Traffic in London. Bloody hell. I mean I know it’s normally bad, but this was ridiculous. Everywhere was basically gridlocked, cars jammed solid and cyclists, mopeds and motorbikes trying to find their way through the tiny gaps. Junctions were full of cars stranded on all the traffic light cycles, a complete mess. Took me about 90 mins to do 5-6 miles via a 15 min bike shop stop.

It was pretty harrowing actually – ended up making a few rash decisions myself and almost got taken out by a moped (when I was being careful).

Busy, wasn’t it? Mine wasn’t too bad, loads of traffic obviously, but generally people were behaving themselves. Probably took ten minutes longer than normal on 25-30 minutes. I was more annoyed by the 20-40mph southerlies that somehow turned into a headwind going North!

I went from Bankside to Edgeware Road, via a bike shop in Holborn which was jammed solid. I had to walk some of it on the pavement!

Canary wharf to London bridge wasn’t too bad tonight. Waterloo to cw this morning was bedlam though. Proper bedlam.

I should add I got in at 8pm it was no lighter.

Hit tower bridge at 5.30, the number of cyclists about was nuts

Saw a tweet this morning from someone who’d driven the 11 miles from Ilford to Oxford Circus. Took him 4hrs!

😯

I had a lovely walk from Clapham Junction to Earls Court this morning. Much better than the train.

I rarely venture into central London, and saw a lot of dubious behaviour by cyclists. All the motorists were impeccably behaved, albeit stationary 🙂

So London really needs the underground then?

Looks like talking to Bob Crow might be a good idea…

So glad I don’t live in London.

bizarrely when I left at 5 my 10 mile ride from near Euston to out past the M4 was quieter than usual in some places

which is weird as it was manic this morning
saw some very dodgy cycling and driving including tonight a guy in a Merc 4×4 going into meltdown at a busdriver who wouldnt let him overtake, chased hin to a set of lights to scream at the bus again and then had to cut through a line of traffic as hed got in the wrong lane just to shout at the bus

Bedlam! From the City to Holloway Road was pretty much gridlock for 4 miles.
There was a BMW X5 and a rather large lorry having a bit of an argy-bargy stand off at Essex Road Station lights (not sure if putting myself infront of them both was a good idea)… but other than that it wasn’t too bad for cyclists.
The wind didn’t help at all – you’d be cruising along at speed with the wind behind you then go through a junction and BANG down to a crawl into a head wind. Crazy.

quieter than usual in some places

when you get gridlock, junctions get blocked and you end up with stretches of eerily quite road.

So glad I don’t live in London.

Never a dull moment!

I decided cycling was going to be utterly bonkers today so got the train instead, south London to South west London. It was about the same as normal, I got a seat, I read a book about bees. Really rather pleasant.

I liked seeing pictures of people on horseback and penny farthings.

is there anything that’s not on the internet?

Bizarrely, coming in to west London (Isleworth) and going home again today the traffic was noticeably a fair bit lighter than usual. Maybe it was all stuck in the centre? Who knows…..? 😉

Waterloo to Camden today. A bit longer than normal on the Brompton but that was mostly getting through the traffic stuck at junctions. You’d have to be nuts to drive in London today. Gridlock in places.

The only issue was the headwind coming back over Waterloo bridge oh and of course the rain (did I have to even mention it!). Otherwise it was fine.

I dont get the logic process that goes:”tube strike, thousands of people making their way using other means, I know, I’ll drive!”

These strikes rarely effect me since a) Im only London on Mondays and for some strange reason Bob doesnt like to use the opportunity of a strike to take a long weekend, and b) I keep a bike at Paddington.

I’ve convinced my colleague to have a go at riding in London (he’s a MTBer from Dorking, so he should be able to handle the mean streets), so I think I’ll take my spare brompton in to him next week as a loaner to see how he fares 🙂

tube strike, thousands of people making their way using other means, I know, I’ll drive

or get a taxi… and sit in a jam on the meter for 10 minutes going nowhere then decide to walk instead, replaced by another punter who does the same.
friend of mine is a cabbie and apparently he’s raked it in today.

is there anything that’s not on the internet?

