Following on from our successful family bike ride in spring themed around daffodils we thought to organise another one in autumn. This time with an autumn colour theme.
20 places filled in 1h and the other 20 places were taken within the next two days. Clearly there is a big appetite for people to cycle. In a large group it’s safer and also more fun and gives children the chance for a first road experience. John Chamberlain made sure everyone was off to a good start by being Dr. Bike.
To make it the ride more challenging storm Amy decided to make an appearance, but even small children managed the entire route from Navigator Square, Archway to Parliament Hill Farmers Market. Brakes and gear shifting was practiced cycling up on Swain’s Lane and down in the Holly Lodge estate. Drivers were really careful and we only had one moment where an inpatient delivery driver honked wanting to speed up on Swain’s Lane.
There may have been 50 attendees in total and about 8 marshals. There were a number of small children coming from Brookfield School, Whitehall Park School and St. Joseph’s. cyclists came from Camden, Islington and Haringey and it really shows how important it is for councils to collaborate to improve on the active travel infrastructure as traffic doesn’t know any borders.
Islington Councillor James Potts also joined the ride and chatted to residents about their cycling experience. One off the small asks raised by a few people was to see the bike lane between navigator square and whittington hospital cleared off constantly parked cars. Due to parked cars cyclist currently can’t use the lane and have to swerve into the road.
The ride was organised by LCC and Our PATCH (Parliament hill, Archway, Camden, Tufnell Park, Highgate). Our patch was set up by parents to improve active travel infrastructure and to create a better and more healthy environment for everyone.
Watch out for our next ride and more info from PATCH.
