June 16, 2004
Rolling Cycle Route
In a cycle routes book for London that I have, it describes the Barking Line, run by Silverlink Trains, as a Rolling Cycle Route.
This is a fine description, not least because this railway (the North London line and Barking line between them) gives excellent rapid access to a vast swathe of London (requires flash) from Kew in the south west through Holloway in the north, across to Woolwich and Barking in the east.
But it also makes the carrying of bicycles a real pleasure - it seems to positively encourage it. In the carriage I sat down on a bench seat, after leaning my bike against the exit doors, and wondered what these straps, hanging from the seat , were for. Then I realised that the bench seat I was sitting on would tip up, that at the two ends of this one-third section of the carriage there were bicycle wheel holders and that the straps were to secure the bikes from falling over. We quickly put our bikes out of the way of the exit doors and in these excellent facilities and had an easy and trouble free journey around to Holloway.
Compared to taking bikes on Virgin trains or the tube Met line, this was pure convenience. Its often odd to note where you find excellent cycle facilities - there seems to be no consistency, rhyme or reason!
Posted by tom at June 16, 2004 11:11 AM | TrackBack