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eah because obviously London is the only place with those things? Have you ever been to Manchester (not where I live btw) - has the buzzing diverse culture
To be fair though, there is no city in the UK anything like as 'buzzing and diverse' as London. Local people will always say things like this about Nottingham (where I live), Manchester, Birmingham etc etc. But it isn't the same.
For example, take art, London just has 20 times as many galleries, the competition means that the work shown there is of a much higher quality (and if something is not to your taste, it doesn't matter, because there's 5 other galleries in walking distance). In provincial cities, we get a few of the touring exhibitions after they've been to London, and a load of not very good quality local stuff. Similarly, restaurants, there are one or two good restaurants, but there isn't the competition that there is in London, so the good ones are way more expensive, and there are a lot of really quite expensive places here that just wow people with fancy rooms and serve pretty boring food - it is way more expensive to get a good meal outside London.
In terms of London and riding - there is good riding south of London, quite a lot of people travel from north London to go south. There is some riding north of London, but no-one from south London travels to ride there ever, which kind of gives you a clue as to what it's like.
Joe
How many times do ppl living in London actually visit an art exhibition or go to a top restaurant though? Most ppl I know who live in London mainly stick to their little area, so might as well be living in a medium sized town anyway.
BTW I think Manchester has more than one or two good restaurants, and plenty of interesting arty things going on. Granted if you want to see the latest big exhibition by the dutch masters or something, you probably want to be in London. Personally, the vast majority of the time, I'd rather be here...
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North or South Downs from North London is no problem at all, I'm quite happy riding from E17 to Waterloo or London Bridge for a 5 or 6 hour North or South Downs ride when the days are longer, rest of the time I'm tending to just ride Epping.
Have you ever been to Manchester
Yes, unfortunately. Not an experience I wish to ever repeat...
I might be imagining it, but there seems to be an awful lot of defensiveness emanating from the southern end of this discussion
Yes, you are imagining it. People are merely responding to crass comments, made by people who don't really have a clue about London, tbh. And, we're actually trying to be helpful to the OP, as I've already said. Your comments have added bugger all to the 'discussion'. All you've done is moaned.
stop getting your knickers in a twist
I'm not wearing any. Maybe I'll go and slip something frilly on, just for you. 😉
Grumm; I can understand that. I get exactly the same buzz from travelling around in London.
As for riding in the South; my experience is that there are loads of really nice people, who are more than happy to hitch up for a ride, down here. I've met quite a few, and always have a great time. I spect it's like that everywhere, really.
It's what you make it. You can have a bimble along a bridle path, and enjoy yourself just as much as someone in the Lakes, or Scotland, or anywhere. All about attitude.
How many times do ppl living in London actually visit an art exhibition or go to a top restaurant though? Most ppl I know who live in London mainly stick to their little area, so might as well be living in a medium sized town anyway.
Maybe I'm biased, as art stuff is kind of work related, and eating things is a bit of a hobby. But even before I was doing art related stuff, I went to quite a few smaller but still good art galleries, which is where outside London really misses out.
I also ate out most weeks, often just somewhere local - but living near Tooting, the local cheap Indian food for tenner a head was far better than the £40 a head posh Indian food you get up here in Nottingham, similarly, if I went into town for a £25 a head meal, it'd be better than anything up here except possibly the £100 a head Sat Bains that I've not gone to. That's the thing really, you don't have to go to 'top restaurants' to make the best out of London, as cheap restaurants there are often pretty good.
It's a fair point that a lot of the stuff people go on about in London, they rarely actually do, like go to the theatre, go to gigs etc. but food and art are the big things I miss.
Joe
Second you joe on the food front, I miss sushi, vietnamese and decent chinese. Bristol is lamer than lame on that front (decent European / UK stuff though).
I had to move from London as I was getting panic attacks - lol. Paranoia on the way to work etc - gulp
Oh and you can get rapha to send you your kit by cycle courier on a Friday afternoon, what could make anywhere btter than London with that kind of service eh ;0)
Loads to do and loads of riding without having to drive to it which is nice, not being a driver and living in London gives me quick access to way more trails than I ever had living up North.
I might be imagining it, but there seems to be an awful lot of defensiveness emanating from the southern end of this discussion
Yes, you are imagining it. People are merely responding to crass comments, made by people who don't really have a clue about London, tbh. And, we're actually trying to be helpful to the OP, as I've already said. Your comments have added bugger all to the 'discussion'. All you've done is moaned.
Sorry mate, I'll butt out and leave you to warble on endlessly about how wonderful London life is, innit. And the trails is great. I 'spect its like that all over innit geezer but it aint about the riding iss all about the brainwashin' and what the diesel particulates and the Babylonians is doing to me 'ead innit. Cos like I is a right fierce little geezer and... etc ad nauseum.
Enjoy your crap trails and your delusions of grandeur 😉
Calm down dear, it's just an internet forum!
Enjoy your crap trails and your delusions of grandeur
Thanks, I will!
Now, where's my Napoleon outfit...?
You'll be fine, spent a few hours out at Swinley today, snowy and muddy and cold but lots of fun, even some nice little technical trails.
Once you know your way around the trains you do have a lot of options, plus make some friends and you can easily go away for weekends in Wales/Lakes etc.
Or just had mad fun with Jedi, keep on meaning to go an play there but never really manage to find the time and with twins on the way trying to play it safe.
To the OP - I've lived in Wood Green and currently live near Potters Bar - if riding's important to you then living out of town is definitely the right move. I get to do loads more now I've moved to the suburbs.
There's plenty of nice native woodland singletrack close to PB, Hatfield too probably. And as others have mentioned, you've got Epping (great when dry/frozen), Swinley and other places within easy reach.
You'll still be able to get out on the bike and have fun - but just don't expect anything like the Dales in terms of size, elevation and remoteness.
Happy to show you round too. See what a friendly and welcoming lot us southerners are 😉
I'm in SW London. Riding is good for me, 30 mins train ride from the North Downs - some of the finest singletrack you'll find anywhere, if you know where to go. Then a couple of hours in the car I can hit the Welsh border with a great choice of trail centres. I'm happy enough.
Personally, the vast majority of the time, I'd rather be here...
but how many people in manchester go there though? i expect like most londoners they prefer to sit and watch crap T.V. go to the pub or shop for tat in a shopping center and think a pizza-hut meal is a sophisticated meal.
Can you get two-for-one in Pizza Hut in Manchester?
I don't know cos I don't live in Manchester! I live in Lancaster, which while not the most cosmopolitan city in the world, is pretty pleasant and has cinemas and restaurants and everything! And its about half an hour (on a good day) from Stavely in the Lakes.
Although SofB does live here too apparently!
You'll be fine. There's plenty of stuff to down here. Woburn, Chicksands & Ahsridge (Northern part of the Ridgeway) are all on you doorstep.
And you'll have easy access to plenty of other ares.
If you get all competative we have a great road racing scene down here, with closed road races twice a week in Milton Keynes.
We have the Central CX series.
For MTB racing there's the FNSS, the Summit Series and further south the Gorrick series.
In between there are plenty of Audax's Audi? and Reliability trials.
And shed loads of both forma and informal groups.
It's a nice.
you can get by, but i will bet that given any free time you will want to pack up the car and go and ride somewhere 'proper'