Saturday 6th July:  Weather: 10°C to 12°C: Cold Drizzly morning, overcast cold windy afternoon

Cycling:  20k around London, walk 3k to Albion Mews and 3k Return

Time:  Cycle 10.30am 3.30pm: 5hrs Cycle including 30 minute Coffee stop

Train Time:  9am walk to Parson’s Green, District Line train to Edgeware Rd,  walk to Albion Mews 

Accommodation: 14a Wyfold Rd Fulham

Highlight today was a guided cycle ride with Owain around London on the cold wet windy miserable day in London.  But despite the weather, it was a fabulous day, slightly warming up from 11°C to 12°C soon after lunch.  And to top it all, we saw King Charles 111 arrive at Kensington Palace in his Rolls Royce with a police Escort.

No rush this morning, but we’re still up at 6.30am for a cup of tea, followed by breakfast - meuslie/bread and jam. At 9am, we all walk to Parson’s Green Underground, a higgeldy piggeldy route which we know quite well now, and catch the District Line to Edgeware Rd. A 1k walk down to Albion Mews in the rain while we wait for Owain to arrive with four Raleigh city bikes. It’s cold, wet and windy and just as we’re about to leave on the bikes, Ian gnashes his calf on the pedal.  It needed some serious first aid. Soon we leave to cycle a few hundred metres to Hyde Park.

There’s people and bikes everywhere as we negotiate the path through the centre of Hyde Park.  We’ve been cycling just under and hour when we stop under a Tree out of the rain and wind at the front entrance to Kensington Palace.  While standing there, a police motorcade arrives, the gates to the palace open, and King Charles 111 in his Rolls Royce cruises through.  No photographs allowed!   We’re cold and damp when Owain then takes us to the Ole and Steen Coffee Shop at Notting Hill Gate where we sit and have a Cappuccino with an apple croissant which we had bought at the Co-Op near Parson’s Green station.  We’re there for half and hour chatting and warming up before venturing out into the rain again.  

Down through Chelsea then over the Beaufort St Bridge to Battersea Park where the decommissioned Battersea Power Station has been converted into shops and parkland.  Trying to find a spot out of the wind and rain, Owain has an amazing knowledge of all things London, and tells us about the Power Station and how it sooted the bricks of London.   Back over the bridge and along the North side of the River to a spot where we can see the MI6 Building on the other side of the Thames River.  

A bit further on and we see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, then around the corner to Westminster Abbey. The “must see” spots are never ending as we cycle up The Mall, London's primary ceremonial road to Buckingham Palace. Starting at Trafalgar Square it leads though Admiralty Arch into St James's Park, passes St James's Palace, Clarence House and finishes at Buckingham palace where we join the throngs of tourists to do a photo shoot. 

 It’s almost 3pm when we cycle back to Albion Mews to drop off our bikes.  We were really impressed with the Owain’s cycle route, and his stories about little known aspects of London’s tourist hotspots.  We’re starving as we walk 300 metres to a little park with an old church hosting a wedding reception, and sit on the seat outside eating a belated lunch with a cup of coffee made from our Milton Thermos.  A 1k walk back up the road to Edgeware Rd Station where we jump on the District line train to Parson’s Green.  It’s warm inside the train and 30 minutes later we’re out in the cold again, walking the 1.3k back to Wyfield Rd, stopping at the Co-Op for a 4 pack of Dark Stout - they don’t have Guinness.  Back to our warm flat to watch England play Switzerland in the Eu Soccer Championships while having pre dinner drinks with cheese, nuts and bikkies.