I’m a Londoner, North Londoner, if you want to be specific. I was born in London, I went to school, university and started work in London. I have worked as a paediatrician in the hospital that I was born in, I have worked as a paediatrician in the community that I used to be part of. I still live in London despite working in a job that is 50 miles outside of the capital. London is in my blood. London is my home. For the first 6 years of my life I lived with parents and siblings in Stoke Newington or ‘Stokey’ as it is affectionately known. All the memories I have of this place are in my head, heart and dreams. Social media did not exist when I was a pre-schooler but of course I did have access to photographs taken by father who was among many things, a trained and avid photographer. It feels like a no-brainer that this was going to be one of the places I was going to visit on my #Cycle50 (cycling 50 miles in a week for Cancer Research). I did not really have much of an idea of how long it would take me or how difficult it would be, I just had the goal of peddling past the house that I was I bought to as a newborn in 1976.
The ride was actually it was not too bad, from the roundabout at Waterworks Corner, there is a cycle-path that takes you down Woodford New Road, through to Leytonstone on the Lea Bridge road until the Lea Bridge roundabout which is just over 4 miles. I have taken this journey countless times in my car so it was interesting to do this on two wheels.
I am not sure I really have the words to describe how I felt while cycling around the area that was my small world over 3 decades ago. All I can say is that I seemed to generate a feelings of joy, loss, excitement, anxiety, and security. I have a complicated inner world, but who doesn’t?
I also cycled through Clissold Park another place the brings back a certain set of memories. There are no pictures of the park, it’s May 2020, we are still in lockdown, so stopping, for me was not an option I wanted to take up. Another day, maybe…
Not sure where my next cycling adventure will take me. I have 18 miles to go until I complete this challenge. As I write this post, it is a sunny Saturday afternoon and I am exhausted. Turns out cycling 32 miles in three evenings will eventually take its toll. So for today, I am resting. I am going to see I if I can get writing with a few more posts on the other 2 cycling destinations and I’m going to try and tackle version 2 of the banana bread (yup, that drama has not been shared yet, but it’s coming!).
Keep safe peeps! 🙂 x
