There are plenty of London Festival of Architecture bike rides on at the moment: 20 guided rides round building showpieces and hidden gems, from Wren and Hawksmoor churches to the concrete bagel of Herne Hill Velodrome.
Sky is involved, which means you may be offered a pink bib branded with the Skyride logo, but don't let this style catastrophe put you off.
Here's a short audio clip (1 min 45 sec, MP3, 1.2MB) I've knocked up of last Sunday's LFA ride: Sonic London, led by Resonance FM's Bike Show presenter Jack Thurston.
The ride took us to secret gardens with birdsong; the clanking 'bike xylophone' of Regents Canal towpath; and the church of St Mary le Bow (picture). Its bells were the source of Dick Whittington's rebranding as London mayor, and are the arbiters of whether you can call yourself Cockney - are you listening, Nigel Kennedy?
(The bells were rather shy on our LFA trip, but next day they were being fully tested, to the deserved annoyance of passing city suits bawling into their mobiles, so I've edited a recording of that into the clip of Jack talking in the churchyard.)
Incidentally, Jack's Bike Show site has an MP3 of the edition of 16 Jun, in which Cyclehoop inventor Anthony Lau and I talk about bike security.
When did Nigel Kennedy ever claim to be a Cockney ? Never, to my knowledge ! So what's your point ?
ReplyDeleteYeah, yeah, OK, so it was a joke, maybe a joke too far, a reference to his assumed faux-Lannan accent. I don't have any problem with Nige. In fact I once shared a few double vodkas with him in a pub in Malvern. We talked music and footy, and he complimented me on my support of Hull City. He was very entertaining company.
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