Family-friendly rides will take in places of worship

Westminster Catholic Cathedral
To celebrate National Interfaith Week 2017 and encourage cycling among residents and visitors, Westminster City Council’s road safety team has joined forces with the Westminster Faith Exchange and Cycle Confident to create two leisurely cycle rides around some of the borough’s many fascinating places of worship.

The three-mile rides take place on Saturday 18 November, departing from the Buddhist Society in Eccleston Square; and Sunday 19 November, departing from the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom in Moscow Road, Bayswater.

The rides will be professionally marshalled and family-friendly. They will use quiet roads and some of the segregated cycle tracks recently installed in Westminster.

Riders can join at any of the places of worship and there will be a return ride for those wishing to be accompanied to their starting point.

A little background information will be given at each of the places of worship, and soft drinks and vegetarian snacks will be provided. Riders are asked to dress moderately in consideration of nature of the landmarks and buildings they will be visiting.

Both routes can be found on the Cycle Confident website and will be promoted on social media.

Click here for more details or to book a place on either of the rides.


Footnote: The image used with this story is of Westminster Catholic Cathedral which will be visited on the Saturday ride. The Cathedral site was originally known as Bulinga Fen and formed part of the marsh around Westminster. It was reclaimed by the Benedictine monks, who were the builders and owners of Westminster Abbey, and subsequently used as a market and fairground.

After the Reformation the land was used in turn as a maze, a pleasure garden and as a ring for bull-baiting – but it remained largely waste ground. The foundation stone for the cathedral was laid in 1895 and the fabric of the building was completed eight years later.


31 October 2017