Category: London

[7-minute read time]

For the true culture seeker, the most compelling destinations are found where a city’s gritty past and its vibrant present collide.

If this speaks to your travel soul, then London’s rapidly evolving Smokestack District in Old East Village is your next must-see destination.

Factories That Built An Industrial Powerhouse

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this area of the city was the roaring engine of London. The skyline was defined by towering brick smokestacks billowing with the promise of progress.

The undisputed king of the hill was the Kellogg Factory.

Established in 1907, it was the largest and most modern cereal manufacturing plant in the country and became a London landmark for over a century.

The nickname “Million Dollar Mile” on Dundas Street was a nod to the immense value the factory brought to the area through jobs and economic activity.

The Kellogg Factory was a “city within a city,” featuring its own power plant, fire department, and machine shop.

The factory complex was huge! Through a series of expansions, it soon covered 23 acres and had almost 1 million square feet of building space.

By 2011, the plant was producing 750,000 boxes of cereal a day!

The Decline of Manufacturing

However, like many North American manufacturing centres in the latter part of the 20th century, many factories in the Smokestack District faced challenges they couldn’t overcome and were forced to shut down.

By the end of 2014, after 107 years, the Kellogg factory also ceased operations, leaving a monumental void and an uncertain future for the iconic complex.

The Great Pivot: Weaving an Audacious New Dream

However, when new owners came onto the scene in 2018, they brought with them an audacious plan for redeveloping the area. Their bold vision became the driving force behind reimagining the entire Smokestack District.

Their goal wasn’t to erase its past, but to weave its industrial character into a new, community-focused tourist destination and entertainment hub, recreating a “city within a city.”

Today, the first phase of the project has been completed. The newly redeveloped 100 Kellogg Lane is a stunning example of adaptive reuse.

It is the home of a massive five-story ropes course, a 20,000 square foot trampoline park, four 145-foot zip-lines, an arcade, a local craft brewery, restaurants, a distillery, a 28,000 square foot sports bar, retail shops, a mini-golf and indoor sports centre, office space, a convention centre that can accommodate up to 1,000 guests, the largest virtual reality facility in Canada, warehouses, the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame, the London Children’s Museum, the first Hard Rock Hotel in Canada, and much, much more.

The entire complex has essentially become an urban resort where people can stay for days at a time without ever needing to set foot outside the building if they don’t want to.

Its interior courtyard is a large central flex space that can be used for large performances, events, and community gatherings.

The careful redevelopment work, guided by the Heritage Impact Assessment’s mandate to preserve the site’s “mass, scale, and industrial materials,” ensures that the soul of the old factory remains ever-present. The result is a clever blend of modern chic with the exposed bones of the industrial building showing through.

The Modern Smokestack District: Where Heritage Meets High Design

In addition to the recently completed Kellogg’s Block (marked as #1 in the above photo), the Kellogg District Master Plan calls for 8 adjacent properties to be organized into 3 additional Blocks that will feature offices, residences, and commercial space.

To bring cohesion to this sprawling community, several of the taller buildings will be connected by elevated pedestrian bridges, and a landscaped walking trail will wind along the old Spur Line and link three new urban parks.

To preserve the industrial character of the Smokestack District, much attention has been paid to adaptive reuse, conservation methodologies, and heritage guidelines.

Factors such as protecting important views and sightlines, maintaining signage from the industrial era, and preserving the vertical elements of older buildings are all important, but so is mitigating the effects of shadowing from the new towers and allowing for a smooth transition from the new taller buildings in the centre of the District to the lower height of existing homes in the surrounding neighbourhood.

This redevelopment project will take years to finish, but when all is said and done, the transformation from a gritty working-class neighbourhood to a high-end entertainment district will be complete.

Experience the Transformation on Two Wheels

The best way to absorb the scale and spirit of the Smokestack District is from the seat of a bicycle. The wide, flat streets of the surrounding neighbourhoods, once filled with workers heading to the factory, are perfect for cycling.

On a bicycle, you can appreciate the architectural details that were preserved and feel the palpable energy of a neighbourhood being written anew.

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of heritage buildings.

This Industrial Renaissance is just one of the many things I’ve discovered while exploring London on my bicycle. But there’s sooo much more. Come and see for yourself.

