Riding the gutter of the London A to Z

I arrived at London Euston with some high expectations of the cycle friendliness of the mean streets of the Capital. So with A to Z in bum pocket I headed south in the general direction of my hotel in Drury Lane.

My first impressions were pleasing. There was next to no traffic due to the congestion charge and there were nice, wide and well surfaced bike lanes. If I had one critisism, it was that there is nearly a complete absence of road signs. I soon found myself lost in the one way system and disoriented by the fact that there was a Pret a Manger on every street corner. So after going round in circles a few times on the ring road, I arrived at my hostelry.

Bike parking in the covent garden area was convenient and, due to it being in the theatre and opera district, relatively safe. I left my bike overnight and it was unscathed when I came back the next morning.

Once I found my bearings and got a sense of the scale of the city, getting around was a doddle. In one afternoon I got around Soho, Trafalgar Square, The City, St Pauls, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge and Tower of London. London is fairly flat and I only found myself breaking into a sweat on the way to Camden.

All in all it was much better and felt safer than my native Liverpool. I can't wait to zip around those dusty, grimy streets again.

Top marks for Virgin trains as well.