Yesterday was a little more ambitious, with one of Lewisham Cyclists’ regular ride leaders taking us at speed around the borough’s peaks. It wasn’t a long outing in terms of ground distance covered, but with around 600 metres of short, sharp ascent, the ride was in places tough on the legs. I’m used to cycling around the rural hills of the North Downs of Kent on my fixed-wheel bike, and do so without having to get off and push. Last night, however, I was defeated on a couple of 50-metre stretches around Lewisham’s suburban summits.
Our evening pedalling took us from Greenwich Pier up Telegraph Hill, then on to Hilly Fields in Brockley, down along the Ravensbourne River, up through Blythe Hill Fields, Honor Oak and One Tree Hill, Westwood Park and Forest Hill. We then stopped at a house on Liphook Crescent on Forest Hill, the back garden of which houses a splendid folly built around 1880 that belonged to Tewkesbury Lodge. Our host took up the narrow, winding staircase of the folly, and at the top we were presented with a fantastic pre-dusk panorama of London.
From Forest Hill it was on to Sydenham Hill, past Lammas Green, and a watering stop at a pub in Dulwich. The route back to Greenwich was along the main road through Forest Hill, Catford and Lewisham town centres.
Edited from : sedgemore.com/2010/06/lewisham-on-high/