Small groups, big laughs, and a chance to see visions becoming a reality, up close and personal. I help inquisitive folks like you discover the best parts of London – from the seat of my bicycle, of course.

Click here to learn more about my tours!

[5-minute read time]

If you’ve traveled through downtown London for any length of time, you’ve probably already had the experience of being stuck in traffic while slow-moving freight trains took forever to clear the tracks.

And wouldn’t you know it. It’s always when you’re running late.

So, there you are, fuming and cursing the flashing lights and the long freight trains cutting the city in half. But what if I told you that the trains are what helped make London a prosperous city in the first place?

The 1853 Game Changer: From Mud Paths to Iron Tracks

Long before London was a city with rail crossings that annoyed you, it was a town with muddy streets and boardwalks; really just a hopeful grid on a map. Then, in 1853, the Great Western Railway steamed in, and London went from being a provincial outpost to a booming city.

The trains didn’t just bring in goods; they brought people, money, and a reason for everyone else to show up. London became a strategic hub, with tracks stretching out in all directions.

The Anatomy of a Railway City: By the Numbers

55 Level Crossings: That’s 55 official opportunities to sit in your car, sigh deeply, and contemplate your life choices. Consider it a city-wide, mandatory mindfulness exercise.

21 Bridges & 12 Underpasses: Let’s talk about two recent improvements, since they are both near large urban train yards, each with many slow-moving freight trains.

• The Adelaide Street underpass project eliminated 25 to 43 instances of train delays per day. It may have cost the city a cool $88 million, $29 million higher than expected, but who doesn’t love a good budget surprise, right?
• The Hale/Trafalgar elevated roundabout reduced significant delays for the 15,000 vehicles that previously lined up to cross the tracks daily.

CN, CPKC, and the Art of the Inconvenient Pause

Today, railways in Canada are run by two giants: CN (Canadian National Railway Company) and CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City). Even though their freight trains are the lifeline of our national economy, the level crossings constantly disrupt our daily routines.

The traffic delays? Think of them not as annoyances, but as a chance to put on your favourite podcast, check your messages, and appreciate the raw, industrial power rumbling past your windshield. It’s a free, unscheduled spectacle of commerce!

Your Ticket to Adventure

But here’s the secret for the culture seeker: this railway network is your best friend. The VIA train is your stress-free ticket to an amazing weekend.

Hop on a train in Toronto or Windsor, and a couple of relaxing hours later, without any white-knuckle traffic on Highway 401 (the busiest highway in North America), you’ll be deposited right in the heart of London, ready to discover our breweries, trails, and vibrant neighbourhoods.

Opportunities Galore for Cyclists

Interestingly, because the railways intersect numerous roads and pathways in London, they offer train-loving cyclists many opportunities to pass over and under the train tracks. Here is but a sampling:

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of puns.

If you’re all done reading about our rail history and want to experience London up close and personal, why don’t you come on a bicycle tour with me? Small groups, big laughs, and zero train-related delays (I promise). I help curious folks like you discover the best parts of our city (from the saddle of my bicycle, of course).

Click here to learn more about my tours!

[5-minute read time]

In the middle of a suburban neighbourhood is a place that has spent 10,000 years resisting human attempts to civilize it. Welcome to Sifton Bog, a floating, acidic, peat-based reality check that refuses to be conquered.

Sifton Bog isn’t just a patch of green. This is one of the most southerly acidic bogs in all of Canada, a 41.6-hectare time capsule where plants eat meat, the ground literally floats, and a ten-minute walk can transport you through botanical zones that are usually found far apart. And it’s right in our backyard.

A Hole with a Soul: How a Glacier’s Misstep Created a Masterpiece

So, how did such an oddity come to be?

The story begins back when much of Ontario was covered by a massive ice sheet. As it retreated, it left behind a giant chunk of ice buried in the Ingersoll Glacial Moraine. When this ice chunk finally melted, it left a massive, water-filled depression with no natural drainage—a kettle lake.

Over the next ten millennia, nature got to work. Plants grew and died in the water, but because the conditions were too cool and oxygen-poor for them to fully decompose, they did the next best thing: they turned into peat. Layer upon layer of this partially decayed matter built up, eventually forming a semi-floating mat that now surrounds the open water of Redmond’s Pond. This peat layer isn’t just a few inches thick; it’s a staggering 18 metres (60 feet) deep in places. The bog is essentially a giant, waterlogged sponge.

