Hidden London Bicycle Tour by Spoke 'n Motion Bike Tours

Tour Itinerary

The Hidden London Tour takes you down obscure cobbled streets, alleyways and nooks and crannies that you'd never find by yourself, and where the dirty, polluting cars, taxis and tour buses can't follow us.

Check out the historic Rotherhithe, departure point of the famous 'Mayflower' which carried the legendary Pilgrim Fathers off to establish what would eventually become the United States of America. We also visit the areas that gave Charles Dickens the inspiration for some of his best-loved and most notorious characters.

We take in the old docks of the East End, once a vast area of warehouses teeming with colourful, foul-mouthed characters who unloaded goods from all over the British Empire. Gone are the area's 19th Century gin houses, brothels and opium dens frequented by high-society and scumbags alike (including some famous names that will surprise you). Instead, today you'll find the area has been turned into desirable, über-expensive luxury housing in what must be one of the most surreal (and controversial) re-developments in British history! You'll see the ultra-modern skyscraper district of Canary Wharf, London's own mini-Manhattan and home to some of Europe's tallest buildings and most inspiring modern architecture, as well as a significant section of the country's wealth.

Sure, we still stop by at some of the old favourites such as the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, but we reckon we'll be able to tell you a few things about these places that most tours don't mention. We'll explore the parts of town that bore the brunt of the devastation during the infamous Blitz, when Hitler's Luftwaffe pasted the city with waves of continuous bombing which almost brought London to its knees...and learn how her people persevered and the city rose again from the ashes.

It's hard to sum up this half-day tour. Film locations, murder scenes, medieval history and modern, funky London all wrapped up with a bow and delivered by friendly, well-informed guides that know London like the back of their hand. Throw in a pub that's been serving ale for 500 years, the spot where the most famous pirate ever was hanged, a quick lesson in the impenetrable Cockney Rhyming Slang dialect of English (which probably evolved as a coded language for thieves) and London's only floating church and you'll see why our Hidden London tour exposes the British capital as one of the most historic, crazy and eccentric towns on the planet.

* Post Tour drink included in the price. You must be at least 18 years old to drink alcohol in a public house in the UK.