advice needed SW and capital connect trains and cycling in London

[gemsno4]

I need to be at a hotel about 7 miles outside Cambridge at the weekend. Having looked at driving or train/taxi combo I suddening thought why don't I take my bike. So what I need to know:

I. I will get the train from Southampton to Waterloo then Kings X to Camb on Saturday return on sunday. Both operators say I don't need to book a bike space is that right and am I likely to find the bike spaces full?

2. I only usually cycle quiet city backroads. So what route would you recommend for getting from waterloo to kings cross? I don't know london well and am seriously put off by some of the posts on here about bridges in london.

Thanks for any advice you may be able to give

 

[davidg]

I'd go over waterloo bridge, straight over the strand and use Dury Lane (a bit quieter than some of the bigger roads), up through Montegue street just to the west of Soton Way and you will be just about there...

sorry I dont know how to plot a route and then save it for you...

the bridges are the end of the world but if you are not used to riding in a city centre, it will be an eye opener for you...

just be careful (always assume the worse re parked cars, and cars turning left right or onto your way and you will be fine!

it really isnt that bad...you just need to build up confidence

 

[gemsno4]

thanks david thats great I will look up that route. I work sometimes in the strand so i know that route. Hopefully it is quieter at the weekend! I am experienced cycling in traffic, just that london traffic is a law unto itself it seems

 

[gaz]

i doubt there will be many bikes on the train at the weekend!

 

[skrx]

1. Near to London the spaces may be used at the weekends (especially with families), but the guards don't seem to care so long as gangways aren't completely blocked. You'll have a spaceas you're boarding at Southampton.

2. Here (Waterloo to King's Cross) are some suggestions for routes. I suggest more-or-less following the yellow ("balanced") route. There are blue cycle route signs to King's Cross for the last bit, it's a bit wiggly but easier than following a map or remembering street names, and so short the wiggliness doesn't really matter.
(The blue routes on that map are signed cycle routes, but I think there are additional signs that aren't 'routes'.)

Presumably if you use Waterloo regularly you know the way out of the station. Sutton Walk / Belvedere Road / the bridge avoids the gyratory.

There are loads of cyclists in central London, car and bus drivers will be used to them.

 

[HaloJ]

My commute route goes past Kings Cross using Blackfriars Bridge. Well provisioned with cycle and bus lanes and quite direct.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...1.533576,-0.117288&spn=0.012894,0.027595&z=15

 

[Chamfus Flange]

Hope it all goes well for you. When you're done tell us how it went. I'd be interested as I regularly visit London but not on a bike as I'm wary of the traffic.

 

[HaloJ]

London is fine really. If you ride timidly though it would be an awful experience. Exert your road pressence and don't be bullied by the cab drivers (the ones not in black cabs.) Oh and beware the bloody pot holes, although by the sound of things the potholes are an issue country wide. Riding at on a weekend in the city is a rather refreshing experience as it's far calmer than it normally is.