London Serene Sunday Historical Bike Tour

Join us on a serene Sunday bike tour through London's quiet streets, uncovering its historical tapestry. Our route takes you to both famous landmarks and hidden corners of the city. Cycle through areas once roamed by pirates in Wapping, alongside the remnants of London's Roman wall, and over the majestic Tower Bridge. You'll get a close-up view of St. Paul's Cathedral and visit locations from the enchanting world of Harry Potter. This tour offers more than just sightseeing; it's an opportunity to experience the juxtaposition of London's ancient ruins, historic pubs, and modern architectural feats.

Meeting Point

189 Hercules Rd

189 Hercules Rd, London SE1 7LD, UK

• Bike tours meet at Tally Ho @ 189 Hercules Road, London, SE17LD.
• The tour ends back at the same location.
• The closest underground station is Lambeth North (on the Bakerloo Line). This is a 3 minute walk from our location.
• We have secure storage for luggage.

What's included:

• Local guide
• Tweed cap (optional)
• Helmet (optional)
• Hand built British bicycle
• Rain poncho (if required)

Not included:

• Snacks and drinks

What to expect:

Duration: 4 hours

Roupell Street

Roupell street, Lambeth, London, SE1 8TB

Explore Roupell Street, a fascinating glimpse into 1820s London, with its charming Georgian houses built for the working class. John Roupel reclaimed marshy land and named the streets after his family. Postmen's confusion led to name changes. The area almost burned down in 1829, prompting fire insurance reminders. Notice plaques on houses – without one, private firefighters would let your house burn. Despite WWII bombings, these streets remain.
Visit The King's Arms, a Grade II Victorian Pub, offering 10 real ales, including local brews. Once an undertaker's and magistrates' court, it now serves top-notch Thai cuisine.

10 minutes

Blackfriars Bridge

Blackfriars Rd., London, SE1 9UD

Visit the brigde which was opened 1in 869 by Queen Victoria. It is named after the Dominican Friars who had their monastery at the north end of the bridge. The tops of the support columns are shaped like pulpits in its memory.

5 minutes

The Cockpit

7 St Andrew's Hill, London EC4V 5BY, UK

The Cockpit pub was the site of monastic houses and Dominican friars had their monastery here. Shakespeare bought the gatehouse and lived here.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

St. Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8AD

St. Paul's Cathedral, an emblematic London landmark, held Prince Charles and Lady Diana's wedding and Winston Churchill's funeral. Wellington and Nelson also lay here. With a rich history dating back to 604 AD, old St. Paul's was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, 1666. Christopher Wren rebuilt it, symbolising resilience. Despite WWII bombings, St. Paul's stands tall as an emblem of survival.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

St. Mary Le Bow Church

Cheapside, , London, EC2

Discover the church, whose bells are the most famous in London, where if you are born within the sound of Bow bells, you are true a Cockney Londoner.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Guildhall

71 Basinghall Street, London, EC2V 7HH

Delve into Medieval London, and the town hall of the City of London and hear stories of the weird, archaic traditions, which have been unchanged since middle ages.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The Mansion House, City of London

The Mansion House, Walbrook, City of London, London, EC4N 8BH

Uncover the history of the highest point in the City of London, which has been of importance since Roman Times. Where you will learn about Mansion House (the home of the Lord Mayor of London) and the Bank of England.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Leadenhall Market

Gracechurch Street, , London, EC3V 1LT

Visit the Victorian market, designed by Sir Horace Jones which in Roman times was the location of the Forum and Basilica. Here you'll uncover the Harry Potter Locations of Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron.

10 minutes

Lloyds of London

London, Greater London Ec3m 7ha 1 Lime Street, Jcn, of LEADENHALL STREET, London, EC3M 7HA

Discover and be immersed in the diverse architecture at the heart of the City of London. See the architectural masterpiece of Richard Roger's Lloyds of London Skyscraper, surrounded by its neighbours the Cheesegrater and the Gherkin in contrast to St Andrew Undershaft, a pre 1666 fire church, built when Henry VIII was king (1517).