Where North Meets South

What makes Sifton Bog truly bizarre, and a magnet for botanists, is its unique location. It’s where two great forest empires come together.

The Boreal Forest: The centre of the bog is a little piece of the far north. It’s dominated by sphagnum moss, leatherleaf, and stunted trees like black spruce and tamarack that are typically found in the vast boreal forest that covers 75% of Canada.

The Carolinian Forest: Surrounding the bog is a deciduous swamp and upland forest characteristic of the Carolinian zone. This forest region, found only in southern Ontario, is home to a much greater diversity of species than can be found anywhere else in the country.

Visiting Sifton Bog means that in one short stroll, you can experience a change in vegetation so drastic it would normally require a road trip of several hundred kilometres. It’s like climate change, but in reverse, and far more pleasant.

The Meat-Eating Residents (No, Not What You Think)

The bog is also home to some of the plant kingdom’s most cunning predators. That’s right, Sifton Bog is home to four types of carnivorous plants that have evolved to thrive in the nutrient-poor, acidic soil by supplementing their diet with a little bug protein.

You can find the delicate, dewy-leaved sundews (Drosera intermedia and Drosera rotundifolia) and the iconic purple pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea). These plants are passive-aggressive assassins. The sundews trap insects on their sticky, glandular leaves, while the pitcher plants drown them in a cocktail of digestive enzymes. It’s a brutal, but highly efficient system. They’re a testament to the fact that in the bog, you adapt or you become lunch.

Humanity’s Failed Attempts to Tame the Bog

Of course, humans being humans, we looked at this unique, fragile ecosystem and thought, “I bet we can make a buck off it.”

And we tried. Oh, how we tried.

• Sphagnum Moss for War: During the First World War, the bog’s sphagnum moss was harvested as an alternative to cotton gauze for bandages, supporting the war effort and local hospitals.
• Gunpowder from Buckthorn: In the Second World War, the Alder Buckthorn plant native to the bog was harvested to produce gunpowder.

But the bog, in its quiet, soggy way, resisted full-scale exploitation. The commercial ventures failed to conquer it, and the city eventually grew around it. Today, instead of being drained for a subdivision, it’s a proudly preserved Environmentally Significant Area (ESA). It stands as a beautiful, mossy island of wilderness, completely surrounded by suburban homes, a daily reminder that the most interesting things are often the ones we couldn’t change.

Your Adventure Awaits

Today, experiencing this natural anomaly is incredibly easy. A well-maintained trail, including a meandering boardwalk, lets you safely traverse the floating mat and leads you out to a platform extending over Redmond’s Pond. It’s a 3.7-kilometre round trip that feels worlds away from the city, even though you’re just steps from it.

As you walk, keep your eyes peeled for painted turtles sunning themselves, dragonflies skimming the water, and, if you’re lucky, even deer wandering through the surrounding woods. The boardwalk is the bog’s greatest gift to visitors. It protects delicate plants from being trampled while letting you become fully immersed in this otherworldly landscape without sinking into 60 feet of peat.

A win-win, really.

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of puns.

This ancient peat bog is just one of the many things I’ve discovered while exploring London on my bicycle. But there’s sooo much more. Come and see for yourself. Small groups, big laughs, and zero chance of being eaten by a purple pitcher plant (I promise). I help inquisitive folks like you discover the best parts of London – from the seat of my bicycle, of course.

Click here to learn more about my tours!

[4-minute read time]

Let’s talk about a scandal.

Not a juicy gossip-column scandal, but the kind that shakes the very foundations of what’s right and wrong. Our story today involves a secret oath, a grossly unfair trial, and a deportation that would make headlines today.

It’s the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs and their connection to London, Canada.

First, the 19th-century drama.

In the English village of Tolpuddle, six agricultural laborers faced a simple, brutal truth: their wages were being cut to starvation levels. So, they did what sensible people do: they formed a friendly society to support each other.

• Their tool? A secret oath.
• Their crime? According to the authorities, “administering unlawful oaths.”
• The punishment? A one-way ticket to a penal colony in Australia.

