Who drives in London - Help needed!

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daveg

Active member
 Leatherhead, Surrey
A friend wants to have a driving tour of central London this Sunday afternoon, mainly to see Big Ben.

I never drive in town so have no idea of good routes or interesting areas.

Can anyone suggest places to go in the car to show them a good time for a few hours. Looking for fun/interesting places. A stop at some point would be good for some food.

Hope someone can help me out :)
 
Follow the number 11 bus route. Its the insiders way to get a great view of many landmarks and goes right past Big Ben. Should be somewhere on that route for food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Buses_route_11
 
Sounds perfect - cheers :)

I live in Balham so ends up in the right place too :)

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/maps/buses/?r=11
 
Check for jams before you leave, as a cruize can sometimes turn into a car park as many roads are closed for repairs at weekends. Embankment gives you a fab tour of the Thames, can cut off past Trafalgar Sq, ease down the Mall to give queenie a quick wave, before heading off through the road inside Hyde Park (if the roads open) ... bit costly to park but are some good restaurants on & off the Edgware road - just don't go anywhere near Oxford or Regent street, nightmare almost at anytime.

Alternatively, park up in Southwark with some mountain bikes & cycle along on the south bank of the Thames (might have to ditch the Zeds) past my old favorite of the Anchor Bankside all the way down to ... as far as u dare...

Or, get a picnic, some tins of refreshments and get on one of the slow river cruises... then watch the world go by... (my favorite)
 
daveg said:
Sounds perfect - cheers :)

I live in Balham so ends up in the right place too :)
Click to expand...

Ah, I used to live in Balham, few flats between 1999-2008 before the gf 'moved' me to SE3. Great area. :thumbsup:
 
Just heading down the Regent for a quick one, bring back any memories?

Thanks for the addition jembo, trying to get a route saved as a map to use on my Google map. Proving difficult!
 
Neighbour - i live up the road in SW4 :)

Take a drive into picadilly, haymarket and past leicester sq - some nice roads round there.

I regularly drive around town - quite like it.

Oh - take a spin up and around canary whalf - its very quiet over the weekend so you can get some great zorts tones between buildings :)
 
I would agree with No11 bus route St Paul's, Inns of court, trafalgar square, parliament square, then deviate up past buckingham palace into victoria which will take you to Sloane Square. Then loop back via river and embankment from chelsea, cross over bridge before westminster bridge (Sorry can't remember which) then along to behind southbank then over to chad thames where stop for a drink then continue along to tower bridge cross back over and turn left into the city. Driving around the city at the weekend when there is no-one is pretty nice.

I tend to avoid the west end proper (Cambridge circus etc.) as traffic is a nightmare at the WE but if sightseeing then I guess speed is not what it is about! Of course, if you set off relatively early on a Sunday morning and are in the west end before 9am it is like having the city to yourself...

I often have out of towners visting and do this route (although where I start from I do it the other way ending in tower bridge) but do check road closures first - most of central London is being dug up at the mo and there are funny diversions going on left right and centre.
 
yeh the 11 bus gives a pretty good route, then at sloane sq turn up sloane street, go past harrods etc, hyde park corner, park lane,

as said before dont go anywhere near proper west end, youll sit in traffic all night..
 
Cheers lads. Here's the route I took:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=209787294043645509805.0004aa42a4e649e10cceb&msa=0&ll=51.496561,-0.134583&spn=0.243876,0.157242

Did a couple of loops thanks to poor GPS signal and some roads being closed so waypoints weren't marked visited.

However it was a very successful trip and the date thanked me appropriately. I owe you all a beer.
 
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