Wednesday 3 August 2011

Bracknell and 'Boris' Bikes

No locks or miles today either! Today we left the boat on the ultra-secure moorings in Paddington Basin and went to see James family in Bracknell - we visited his Nannie on his mum's side and grandparents (our most avid blog readers) on his dad's side. It was really nice to see them, and catch up. James also lent a hand helping his grandad and uncle do some DIY in his grandad's kitchen while his grandma and I had a nice chat! 

We were back in London by 6pm, and decided to avoid the hot, horrible tube journey from Waterloo back to Paddington by taking 'Boris' Bikes back across the city. For anyone who's not seen them, these are public bikes which can be picked up and dropped off at any of the many docking stations around London. There are some 6000 bikes, and 400 docking stations! They are sturdy, heavy, somewhat slow bikes, but they are reliable and quite comfortable to ride. It's pretty simple to use - you pay an access fee at the docking station which is £1 for 24 hours (or there are more cost effective alternatives for longer periods of time) and then you pay for how long you've had the bike on top of that. It's free for the first 30 minutes, £1 for an hour and then it starts to get more expensive after that. They are best for short journeys really. It was a lovely sunny evening and we took a route back through Green Park and Hyde Park. We really enjoyed our little ride and hope we'll have time for another before we leave London. It was cheaper, greener and cooler than the tube too.


We had dinner then headed back to our 'local', the Warwick Castle, with Tim, who we met when we did the BCN Challenge. Another nice evening, but we're a bit tired now! Tomorrow, we'll leave Paddington and head along to Limehouse Basin, hopefully with time for a short stop at Camden.

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