The trip to penal colonies was horrific, and the treatment when they got there was equally brutal. (Photo credit: The Tolpuddle Martyrs Memorial Trust)

Let that sink in.

These men weren’t violent. They weren’t plotting a revolution. They were asking for a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. And for that, they were gathered up and shipped off to a foreign land without due process. It was a legal travesty so shocking that it sparked mass protests in England in 1834 that ultimately led to their pardon in 1836 and the birth of the modern trade union movement.

So, what does this have to do with London?

In 1844, George Loveless, along with four of his fellow martyrs and their families, emigrated to Canada and settled on farms in the London District. George’s final resting place is in the serene Siloam Cemetery in north-east London, marked by a provincial plaque that tells the story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

But our city’s tribute doesn’t end in a quiet cemetery.

Downtown, at the corner of King and Ridout streets, you’ll find a sculpture simply entitled “Good Hands.”

It’s a quiet but unmistakable nod to the dignity of labor and the courage of those six men from Tolpuddle. It’s a monument not to a general or a politician, but to the idea that fairness is worth fighting for.

From Tolpuddle to Today: An Unfinished Story

It’s tempting to put this story neatly in the “history” box. But the mechanism of rounding people up under dubious legal pretenses and deporting them isn’t just a relic of the 1830s.

Consider modern-day I.C.E. agents in the United States, who have similarly detained and deported individuals, often separating families and bypassing due process. The details are different, but the theme of using state power to punish the vulnerable is a chilling echo across the centuries.

London’s connection to the Tolpuddle Martyrs isn’t just a quaint historical footnote. It’s a poignant reminder that the fight for justice is an ongoing journey. It’s a testament to the fact that our city, in its own small way, became a sanctuary for a concept: the right to organize, the right to dissent, and the right to be treated with dignity.

We Can’t Forget Their Stand

So, the next time you walk past the downtown sculpture or drive past the historical plaque on Fanshawe Park Road, remember the martyrs who landed in our backyard. It’s a story that proves history isn’t always about famous battles; sometimes, it’s about six brave farmhands whose legacy of resilience is woven right into the fabric of our city.

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of puns.

Reading about a historical plaque is one thing, but standing before it and feeling the connection to a global story of injustice, that’s a different kind of journey.

If you want to experience some of these hidden gems up close and personal, come on a bicycle tour with me. I help inquisitive folks like you discover the best parts of London – from a bicycle seat, of course.

Click here to learn more about my tours!

[5-minute read time]

If you’ve ever driven through a typical suburban neighborhood, you’ve seen streetscapes dominated by rows upon rows of garage doors.

Homes designed for cars, not for people. It’s a world of concrete driveways and heat-baked asphalt, where the garage is the palace and the front porch is an afterthought.

Well, a quiet revolution is brewing in London, Ontario, and it’s turning that conventional wisdom on its head. Welcome to EVE Park, a net-zero community so innovative it was lauded by CNN as one of the “10 architectural projects set to shape the world in 2024.”

The Vertical Parking Tower

Imagine this: instead of a sprawling parking lot, you drive up to what looks like a sleek, modern garage. You park your car in a ground-level stall, get out, and push a button.

In less than 80 seconds, your car is whisked away to a vertical storage system. No more scraping ice off your windshield in February. No more hunting for a spot. Your vehicle is tucked away, safe and sound.

By ditching the traditional sea of asphalt, the designers at EVE (Electric Vehicle Enclave) have created space for the environment to flourish.

The land that would have been wasted on driveways and parking spots is now home to meadows of native plants, walking trails, and communal courtyards. The development’s ethos is literally to be “living in a park, not a parking lot.”

Table: Traditional Parking vs EVE Park’s Smart Tower

Feature	Traditional Suburban Parking	EVE Park’s Smart Tower
Land Use	Expansive asphalt lots that contribute to urban heat islands	Compact towers freeing up space for gardens and walking trails
User Experience	You have to deal with rain or snow, and cleaning snow off your car in the winter	Your vehicle is delivered in ~80 seconds and is protected from the elements
Environmental Impact	High, because of impermeable surfaces and stormwater runoff	Low, due to permeable surfaces that reduce your carbon footprint
Community Effect	Separates the space between houses with pavement	Creates central pedestrian courtyards that connect neighbours

Beyond the Parking Spot: The Art of Net-Zero Living

But the genius of EVE Park isn’t just where it puts your car. It’s how it powers your life. This is an all-electric community powered by the sun.