10 minutes

London Wall

The Tower of London Tower Hill, London, EC3N 4AB

Discover one of the oldest parts of London and see the Roman wall of London, of which part was built by Romans around 200AD.

5 minutes

Cable Street Mural

St. Georges Town Hall 236 Cable Street, London, E1 0BL

Visit the mural completed in 1983 in one of London's most diverse, multicultural areas. It depicts the battle between fascists and protesters in 1936, when the area was a predominantly Jewish area.

10 minutes

Shadwell Basin

Wapping, , London

Explore one of London's original docks, in an area that has been regenerated since the 1980s, and learn about the history of what was 100 years ago, the busiest docks in the world.

5 minutes

The Prospect of Whitby

57 Wapping Wall, , London, E1W 3SH

Experience a pint in

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Tobacco Dock Ltd

50 Porters Walk, London E1W 2SF, UK

Explore the ornamental canal and old tobacco warehouses in the heart of the old London Docks, which have been redeveloped since the 1980s.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

St Katharine Docks

50 St Katharine's Way, London, E1W 1LA

Explore the last of London's Docks to be built in 1825 and the first to close down in the 1960s. The area was the site of the the hospital St Katherine's by the Tower founded in 1147 by Queen Matilda.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge Road, London, SE1 2UP

Tower Bridge, an iconic symbol of London, is a combined bascule and suspension bridge that spans the River Thames. Completed in 1894, it was designed by Sir Horace Jones and engineered by Sir John Wolfe Barry. The bridge features two neo-Gothic towers connected by a central walkway and has become a major tourist attraction. The Tower Bridge Exhibition, housed within the towers, offers visitors a chance to learn about the bridge's history and enjoy panoramic views of the city from the glass-floored walkway. The bascules are raised around 800 times a year to allow tall ships to pass through, providing a spectacular sight for onlookers.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Tower of London

London, EC3N 4AB

Discover the Tower of London, an iconic historical site built by William the Conqueror shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Once a royal palace, menagerie, observatory, and armoury, it is most famous as a state prison and execution site. Entering through Traitors Gate often meant a grim fate. Notable figures like William Wallace, Thomas More, Henry VI, and Edward V met their demise here, as did Henry VIII's wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Today, the Tower houses the magnificent Crown Jewels, a must-see for any visitor.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

HMS Belfast

The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2JH

Take in the grandeur of the World War II Cruiser Class Destroyer ship, which was built in the same shipyard as the Titanic in Belfast. The ship protected convoys in WWII and the Korean War and was part of the D Day Landings on June 6th 1944. And today it is a floating museum, where you can see interiors which doubled as the Royal Yacht Britannia in Netflix's The Crown.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

City Hall

Kamal Chunchie Way, , London, E16 1ZE

View the former City Hall of London, designed by Norman Foster.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

St. Dunstan In The East

St. Dunstan's Hill, London, EC3R 5DD

Take a moment in a quiet space in the middle of the busting City of London. The original church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, but was rebuilt by Wren.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The Monument to the Great Fire of London

Fish St. Hill, , London, EC3R 8AH

View the great monument to the Great Fire of London of 1666. Standing at 202 ft high, If laid on it’s side, the golden urn on top would land at Thomas Farriner’s bakery shop on Pudding Lane where fire started 2 Sep 1666.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Southwark Bridge

Southwark Bridge Rd, London, EC4R 3TE

Witness Shakespeare's Globe from one of London's finest bridges. Experience the magic of Shakespeare's Globe, a 1997 reconstruction of the original 1599 venue. As home to The Lord Chamberlain's Men, it saw the debut of many Shakespearean classics.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

Tate Modern

Bankside, London, SE1 9TG

Tate Modern, the world's most-visited modern art gallery, opened in 2000 after transforming a 1950s Bankside Power Station. Its twisted brick pyramid, a 2016 extension, features a 10th-floor viewing gallery. The impressive turbine hall hosts changing, monumental commissions. A masterpiece itself, the building is worth visiting even for non-art lovers. Admire works by renowned 20th/21st-century artists, from Mondrian and Richter to Rothko and Picasso.

5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included