Wednesday 22 June 2016

London, my London

London’s roads resemble the branches of a crooked tree. They bend and twist whimsically, creating cul-de-sacs and one way streets all over the city. They are as beautiful as they are maddening. Luckily the road I choose today for my latest bicycle adventure is as straight as it is London-y possible.

Southampton Row starts just north of Holborn tube station, in London’s West End. However, it changes names along the way. This is a constant motif as I cycle down Great Queen St. and turn left onto Kingsway, Southampton Row’s first mutation.

As I leave tourist-magnet Covent Garden behind, I also notice that there is another pattern that keeps repeating itself wherever I go in London: parking spaces for bicycles or the lack of them thereof. The majority are exposed to the elements. It is as if all the recent pro-cycling publicity has focused more on getting people to saddle up than on creating welcoming and sheltered places for bicycles. Once again, our continental friends are blazing the trail. In Holland most cycle shelters have roofs and are designed in a way that looks inviting and appealing for still-undecided would-be cyclists. In London by contrast, bike sheds (usually just racks) are installed – if they are – as an after-thought. Today I see evidence of this everywhere. I spend about half an hour in Covent Garden's Piazza and not once do I see a bicycle park, not even the typical sturdy, thick, metallic racks to which I can chain my two-wheeler.

It is a similar situation once I get on Southampton Row. The only sheltered bicycle-dedicated space I find is at Euston Station. Before I get to this transport hub, though, made up of railway connections, a tube station and a bus depot, Southampton Row changes names five times: Russell Square (central London’s second largest square and almost opposite the British Museum), Woburn Place, Tavistock Square (with a well-known statue and bust, the former of Mahatma Gandhi and the latter of Bloomsbury set author, Virginia Woolf), short-lived and Upper Woburn Place and Eversholt Street. It is here on the corner of what one of the green signs calls the A200 and Euston Road that the neo-classical St Pancras New Church looms over the passing traffic ominously.


St Pancras New Church: imposing and awe-inspiring

As I cycle on, I am also reminded of the terrible event that took place on this road eleven years ago, almost to the day. It was here that the number 30 bus exploded when terrorists attacked London on 7th July 2005.  I shudder slightly at the thought of the tragedy.

The reason why I am undertaking this trip is mainly because I am interested in long, straight roads in London. The variety of neighbourhoods they traverse through provides a wealth of history and culture. Already I have gone from pretty, postcard-perfect Covent Garden, through well-off Tavistock Square to what now has become an urban three-branch crooked tree on Camden High Street. Straight on lies my final destination, Hampstead; if I were to take the road in the middle, however, that would bring me up to NW5, Kentish Town. Choose the one on my right, on Camden Road and I will end up in Victorian-era Finsbury Park.  I carry on up Camden High Street. As I head further up the scenery changes as well as the name of the road. I am now entering much posher and bohemian territory and the houses and surroundings bear witness to that. It is also the first time that the road has actually curved. The northwest-bound bend is noticeable because it announces ascent. I switch gears swiftly and remove my jumper. The early spring-morning chill has given way to a noon-time hot sun with not a cloud in sight.

I arrive at Belsize Park tube station and dismount. I park my bike nearby (again, no shelter) and I am amused that by the time I return my bicycle has struck up a rather “overfriendly” relationship with a woman-framed bike. I cannot leave it alone, my two-wheeler. It immediately starts chatting other bikes up.


My bike (left) being "friendly"

I have a soft spot for Hampstead Village. I love their narrow, hilly streets, with cul-de-sacs and lanes leading off Rosslyn Hill and Hampstead High Street. The area has a lot of character, probably one of the reasons why it is so pricey. There are still lots of independent shops and one of them is Daunt Books, a two-store chain with one branch here and the other one in the Heath, on South End Road.

What I have learnt, as I continue to tour around London on my bike, is that the effect of our surroundings (whatever they are, mere objects or historical places) does not have a meaning in itself. We, humans, we, amateur architects, design and build them into memories, beautiful and long-lasting, un-Instagrammed moments. That is the last thought in my mind as I saddle up and disappear down one of the branches of this urban crooked tree we call London.



© 2016

Next Post: “Saturday Evenings: Stay In, Sit Up and Switch On”, to be published on Saturday 25th June at 6pm (GMT)

16 comments:

  1. That is true, without the affects we have on them they'd just be empty shells.

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  2. Hard to believe that terrorist attack took place so long ago. It seems like it happened yesterday.

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  3. I do love travelling with you.
    And cyclists are a tough breed. Which urban planners rely on.

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  4. Bien parece que estás disfrutando del principio del verano con estos recorridos que realizas en bicicleta, que puedas seguir admirando estas calles y disfrutando de ellas.
    Un abrazo.

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  5. Enjoyed reading about your latest trip. I have noticed cycle racks being installed in my area - to date I have seen just one person using it. In which case - where are the others that I see cycling on the roads.

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  6. An interesting construct - do surroundings have meaning? Not in themselves, any more than a cup of coffee has meaning, but we invest in surroundings (and coffee) and give them our own meanings. (This feels like the beginning of a philosophy, might need coffee to think about it!)

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  7. I enjoyed this lovely description of cycling along the varied roads in London and am wondering if the flooding I see on the news is anywhere on your route. Or maybe that was London, Ontario on the news? Got a smile out of your bike chatting up the ladies. LOL.

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  8. I love these two photos - they show me another softer side of London.

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  9. My daughter is now married to an English man so I have brand new family in England. But not in London. :(

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  10. Thanks for taking us along on your ride. Funny how your bike 'chats up' other bikes. I was hoping you would post about the vote yesterday. It is maddening that the news here in the US is not reporting on it!! I must go find out the results now...

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  11. I remember that attack! I enjoy your exploring trips and now am curious as to your take on the EU vote.

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  12. I love your photos, and especially so because they are in B&W. Gives them so much more character, if you know what I mean.

    Doesn't it drive you nuts when a road keeps changing names? We have quite a few roads here that do the same thing... on one side of an intersection, it has one name, and on the other, it has another. Very annoying for a directionally-challenged person like me.

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  13. These photos make me want to visit London someday...

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  14. London is like a crooked tree. I hope all is okay with you--pretty tempestuous events now, and the one you mention of course, the subway bombing. Awful. Take care, k.

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  15. I love the pictures and someday I too will visit London.

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  16. A nod to history and the changes that cities see or don't...Greetings!

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