/Tries typing random thoughts in.

Nope.

Bizarrely, coming in to west London (Isleworth) and going home again today the traffic was noticeably a fair bit lighter than usual.

I think a lot of people worked from home if they could. Our office was only half full. The train in from Cardiff was practically deserted, never been on one so empty not even the late night ones.

Bloody London.

Meanwhile out in the country I had a 400 metre walk through knee deep water with the bike. And all the other nice to bike routes are starting to get flooded.

Sheep on the road delayed me about 2 seconds on the way to work here in Pembrokeshire.

Fooken insane today. Cycling, as hard as it was, was definitely the best option!!

I had a lovely walk back from shoreditch to waterloo, past lots of proper boozers that need investigation, and found some interesting back streets and markets under railway arches. Only problem was the pavement rage caused by the huge queues at every bus stop so noone could get past. Saw one bloke just shoulder barge his way through!

Unfortunately all the trains were screwed because of the weather so finally got home 3 1/2 hours later having stopped at every station from london to the coast. Happy days!

Didn’t notice much change in the traffic, far more pedestrians today though. Had a few clients complain that parking was a nightmare around cheapside (wtf- who actually drives into the city) but they are mostly weird anyway.

Glad I’m not the only person to notice that switch in wind direction- both ways into a headwind lead to a small sense of humour failure for me!

The traffic volume was mental. As said above, who chooses to drive on a Tube strike day? 😯

Riding in was def the best option and got in to work in usual time. Took it easy due to the volume of traffic and cyclists and really quite enjoyed it. Side winds were a bit “fun” in places tonight!

I drove to our office in Barnet, then took the northern line in to go to a meeting just off of Holborn. Had to get off at Tottenham Court Road, but it was no worse a journey than normal. Unfortunately the guy I was meeting was an hour late…….

I wasn’t really affected by the tube strike yesterday ’cause from Greenwich to London Bridge it’s about the only public transport option that’s not available anyway. My office was nearly empty though, and I decided to go home early because there were serious issues on the South Eastern trains due to a signalling failure and I thought rush hour would be chaos.

This morning there were definitely a lot more cyclists that usual, but the bus I used was quite a bit quieter than usual so I think a lot of people are avoiding London today after the chaos yesterday.

molgrips – Member
Traffic in London. Bloody hell. I mean I know it’s normally bad, but this was ridiculous. Everywhere was basically gridlocked, cars jammed solid……

Seemed to be worse this morning. Worst bit is all the myopic suicidal pedestrians.

This was my view on London Wall yesterday heading towards Liverpool Street. Pretty much sums it up!

5th February 2014 by -Cheesyfeet-, on Flickr

Glad I decided to WFH for a couple of days!

Was pretty hectic as I strolled over to the village shop for a pint of milk and the paper this morning, though, I can tell you! 🙂

is there anything that’s not on the internet?

Not only that, but….

Rule 34.

Took about 15 minutes longer than usual mainly due to the logjam through Clapham. Everybody well behaved, except the cyclist who saw someone getting on to the pavement and shouted at her to get off the bike.

Took the opportunity to ask him who made him Pope, as I cycled past…

Shhhh… it was the

Owe dare dare… diddums.

So you lot encountered a bit of traffic in London, awe such a worrysome thing, such.

Dunno what you expect, cycling in London is always filled with moments of butt clenching terror even on the most quiet of days, at least all the traffic yesterday was going nowhere fast at all.

I’m tempted to say MTFU but really I just mean enjoy the ride.. 🙄

Does nobody feed the trolls on this forum any more? It been 15 minutes!?!!

100% agree, yesterday was actually manic, nothing moving, very slow, stupid pedestrians, girlfriend got doored.

Today was a bit better actually.

I’ll oblige.

cycling in London is always filled with moments of butt clenching terror

[quote]I’m tempted to say MTFU[/quote]

sounds like you need a taste of your own medicine.

It seems like the car in the circle is the only one on the correct side of the central reservation. Not sure why it needs to be in the fast lane though. 😛