After a busy Saturday and Sunday of the Mayday Bank Holiday weekend, on the Monday we managed to sneak in a cycle ride. It wasn't until the afternoon though that we left home and headed towards what seemed a busier-than-usual Greenwich Park. Infact it was so busy as we left the park and headed for the one-way system and the Greenwich foot tunnel that my bell got stuck in the on position as I was dinging it so much at pedestrians as they sauntered across and along the road.
That was relatively stressful (and more stressful than it should have been) but on the one way system one lady just stepped out into the road with her buggy right in front of MOH, who did well to avoid her and the buggy and stay on his bike. She was clearly in a hurry as the traffic lights were green and the traffic was moving albeit slowly. It's one thing I don't get about buggy's and crossing roads and that's that mum's often a buggy length behind the traffic... Well with the stress levels rising we were glad to get to the foot tunnel, through the river and out the other side. A quick cycle later and we had a brief stop at MOH's office before deciding that it would be a good move to avoid a busy Greenwich on the way home.
This meant a change of plan as we'd intended to stop there for food on the way back. But we're resourceful souls and as we'd decided to use the Woolwich foot tunnel on our way back south instead, we decided to stop off at Trinity Buoy Wharf and see if either the Bow Creek Cafe or FatBoy's Diner was open and willing to serve us. And as we'd already tried the cafe, our first choice this time was the Diner.
Before locking the bikes up MOH was despatched to find out if they were open and still serving and if they took cards. The answer to all three questions was yes, so we padlocked our bikes and slid into our booth. The diner was pretty empty, but then again it was nearly five in the afternoon by now - although another couple had arrived just before us, so it wasn't completely empty.
On each of the four tables there was a Consolette which added to the Diner feel. I'm not convinced they worked, but they were a nice touch.
Also on each of the tables was a bowl for the condiments made from a melted record. I remember doing this as a kid - melting the records under the grill until they were pliable, moulding them and then leaving them to "set" - for MOH (a not-so-secret record buff) this was sacrosanct! But for me it was a lovely memory.
We ordered our food - we went for the Original FatBoy's burger and fries - what else? And as we waited for it to be cooked, we admired our surroundings and I took a few photos... This was my view:
And this was MOH's - the red ship is the Trinity Light Ship, that's a lighthouse on a ship. That's the cable car that you can see in the background too, which goes from North Greenwich and the O2 towards The Royal Docks and the Excel centre.
Our soft drinks arrived - well we were cycling - shortly followed by our burgers. After a bite or two I remembered I was going to photograph it...
Ah, well better a couple of bites gone than no photo at all!
It was a good burger - the Original FatBoy is "two patties with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles & house sauce" for £6 and with fries on the side for £7. Well it was a bargain, so yeah fries on the side please! For more information see their website.
We definitely need to go back and try the milkshakes, and perhaps another burger... And fries!
As we cycled off, I spotted an unusual view of the O2 which made me smile - it's not often that you see it caged!
And then it was off towards the Woolwich Foot Tunnel, which after our previous trip (see Cycle Routes: March) we found at the first attempt! And our almost 20km cycle surely helped work off some of that burger...
