Route Advise - Liverpool St to Paddington

[Leescfc79]

Hi,

Having a slight change of job in the next few weeks which will involve at least 1, possibly 2 days a week in London.

I'll be getting a train to Liverpool St and thought about using a Boris bike and cycling to Paddington instead of sitting on the tube, I'm a semi regular visitor to London but it usually involves cider and pub crawls so no idea of routes.

Could someone recommend me a pleasant (if possible) route to take?

Thanks in advance.

 

[PK99]

i find the TFL cycle route planner works pretty well -

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/

 

[Pale Rider]

i find the TFL cycle route planner works pretty well -

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/

Or google maps for bikes.

That route looks reasonable to me, although you will no doubt find improvements to it if you do the journey regularly.

 

[alicat]

Good luck finding a Boris bike in rush hour.

 

[Leescfc79]

Good luck finding a Boris bike in rush hour.

That's was my next question!

 

[mjr]

The OpenBikeSharing app covers London and yes, there really are bikes available in rush hour, although not all docks all the time. I'd head for the cluster of docks to the north-west starting with Sun Street and the route I'd take is http://cycle.travel/map/journey/18801 but you're pushing it to get that done in one go with the no-extra-charge 30 minutes.

Disclaimer: I usually arrive at King's Cross these days, so I've not ridden the Sun Street to Pakenham Street section very recently and London is changing fast for cycling lately!

 

[alicat]

Sound advice from @mjray. I gave up on Boris bikes after a couple of scares having trouble dropping them off at Euston when I needed to catch a specific train. Good news that there is now a Smartphone app.

 

[yogi533163]

I commute from L'pool street to various locations in town. Pick up a Boris bike from London Wall.
Head west on London wall. TL Old broad St. TR Threadneedle St, follow Queen Victoria St to Blackfriars. TR onto Embankment. TR Northumberland Ave. The Mall. Constitutional Hill, Hyde Park Corner into Hyde Park on the Cycle park going north along the east side of the park, speakers corner, follow over Bayswater road into Connaught Square. TL Connaught St, TR Hyde park St, Hyde park Cres, southwick st, star st, Norfolk Place, Praed St. Paddington.
When I rode this I was guided from Baywaters road by another friendly cyclist.
Took about 25mins
Good luck Ian

 

[Leescfc79]

Perfect, thanks @yogi533163

 

[mjr]

Thanks for the alternative route. The Embankment/Mall/Hyde Park route is probably faster and easier, but I've not ridden it for over a year and there have been many changes. A small question and a couple of notes about the bit I do know:

Head west on London wall. TL Old broad St.

Old Broad Street is at the east end of London Wall, so is that correct? TR from London Wall from Old Broad Street was a prohibited turn last I saw, too.

...into Connaught Square. TL Connaught St, TR Hyde park St, Hyde park Cres,

You can turn right from Connaught St just after a zebra crossing into Titchborne Row for a more direct route to Hyde Park Crescent. Motorists cannot and it's a drop-kerb with cycle signs, so doing so may surprise motorists.

southwick st, star st, Norfolk Place, Praed St. Paddington.

Remember to turn right at the lights before Paddington to reach the hire docks.

 

[rugby bloke]

I don't have anything to add about the route but my experience as a regular Boris Bike user over the last few years is that finding a bike is no problem. Finding an empty docking station at the other end can sometimes be an issue, so have a few alternatives to mind.

 

[Brains]

I don't have anything to add about the route but my experience as a regular Boris Bike user over the last few years is that finding a bike is no problem. Finding an empty docking station at the other end can sometimes be an issue, so have a few alternatives to mind.

The solution is the free Santander bike app to download onto your smart phone that gives you the location of all the Boris Bike stanbs and an almost live update of the number bikes and spaces in each.

It means you go to a stand with bikes, and drop off in one with spaces; every time

 

[mjr]

It means you go to a stand with bikes, and drop off in one with spaces; every time

Just like you can with the Open Bike Sharing app, which also works in Bath, Belfast, Berlin, Bangkok and plenty of other places whether they begin with B or not.

And unlike the Santander app, you can check how it works and that it's not snooping on everything you do on your phone for the CIA or whoever.

 

[Brains]

Just like you can with the Open Bike Sharing app, which also works in Bath, Belfast, Berlin, Bangkok and plenty of other places whether they begin with B or not.

And unlike the Santander app, you can check how it works and that it's not snooping on everything you do on your phone for the CIA or whoever.

Santander don't seem to make use of the app data (yet .....)

The CIA (and MI5) know exactly where you have been since around 2010. Every phone is location tracked all the time (more publicly, there are number of commercial operations who do the same thing with planes, ships and trucks, and have the date for all of them, back 5 years or more, it's basically the same software)
And to think they have not hacked all the apps is naive.