Our Lantern Ride. A tribute to our past and celebration of our future

On Thursday 21 May 2026, our relaunched cycling club held its inaugural ride from Bitton Station to Electric Bear Brewing in Bath. A beautiful warm sunlit evening bimble just under 25km there and back again with some beautiful craft beer or exceptional soft drinks in between. 

Our original club held annual Lantern Rides  going back as far as 1891 before closing after the end of the Great War sometime in 1918. These were an extremely common phenomenon with many Victorian cycling clubs - we have record that indicate lantern rides were held by our neighbours at Bristol Bicycle & Tricycle Club and there were Lantern Rides in Cheshire, Norfolk and beyond. 

Our Lantern Ride, like those of our Victorian forbears, saw every bike decorated with lights and flowers - though unlike our predecessors, we opted for LED lights rather than paper “lanterns of variegated hues”.