Queen Eleanor Cycle Ride

I loved every minute of this ride and as it was over four days that’s saying something. It may not have been the fastest ride I’ve ever been on but it was extremely interesting and, WVCC members aside, I couldn’t have ridden with a nicer bunch of cyclists. I’d sum it up as a fascinating interweaving of cycling, history and new friendships.

The Queen Eleanor ride retraces the route of Eleanor’s cortege in 1290 from Harby in Lincolnshire to Westminster Abbey. We took in each of the 12 Eleanor Crosses that were built to mark where her body rested overnight on the journey and we were raising money for The Connection, the charity for homeless folk based in St Martin’s in the Fields, just off Trafalgar Square.

We got just an inkling of what it must be like to sleep rough by sleeping on church hall floors for two nights. Showers were kindly provided by a nearby football club and a leisure centre. I’ll never take a bath after a long ride for granted again!

There are just three Eleanor Crosses still in existence and the best preserved is down the road from us at Geddington.  We made a spectacular entrance into Geddington as we were escorted in by “Queen Eleanor”, an old fire engine lovingly maintained by Geddington Volunteer Fire Brigade.

Both the route and the weather were reasonably kind. There was a lovely climb up on to Dunstable Downs, which I’d never heard of, and there was a “proper” climb up Bow Brickshill as we approached Milton Keynes. A generous sponsor had promised £10 for every person who made it to the top without stopping and doubled the figure if it was the first time you’d done it. I’m pleased to report that I garnered £20 for The Connection but Kamilla has nothing to worry about!

On our arrival into the centre of Waltham Cross (it was just called Waltham before Eleanor) we were greeted by the mayor, a steel band. There was a special, roped off, and supervised area for us to leave our bikes in and lunch was provided. We responded in kind by dancing a conga with the mayor!

I’m pleased to report we all made it to Westminster Abbey where we got to see Eleanor’s tomb before we cycled to The Connection to stuff our faces with pizza.  Sign me up for next year please!

Judith Rout