An After Work Canalside Bicycle Adventure
On Wednesday night after work I went to see my friend Danny Pegg's new play Our Shadows Walk. I had to get from Notting Hill to Camden Town, and a quick look at Google maps revealed The Regents Canal to be the obvious choice. Pretty direct, pretty quiet, pretty flat...
I'm used to cycling, I cycle pretty much every day. I've cycled from London to Brighton, Lands End to John O' Groats, and am preparing for a London to Istanbul. My daily commute takes me from Ealing to Notting Hill, under the motorway and along busy high streets. It's loud, polluted and dangerous. I've heard it said that it's impossible to feel unhappy riding a bicycle, but I must say the daily commute, although infinitely preferable to riding the tube, is not a lot of fun.
My ride to Camden Town, however, was loads of fun! Why? I'll tell you and share a few of the photos I took along the way.
Getting Lost
You might think that it would be impossible to get lost riding along a canal from A-B, but at some point around Maida Vale, the canal forked and I ended up riding around the basin trying to figure out which way to go. Suddenly my bike had given me back my sense of adventure. I was no longer riding on autopilot, I had to think, to wonder and even to ASK someone which way to go. In getting lost I discovered a lovely little canal side floating cafe and a puppet theatre on a canal barge. Two things to return to at a later date. Making mistakes required me to explore and find these places and speak to new people and to look around. So often in London I feel like an ant, mindlessly travelling within the hive. On wednesday I looked around. I looked up. Fellow People! Trees! Sky! Who knew?
Weeeeee!
I failed to properly capture it in the photo, but at Lisson Grove there is a tiny alley that allows you to rejoin the canal side after it goes underground after Little Venice. It's REALLY steep. At a guess I'd say 40%. I tightened my brakes and gently hopped down. I felt like a child and caught myself saying "weee" and "wahoo" as I bumped down. It was a bizarre and industrial little alley and something about it made me feel like I was naughty for being there. As the slope steepened and the bend tightened I felt relieved that my brakes had held up, unlike on a certain first downhill out of Land's End last summer....
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| Steep Down at Lisson Grove |
A New Perspective
At one point along the ride I came across a sign saying NO CYCLING. It was clear to me that I was meant to join the road and leave the towpath, but I was too curious. I cycled along and then past a small community of canal barges: hones that people had made in narrow boats. The boats were moored together and near them little gardens, bicycle sheds, barbecues. One boat selling 'house' plants, another selling cakes. A little community within a community with a barter system and communal areas. A young woman cheerfully shouted at me as I rode past, "Cheeky! No cycling it says"... I replied, "I know, I know, but I really wanted to investigate!" She laughed and told me to take care. It seems like a little thing, but a friendly encounter with a stranger is a joyous thing in London sometimes. Especially at the end of the week.
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| The House Boat Community near Lisson Grove |
S p a c e
It's pretty rare to get a feeling of having space when living in London. Certainly it's the first thing I notice when I leave the city. But along this stretch of Regents Canal, inside the park, I felt it. I had wide cycle paths, the space of the water beside me, and being lower than the roads nearby I felt I could breathe and enjoy the openness of the path ahead. No cars to squash me or people in my way. Bliss.
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Going Through Regent's Park
Camden Lock
Camden Lock is one of my favourite places, and so it was a lot of fun to end my ride here, weaving (carefully) in and out of the drunk Friday-escapees and to meet my friends Richard and Danny for dinner and a show.
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