We went to the Hovis Freewheel Festival on Sunday. The plan was to arrive at 12pm when the initial crowds had died down. That was certainly the case as Peckham Rye common was quite empty. On the way from Ladywell we acquired a convoy of about fifteen riders. I had the honour of leading the way because the others were not sure of the route.
We approached the registration tent where funnily enough we didn’t need to be registered. They just explained how the ‘funnel’ worked. The funnel was where the riders set off to a load cheer from a lively group of cheerleaders. It was quite funny as it was only myself, Jake and Amy. The guy on the megaphone asked Jake’s name which was nice.
The route to Central London was actually quite pleasant, well marked with arrows and marshalls to direct us. Soon we had another convoy going on. It took us around 30 minutes to get into London. The final stretch onto Southwark bridge was brilliant where the road was closed to all but the humble bicycle. We stopped for a couple of minutes to take some photos on the bridge. Jake got very excited when he saw the river and started saying ‘water’ and ‘boat’. Further up we stopped at the first of many crossing points manned by the marshalls. These were to allow pedestrians to cross and to allow riders from other hubs/routes onto the main freewheel route. At this point the scale of the whole thing became apparent. Amy and I were grinning broadly and tinging our bells while riding two abreast amongst all the other participants. All ages and abilities were present. The old bikers, the lycra brigade, parents with children and babies in carriers.
Things got a little chaotic when we arrived at St James Park. This was due to the number of people funneling into it but also the signage wasn’t up to scratch. Once we parked our bikes in one of the the huge bike parks there was no way out except to join the throng waiting to get in WITH their bikes.
Several stalls were laid out along The Mall. Disappointingly enough the Hovis tent was at the very end. There was a huge queue clamouring to get their sandwich. A harrassed looking employee came out with single slices of brown bread with cream cheese. We gave up queueing and went to buy something, which also took a while because apart from a coffee stall there was only one other place to buy anything of substance. Next time we will bring a picnic!
All in all it was a fun day and we will definitely do it again next year. 🙂
