Friday Feature, Cycling in the Park

My, this week has gone quickly, the session 1 kids have left and we get session 2 kids on Sunday, for another 3 weeks of art and farm and fun. Should be good! For today’s image though we are in London, and Hyde Park specifically. When I visited London in late march I had my velocampus bike with me, so of course I used it and didn’t take the tube. I was estimating I was riding 25-30 miles a day for 3 days around London. It was an amazing experience and for the most part quite pleasant, I got kind of lost twice and once at night had to use the London Eye to get me back on track (that’s another story). I think the worst bit of cycling is around Westminster, I wouldn’t even drive in that area, its really bad but I did it I think 6+ times while I was there and no injuries or even yells out the window, so guess I did something right. However I must say doing it at night when its wet was I think the scariest moment of my life, even with plenty of lights and a nice reflective vest. The normal drivers are fine; it’s the cabbies and the lorry drivers you need to watch out for. Anyway back to the image, I got in late actually for the first night (came from Portsmouth), and I was staying with a friend, I cycled this path at around 9pm, it was quite dark, yes I cycled through Hyde Park in the dark, and the world didn’t end. Nevertheless I revisited this as a nice off-road shortcut (not really a shortcut, it just looks nicer) from central London to Notting Hill, yes, that Notting hill, where my friend lives. While this is not an amazing path it is a nice raised cycle path, physically separated from both cars and pedestrians. The picture shows one of the crossings along this rout as well. It is also very much used, I passed by here 3 times I believe and I always saw usually 10+ other cyclists in the 3 minutes I was on the path, the road is a little heavily travelled, but the speeds are slow and the separation gives that safety. The road splits the edge of Hyde Park, bordering Kensington Gardens on the west and is called West Carriage Drive. Or The Ring (according to the google)


Google Map
Sustrans Map
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