First Stop London

We try a new system of getting to London today without the dogs. We deposit them in their plush accommodation for the week in Ruddington and then drive to East Midlands Parkway station. We leave the car there and get the train down to London. Seamless so far.

We have booked the Holiday Inn at Swiss Cottage but again we have managed to stay somewhere without any decent pubs. We do find some a few tube stops away in the Kentish Town\Camden Town area.

We have a drink in Tapping The Admiral but they have stopped serving food, so we move on to find somewhere else. The place’s name I can’t recall (was it the Oxford?) but they served a rather nice curry!

Then it’s back on to the Underground and to Lee Valley Velopark for day two of the Track Cycling World Championships.

After a disappointing opening day yesterday, Team GB come roaring back today. Laura Trott wins the Scratch Race, Becky James gets a surprise bronze in the Keirin and the Men’s Team Pursuit almost pip the Aussies for gold after Ed Clancy rises from the dead (after a career threatening back injury) to power them round but runs out of steam two laps from the end.

Afterwards we get the Underground back to Kentish Town and visit the Grafton, where the beer is outrageously expensive even for a 3.8% ale.

(Thursday 3^rd March)

Olympic Velodome

Today we get the train down to London but as usual the barmy ticketing website has done something barmy and issued us with tickets that aren’t together. Luckily there are loads of unreserved seats so we just sit elsewhere, which just makes you wonder even more what planet their system resides on.

We flash our new sparkly Oyster cards at the Underground and head over to Stratford, where we seek out our shady hotel, which is called Lodge 51.

From there we find a real ale bar called Tap East, in Westfield of all places, before we head off in search of the now named Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Tap East brew their own beer and craft ales too. Often a byword for expensive and one of them is £9 a pint. I have a half.

Then we thread out way through the building site and the new apartments that current lie empty Marie Celeste like and eventually stumble across the wide (ish) open spaces of the centre of the park.

A lot has gone but still there lay the Olympics Stadium itself, the Aquatics Centre, Copper Box and of course the Velodrome or the Lee Valley VeloPark as it’s now known. 

Which is mightily impressive up close. Externally, at least, it certainly puts our new velodrome in Derby in the shade because that just looks like a tin of beans.

We are here, along with six thousand others, to pay homage as it opens its doors for the first time since the Olympics as the Revolution Series comes to London for the first time.

I’ve never been to the Revolution Series before, despite it being homed in Manchester, because, well, it’s not the real thing. It’s the cycling equivalent of a football friendly and that is reflected in the racing tonight. Obviously everyone wants to win but it’s not the end of the world if they don’t.

Unless you’re Laura Trott of course, who wins everything she enters but there’s a sneaking suspicion that her Wiggle Honda teammates were looking out for her rather than trying to win themselves.

Afterwards we hop back on the tube and try out a recommended pub in Leytonstone, The Red Lion, which serves a decent pint of porter. I have thirds. 

(Friday 14^th March) 

The Educational Bit

The Ibis hotel that we’re staying in delivers a nice big bed, or perhaps it’s just the fact there’s only two of us on it rather than the usual four (including dogs), but breakfast is a complete washout. We are told breakfast is available until midday but at 10.30 there is practically no cooked food, seemingly rationing on almost everything else and no coffee as the machine is broken. Well, they do leave some sachets of Nescafe out so that you can make your own. Not great for £8 a head.

Then we do the educational bit of the weekend. We visit the People’s History Museum and the Museum of Science & Industry before falling exhausted and sort of educated into the Mark Addy pub in Salford. A pub with a riverside view across the River Irwell. 

Mark Addy was a publican but also a Manchester born champion oarsman who rescued over 50 people from river back in the 19th century.

Next stop another pub, the City Arms right in the centre. Then after a stop for food at a noodle bar we head back to the velodrome for another evening of finals.

Jo Rowsell adds a second gold medal in the individual pursuit and the Scots newbie, Katie Archibald, takes bronze.

Becky James beat Anna Meares 2-0 in the sprint but that was only for bronze, with James already having been defeated by the typically Germany thighs of Kristina Vogel who went on to take gold.

Jason Kenny was mightily impressive in his keirin semi-final, winning with ease. The opposite was true in the final where he got himself boxed in at the back and finished fourth.

Having then watched his missus, Laura Trott, almost win the elimination race, we have expected to see Jason sobbing into his pint when we returned to the Sandbar later that evening but it was not to be. Also not to be was the Porter, which had unfortunately run out.

(Saturday 2^nd November)