When Wren Ride

Ability level

Graded 'Easy'.

It's a fairly flat route on quiet roads and cycle paths suitable for all competent riders. who can cycle for 2 hours comfortably.

Ride start times

Are you planning to cane it or take the ride at an easy pace? It's your choice. You can start whenever you wish from 8:30am until 10:30am.

There are 5 starting waves:

• Earlies from 08:30 giving you a 6:30 ride time 
• Easy from 09:00 giving you 6 hours of ride time 
• Steady from 09:30 giving you 5:30 hours of ride time 
• Fast from 10:00 giving you 5 hours of ride time 
• and Whippets from 10:30 am who will crack through the route in 4 hours 30! 

Bike type

The route is suitable for most bikes: Off-road, hybrids, Brompton's and all e-Bikes 

Event HQ

Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Way
Molesey
East Molesey
Greater London
KT8 9AU
UK

Itinerary

• A great day on your bike visiting Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpieces in London.
• The ride starts at Hampton Court, a royal palace that is most famous for its Tudor architecture and connections with Henry VIII. Less well known is the baroque palace, designed by Wren, and built for William and Mary in 1689. Err, you’re not going to be able to avoid history on this ride, sorry!
• Hampton Court is surrounded by parkland, creating a lovely way to ride to Kingston. En route there’s a stop at the end of the Long Water for one of the best vistas of the palace. Ride on through busy Kingston using the excellent network of bike paths and quiet roads into Richmond Park. Join the Tamsin Trail around the park to Roehampton Gate, before crossing Barnes Common and reaching the Thames again at Putney.
• Your first view of Chelsea Hospital, home of the famous red-coated Chelsea Pensioner is from the river and it's worth a stop before riding along to the ‘front entrance’.
• Back on your bike, past Buckingham Palace (nothing to do with Wren) cross Trafalgar Square and follow London's ancient route along the Strand to the newly pedestrianised Aldwych. Drop into St Brides before heading down Fleet St, and check out the proud old head offices of the national press. It's hard to believe that newspapers were printed in these buildings! 
• Cross the Fleet River climb Ludgate and approach the magnificent west façade of St Paul's Cathedral.
• With virtually empty roads and loads to discover, riding through the City of London on a Sunday is a cyclist’s dream and no Wren ride worth its salt would miss the Monument, the fantastic monument topped with blazing gilded ball fire, designed by Wren and Hooke, serves not only to mark the site of the inept baker who started the fire of London, but also serves as a static telescope- I assume that was Hooke's part of the design!  
• Leaving the confines of the City, the route becomes more Dickensian, following cycle paths around St Katherine’s Dock, with great views of Tower Bridge and along the cobbled streets of Wapping High St heading east to join the Thames at Canary Wharf.
• At the southerly tip of the Isle of Dogs, please don’t rush to the Greenwich foot tunnel; rather ride on through Island Gardens for the best view of the Old Royal Naval Hospital with its colonnades framing the Queen's House.
• Then walk through the foot tunnel, and exit right in front of the past Cutty Sark. You may be desperate for that cup of tea, but it's worth walking your bike along the river for the second-best views of the Old Royal Naval College.  Then make your way to the cafe and a well-earned Cream Tea. 
• After tea take a moment to explore this wonderful building. Apart from the colonnades framing Queens House, there’s the Painted Hall, a skittle alley or find the patriotic courtyard!

Included

• GPX Route Map 
• Cream tea to finish 
• Brief historical guide of each of the main buildings on the route 
• Feed stops in a traditional Cabbie's hut and at St Pauls Cathedral  

Entry fees

Recommended by the London Cycling Campaign as a Summer must-do ride!

What a wonderful day! One of the best things I have done this year. Thanks to Jenny (see below) for suggesting it. The route through London was amazing and I discovered so many tracks and paths that I would never have known about. I would thoroughly recommend this ride to all levels of cyclist, provided that you are confident on roads, and I would love to repeat it next year. London cycling infrastructure is pretty good these days. I'm also interested in one other of Charlie's rides. Jane Carlton Smith

What a great day! The three of us really enjoyed the varied route - it took us past so many interesting sights and along so many different types of route. We also appreciated the friendly welcome - and all the refreshment stops along the way! Very well organised and supported, and great value. Look forward to hearing about future rides. Marion Couldrey

Fantastic cycle ride taking in all of the best sights in London! I would recommend this to cyclists at all levels as it is mostly flat and very well supported. We were very well fed too - the home made fudge in particular was superb! I would definitely do this again and look forward to other rides organized by Charlie. Felicity Evans

Lovely experience - Very nice rote and very well organised. M.C.

Great ride around London - Really enjoyed the route around London - lots of bits I'd never been to before and very well thought out route - great value including coffee and croissants, lunch and delicious cream tea - would definitely do it again. Jenny Mould

Super Wren Ride - A beautiful route around London using safe, traffic free routes where ever possible. The route is suitable for all cyclists. Lovely to see London from the comfort of a saddle with a group of like minded people pedalling gently along, whilst using the new and excellent cycling infrastructure around the city. Thanks for a good day out! Julian Kirwan Taylor

Carefully chosen routes and excellent organiser - Really love this carefully chosen route. Looking forward to the next one!

A great day out, looking forward to the next one! Thank you. Suzanne Shields

Fab route 👍 Thank you, Charlie, Janice Lukas

Great ride! Great day! Thank you!! xx Julia Wafforn