ft_critical wrote:The City of London is pretty much empty during the weekend. Flat with big bus lanes and traffic speeds of about 20-30kmh. Much, much, much how many more much's can I put, better than Sydney.
It sounds like you had a great time. I miss riding around London. You are right, it is so much easier and safer than Sydney. I never got hassled once in the 5 years that I lived there. People are patient and realise that getting around you or in front of two cars only makes about 10 seconds difference in their trip.
If you go again, which I hope you do, can I offer these suggestions.
1. You could do the ride from London to Brighton and catch the train back. Not a bad ride through the city in to country side and down to the sea.
2. You could go for a ride around Surrey, where I was living. It's got some great hills and quiet roads. You could do a circuit around Guildford, Shere, Peaslake, Abinger, Donsfold, Haslemere, Elstead and back to Guildford. You could easily take your bike on the train and it is about 40 mins from London Waterloo.
3. If you were feeling adventurous and had a long weekend, you could even take a trip over to Belgium/France. You can catch the train to Dover ( I wouldn't recommend the ride) and it costs £10 to catch the ferry with your bike across to Dunkerque. From there you can easily ride to Belgium and enjoy many Belgian beers. I particularly aimed for
the Sint Sixtus brewery as it is the only place that you can get the beers. Don't worry, you won't be the only one riding your bike to the cafe. There are many, young and old. You could then ride to Ypres, staying there and seeing the many historical World War sites. It's then a fairly easy ride back to the ferry in the next day or two.
ft_critical wrote: One thing I didn't consider was what to do with the cleaning of the bike at the appartment. It was like I had been to a cyclocross event. I was completely covered in mud. So I had to put the bike in the bath and wash it down. Yep that is right, in the bath.
There is so much crap that gets lifted up from the roads, especially during winter when the road grit goes down. I had a flouresent yellow jumper which is only yellow now.