickens book Great Expectations. Date: Start Location: At the bottom of Temple Stairs, besides 2 Temple Place, London WC2R 3BD Start Time: Distance: Elevation Gain: Route: Will be emailed to members. We will wave off Pip & Herbert Pocket as they head down river, picking up Abel Magwitch along the way from the fictional Mill Pond Bank. We will then cycle to Fenchurch Street Station where we will take the train to Benfleet Station and cycle to Canvey Island at which point we will re-join Pip, Herbert Pocket & Abel Magwitch at The Lobster Smack as they wait for the steamer. Cycling back to Tilbury, we will take the ferry to Gravesend from whence we will visit the village of Chalk and the forge where Pip grew up. Then on across the lonely, former marshes to St James’ Church Cooling where Pip first encountered Abel Magwitch and where we will see the “five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long” where Pip’s brothers lay. Finally we will head to Rochester and Satis House, home of Miss Havisham and finish our ride at the Blue Boar Hotel and then on to Rochester Station for the train back to London. You will need to purchase your own train tickets. |
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Cycle (with train / train & ferry to France) – V to VE Day & Atlantic Wall Extravaganza. c. 30 miles a day
Details: This members only ride will start at London Bridge Station (Tooley Street entrance) from where we will take the train to either Folkestone (Channel Tunnel) or Dover (Ferry) to travel to France. We will then cycle to the Christophe Noyon Brasseur (Brewery), the Museum of the Atlantic Wall and on to Boulogne-sur-Mer, home of a wonderful Fish Market, new town, Old Town, Basilica, and excellent Craft Beer Bar. On Saturday we will cycle west of Boulogne. On Sunday we will return home. You will need train / ferry tickets and contribute towards accommodation costs as well as the kitty. You will also need to give us advance notice of your participation so that accommodation can be booked and we can advise you of any necessary travel reservations. |
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Robert Tressell, Railways & Rum Fun c. 60 miles a day
Details: We will cycle to Hastings in search of Robert Tressell whose critically acclaimed socialist novel ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist’ makes reference to some cyclists who are undoubtedly a Clarion Cycling Club. On Sunday 30th we will cycle on across the Romney Marshes via Rye, Dungeness, Dymchurch and Folkestone to Canterbury. On Monday 31st we will cycle back to London. You will need to contribute towards accommodation costs as well as the kitty. You will also need to give us advance notice of your participation so that accommodation can be booked. |
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Cycle to St Albans. 50 miles
Details: A chance to breakfast in the café made famous by ‘Layer Cake’, VW adverts and other television features to the CAMRA capital where we will enjoy some beer before cycling back to Central London. Date: Start Location: The Regency Café, 17-19 Regency St, Westminster, London SW1P 4BY. Start Time: 8am to leave at 8:30am Distance: Elevation Gain: Route: Will be emailed to members. |
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Cycle (with train back to London) – Lewes or Loos as so many say.
Details: As a change from our annual trip to Brighton; this ride will visit Lewes, home of the legendary Harvey’s Brewery with the train back afterwards. Date: Start Location: Waterloo Start Time: 8am to leave at 08:30 Distance: 55 miles Elevation Gain: 3,107ft Route: Will be emailed to members. You will need to purchase your own train ticket. |
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Cycle - Gorgeous Karl
Details: An opportunity to visit a Victorian cemetery in early winter including the grave of Karl Marx and then visit an excellent brewery before cycling ‘downhill all the way’ back to Central London. Date: Start Location: Look Mum No Hands, 49 Old Street, London EC1V 9HX Start Time: Distance: 12 miles Elevation Gain: 872 ft Route: Will be emailed to members. |
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Sunday 8th November
Remembrance Service & Social Details: This event is attended by the embassies of the former Soviet Republics, the Arctic Convoy Club and a number of other likeminded organisations. We will lay a wreath to cremember Club Members / Comrades and Soviet dead who died fighting fascism. Meet 12.00pm, outside Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road London SE1 6HZ We will have a pint afterwards at Zeitgeist @ The Jolly Gardeners, 49-51 Black Prince Road, Lambeth, London SE11 6AB |
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Cycle (with train to Amersham and train back from Oxford) - Morse! 35 miles
Details: We couldn’t visit Cambridge without a follow up visit to Oxford, where there are even more fine hostelries to enjoy. After so much beer and such a big downhill on the way there, we’d be foolish not to get the train back to London afterwards. Date: Start Location: Marylebone Station, NW1 6JJ Start Time: Distance: 40 miles Elevation Gain: 1,517ft Route: Will be emailed to members. You will need to purchase your own train tickets. |
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Cycle – Some like it hot 30 miles
Details: A cycle to the London Museum of Water & Steam at Kew and back. Date: Start Location: Bermondsey SE16 Start Time: Distance: 23 miles Elevation Gain: 328ft (flat as a pancake) Route: Will be emailed to members. |
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? - Christmas Meal - tbc
Suggestions for venue welcomed. |
