Guildhall

As the trains were up the spout, we stayed nearer to home for a cycling adventure and meandered our way to join the new cycling superhighway "CS7" at Clapham. The blue markings are very wide and clear, which gave a feeling of safety. There were a couple of instances when we were held up by buses (the cycle lane also being the bus lane) so I'm not sure how fast this route would be on a week day when the buses are numerous.

The superhighway took us to Southwark Bridge and I started seeing the new hire bicycles and their stations from Elephant and Castle onwards. It was great to see people out and about on the hire bikes, too. We cycled on into the heart of the city and came across this magnificent building - the Guildhall. It's a medieval building, constructed between 1411 and 1440. Originally it was where the Lord Mayor of London and the merchants held court. It's now used for grand social functions and houses an art gallery.

We stopped for tea and cake at a cycle cafe - Look Mum No Hands. I can recommend the food and the atmosphere. There's plenty of space for bicycles, which is a huge bonus.

Cycling home took us past Covent Garden and the new Apple store, but we resisted and pedalled on. We couldn't, however, resist the pub at the halfway point of our route home. A cup of tea later, we were soon on our way. A fine London cycling adventure.