A massive array of solar panels feeds a community micro-grid, making the entire project net-zero energy, meaning it generates as much power as it uses over a year.

Step inside one of the bright, airy units, and you’ll find a suite of technical innovations:

• Tight Building Envelopes: Super-insulated walls and triple-pane, ENERGY STAR-rated windows keep the perfect temperature in and the weather noise out.
• Fresh Air Machines: Formally known as Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs), these systems constantly swap stale indoor air for fresh, filtered outdoor air, all while recapturing heat to save energy.
• Top-of-the-Line Everything: From Panasonic induction cooktops to heat pump dryers, every appliance is chosen for maximum efficiency without sacrificing an ounce of quality.

They’ve even thought of the air you breathe, using low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints and finishes to ensure you’re not inhaling nasty chemicals. It’s healthy living, baked right into the drywall.

From Forest City to Future City: A Nod to London’s Legacy

Now, you might be thinking, “This is all very futuristic, but what’s it doing in London, Ontario?” The beautiful part is that it makes perfect sense.

London didn’t get its “Forest City” nickname by accident. There’s a deep-seated respect for nature here, even if decades of conventional development tried to pave over it.

EVE Park, nestled within the greater West 5 community and connected to the Thames River park area, is like the 21st-century expression of that Forest City soul. It’s a return to the ideal of living with nature, just with the benefit of 80-second parking retrieval.

It’s a project that required navigating outdated building codes and regulatory hurdles, a testament to the stubborn optimism of its developers, s2e Technologies, and designers like Gensler. They fought for this future, and London is now on the global architectural map for it.

Come See for Yourself

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of sustainable innovation.

EVE Park is just one of the many things I’ve discovered while exploring London on my bicycle. But there’s sooo much more. Come and see for yourself.

I’ve made it my mission to help inquisitive folks like you discover the best parts of London – from my bicycle seat, of course.

Click here to learn more about my tours!

[4-minute read time]

Any city can build a neighbourhood on nice, stable, dry land.

But then there’s London’s Blackfriars District, a heritage neighborhood erected almost two centuries ago on a low-lying flood plain.

Defiantly, it sits beside a river that regularly threatens to devour it.

The Great Floods

The Thames River can be very unpredictable.

Sometimes it slows to a trickle, but when heavy rains fall upstream, it becomes a swollen torrent.

In July 1883, a catastrophic flood swept through London, killing 17 people.

In April 1937, another devastating flood poured river water into the Blackfriars neighbourhood, a reminder that you can’t just wish a river away.

In the 1937 flood, roads became rivers, and boats came in handy.

(Photo credits: UTRCA).

In the 1950s, in response to the continued risk of flooding, the newly formed Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) built a series of dams upstream and dikes downstream.

They reinforced the West London Dike, a 2,374-meter-long, sloped mound of compacted earth and concrete walls to protect the low-lying Blackfriars District.

By 2030, further upgrades by the UTRCA will ensure that the dikes can withstand a 1-in-250-year flood.

The Bridge That Refused to Quit

During the 1800s, a combination of floodwaters and winter ice systematically destroyed each wooden bridge that was erected to cross the river.

Finally, in 1875, the city decided to build for the long run and constructed a bridge made of iron.

The Blackfriars Bridge is an iron bowstring truss bridge that looks delicate, but is deceptively strong. Some say it’s a miracle that something that looks so intricate has lasted so long.

It is now the oldest wrought-iron bridge in North America still used for vehicular traffic.

Yet a century and a half of high floodwater and vehicle wear-and-tear took its toll. By 2017, the bridge was in such poor repair that it was closed for a year, painstakingly restored, and then reopened in 2018.

Its latest comeback proves that in Blackfriars, they don’t discard their history; they polish it up and send it back into battle.

Blackfriars Bistro: A Taste of the Modern Harvest

Just a couple of blocks west of Blackfriars Bridge sits Blackfriars Bistro, the district’s culinary crown jewel.

