Cycle Ways: The Thames and Beyond

So far, you have seen the wonders that are the trip from my house to the Thames. From now on, you'll see the North London streets that make up "The Square Mile" (The square mile of London that is the original city back in the baby days of the city)

Here's the view over the bridge, from South to North London:

I cycle over Southwark Bridge, which is between Blackfriars Bridge (to the left) and London Bridge (to the right). I actually really love Southwark Bridge, it might just be my favourite. The reason is that nobody ever seems to use it. It's not very well known, and sometimes in the evening you can be the only person walking over the bridge and looking out over London. I love it.

Here's the view looking to the left of the bridge, you can see St Paul's Cathedral peeking out.

Here's the view to my direct left:



And here's where I felt like a bit of a tourist with other morning commuter cyclists having to swerve around me... The view to the right with Tower Bridge in the background and Canary Wharf to the left in the far background.:



Past the bridge and properly into the square mile, this is the Bank / St. Paul's area of London. Banks Galore! When the G20 was here and there were riots, this area was cordenned off in case of trouble.



Stood at the cyclists / pedestrian crossing looking left towards St. Paul's. See it in the background there? I always use the clock to see if I'm running on time :)



Up on over the crossing, and we're cycling right in the middle of suit-man city. It's difficult at times not to accidentally run one over (because, of course, they always assume that YOU will stop for THEM, because they're wearing a suit and they're very very impotant, don't you know!)

Up ahead the white building is Guildhall.



After that, we ride around a couple of small streets and wend our way onto Moorgate: (Looking North on Moorgate)



And looking back towards Bank...



This is usually a pretty busy road and I have to keep my wits about me, so I didn't take any pictures on this one, I'm afraid. I thought you'd appreciate me being alive to write this post (not really mom, hehe!) Just this one:



Almost there, guys! Just a couple small roads to go, this is the easy part. We make sure to avoid Old Street roundabout, because going through there would just be crazy! So we take the back roads that no-one seems to know about.



One more little crossing. I don't know if they have them in the States, but in London some pedestrian crossings are also used by cyclists.



Here's the road that my work is on - a little courtyard that you can't quite see on the left.



This is a I'm-tired-just-arrived-at-work-need-to-take-a-shower-but-do-this-real-quick-first picture of the courtyard that I work in.



Here is the front door of where I work - looks diddy, doesn't it?



And a sneaky picture of my bike parked up out front:



Well thanks for joining me on this journey through London... hope you enjoyed it!

Soundtrack to this post: Kate Nash and Brigitte Aphrodite

Cycle ways

So this post is mainly for Allison, to show her my route to work on my bike.

Here goes...

Here's my front door with my bike in front of it. I am in love with my bike, it's a nice little Sit-Up-And-Beg (that's really what they call it) Dutchie bike. It's imported directly from Holland and my oh my do I love it! I feel like I'm floating above all the traffic and enjoying a leisurely cycle wherever I go. I'm excited about the day that I can afford a lovely basket to go on the front.

This is my road. Pretty, quiet and leafy. So here is where start on our daily journey to central London. You got your helmet on?



Here I am at a traffic light. It doesn't look like it, but this hill is a bit of a killer on the way in to work on a morning. FYI, Sainsbury's is just on the left.

You having fun yet?



...And this is from the top of the hill. See that guy walking up with his bike? That happens a lot.



And here's the hill down again. Fun in the morning, no so much fun coming up again. This hill is the main reason that I have lost a stone in weight since cycling to work.



So I am now realising how long this will take if I show all the pictures, so I'm gonna start being a little more discerning. Let's just say there are lots of cute small roads that look very Londony.

This is a park that I ride through. This is the park looking very very messy, post festival. But hey, that just adds to the London feel, right?



Naughty park! Being so dirty the day that I take a picture of you!



London houses and London streets



Pretty churches...



This is the first leg of my journey through South London - I now cross over the bridge and take you on a journey through the City and onto Old Street.

But you'll just have to wait for the next exciting leg of my journey...

(Read: This took a really long time and I'm missing out on the sun outside so I'll continue later)

Saving the earth the fun way

I am not a sporty kinda girl. I avoid sport and exercise like crazy. But recently, I have been able to lose weight and not even have to think about it. In fact, I'm eating MORE food and MORE chocolate than I ever have!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

After we got back from our honeymoon, I decided to tackle the problem that was my travel to work. We had moved to a beautiful new apartment with two bedrooms and a small outdoor space - we love it! The problem was, the trip to work became a nightmare. There was no easy way to get there, no easy route. On average it would take an hour and a half! And I only live six miles away! That is insane! My mood would slowly deteriorate and I started to dread the long haul home.

My colleague then presented a solution to me. Riding a bike! And oh people, this has changed my life. It no longer takes an hour and a half, but a mere 40 minutes to get there! And I have lost so much weight already, without even trying.

My friend was kind enough to lend me her bike for the past 6 weeks, and then something horrible happened - the bike got stolen out of the bike shed at work, where I had left it overnight. Oh dear. You can imagine my devastation.

But - to think on the bright side, it was quite an old bike, and now... NOW! I introduce my new Dutchie:

I'm going to go pick it up tonight, and I could not be more excited! It is originally from Holland and made in the traditional 'sit up and beg' style. The point is that you can wear whatever you want and be sat in the upright position on your cycle to work. Plus, it's very pretty.

So, if you are able - I highly recommend cycling to work. It knocks off so much commuter time, frees your mind from the constraints of modern society and my oh my it helps your figure! Just think of all those extra M & M's you could be eating.