A cycle tour through Greenwich is a great way to see the area. You can cover a lot more ground than on a walking tour, and take in much more of the environment than if you were in a vehicle.

Royal Greenwich Tours, which organises a number of tours both in Greenwich and more generally around London, offers an excellent cycle tour that circumnavigates both parts of central and east Greenwich.

The three-hour tour starts at the Sir Walter Raleigh statue, located by the Greenwich Tourism Information Centre – about a one-minute walk from the Cutty Sark tea clipper.
Helmets and well-maintained and very smooth, state-of-the-art six-speed Dutch bikes with a handy basket are provided, and your tour guide ensures your seat height is just right, and your bike helmet is adjusted.

Our guide is Stephen Robson, one of Greenwich Tours’ four guides currently. A local artist who studied fine art at Goldsmith’s College, he is a wealth of knowledge and brings each location we stop at to life, with snippets from history and anecdotes. It’s like cycling with a knowledgeable friend.

Participants head up through beautiful Greenwich Park, originally established by King Henry VIII, in order to reach the world-famous Greenwich Observatory. The view is amazing, taking in maritime Greenwich, Canary Wharf and the City, including St. Paul’s Cathedral. From here there’s a cycle down through the park, towards the River Thames, skirting the elegant Queen’s House on the way to the Thames cycle pathway.

The tour passes the old Greenwich power station, built by the Edwardians in 1903, and heads east along the river, towards the O2 entertainment complex. Along the way, there is much to see including the busy and ever-changing river itself. The bike path hugs the river and there are lots of very Instagrammable scenic stops.

Travelling by bike, you appreciate the wildlife around you, such as herring gulls, black-backed gulls and cormorants by the river. The regular calls of the gulls suggest you could be on the coast, if it wasn’t for the office and housing towers in the distance. Seals can occasionally be seen here, though alas, not today.

On reaching the O2, now in the top five globally for entertainment events and concerts, you can stand directly under the Emirates gondola that crosses the Thames, built just in time for the London Olympics of 2012.

The tour heads back along the river towards Greenwich, and includes a much-deserved coffee/tea break beside the river. On returning to the starting point in central Greenwich, the tour goes through the historic Old Royal Naval College, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, before you see the Cutty Sark, the only surviving tea clipper in the world, up close.

From two to five people go on each tour, and it is a largely traffic-free itinerary. The cost is £49 for adults and £39 for seniors and students. Greenwich Royal Tours also organises Greenwich and Greenwich Peninsula walking tours and a Greenwich Food Tour, as well as more general London tour options.

Further details: greenwichroyaltours.com