Housed in a heritage building that was once a hotel and broom factory, this celebrated farm-to-table, chef-inspired restaurant offers seasonal menus, catering, and pastries baked from scratch.

Labatt Memorial Park

Also behind the dike is Labatt Memorial Park, the “World’s Oldest Continually Operating Baseball Grounds,” as proclaimed by Guinness World Records in 2008.

Over time, this park has hosted legends such as Ty Cobb, Satchel Page, and Fergie Jenkins.

It has hosted a wide variety of events, including bicycle racing, soccer, football, boxing, wrestling, winter skating, political rallies, show jumping for horses, civic receptions, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride, and even a 21-gun salute to Queen Elizabeth in 1997.

Your Invitation to a District That Earned Its Place

The Blackfriars District is one of London’s best comeback stories. It’s a lesson in grit… and proof that the most interesting places are often the ones that had to fight the hardest to survive.

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of puns.

The Blackfriars District, with its elevated bicycle path, is just one of the many amazing things I’ve found while exploring London on my bicycle. But there’s sooo much more to discover.

Come see for yourself.

Small groups, big laughs, and zero chance of being swallowed in a flood. I help curious folks like you discover the best parts of London – from the seat of my bicycle, of course.

Click here to learn more about my tours!

[4-minute read time]

You normally wouldn’t expect to find a noted archaeological site at the end of a quiet suburban street, but that’s exactly what you’ll find in London, Canada.

In the north end of the city are two significant historical treasures: The Museum of Ontario Archaeology, along with the adjacent Lawson Site.

Here you will find the remains of a bustling, fortified 16th-century village, a place where nearly 2,000 people once lived, 500 years ago.

From Pre-European Contact to Subdivision

Imagine it’s the year 1500.

Well over a century before Europeans ever made it this far into the North American wilderness, the Attawandaron (Neutral Iroquoian) people had already built a thriving settlement on a plateau overlooking the confluence of the Medway River and Snake Creek.

And this was no temporary camp. It was a heavily fortified settlement, a pre-European contact masterpiece of urban planning and defense.

It was surrounded by a series of palisade walls, earthworks, and maze-like entrances designed to keep enemies out.

Inside, the remains of at least 39 longhouses were discovered, each a home to multiple families.

The inhabitants were master farmers, who cultivated the “Three Sisters” – corn, beans, and squash – in the fertile fields outside their walls.

But they were also sophisticated traders, craftspeople, and hunters. Over 500,000 artifacts have been recovered from the site, telling a vivid story of daily life.

Aspect of Life	Evidence Found at the Lawson Site
Food & Agriculture	Carbonized corn, beans, and squash seeds; evidence of cultivated fields.
Hunting & Tools	Projectile points for arrows/darts; stone drill bits for crafting.
Art & Craftsmanship	Intricately carved pipes; beads made of bone, shell, and stone; bone needles for sewing.
Trade & Connection	Materials sourced from as far as the Atlantic seaboard and Lake Superior.
Home & Defense	Post molds from 39+ longhouses; evidence of complex palisade walls and earthworks.

The Museum now has Virtual Reality

The Museum of Ontario Archaeology is dedicated to the study and interpretation of over 11,000 years of human history in Ontario.

In addition to traditional exhibits, you can now step into their VRchaeology lab, where you will be immersed in a reconstructed 16th-century longhouse through virtual reality, a truly cutting-edge way to walk in the footsteps of the past.

But how did this all come to be?

In the late 1960s, local archaeologist Wilfrid Jury convinced property owner Colonel Tom Lawson to donate a portion of his property (on which this archaeological site was located) to the University of Western Ontario, ensuring it was saved from development and preserved for generations to come.

The Lawson Site was the first archaeological site in Ontario to be placed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

So, the next time you’re in North London, come in for a closer look.

The Lawson Site is a powerful reminder that you don’t have to travel far to find world-class history. Sometimes, the greatest adventures are buried right in your own backyard.

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Hi. I’m Lawrence – bicycle tour guide, storyteller, and lover of puns.

This 500-year-old village is just one of the many things I’ve come across while exploring London on my bicycle. But there’s sooo much more to see.

Why not come along for a ride? I help inquisitive folks learn about the best parts of London – from my bicycle seat, of course.

Click here to learn more about my tours!