2024 Bike Ride 05
28 April 2024Costco trip.
Total trip distance: 3.79 km
Moving time: 0h14m
Today’s ride:
Today’s ride in the context of all my Montreal rides:
London Trip (March 2023)
28 April 2024A fairly late travel post from last year.
London
In March 2023, we took a week long trip to London and, while it was a good trip, it was not as good as Paris in 2022. London is a nice city for walking around, but it was colder than we had planned for.
We still walked a lot and this map shows the tracks we took each day. The colours are mentioned in the titles for each day.
Day 0 (April 21)
We took the overnight Air Transat flight from Montreal to Gatwick. It was nice to leave a bit later and arrive at 9:30 am. It was really easy to talk the train to our hotel (Novotel London West) passing via Clapham Junction for a quick hop on the Overground to Kensington Olympia and then a short walk. This routing also meant we could avoid Zone 1 and only pay £9 to get from the airport.
We met Linus (brother-in-law) at the hotel and all walked over to have a good lunch at Bill’s Hammersmith (10 Hammersmith Grove, London W6) with Luci and Linus. The rest of the afternoon was a walk with Luci around Hammersmith and Fulham. A total of 9km despite taking a red-eye.
We also had dinner at The Mermaid Bar @ Wright Brothers (56A Old Brompton Rd, South Kensington, London SW7) with Doris’s friends, who had flown in from Madrid. It was delicious, and after the meal it was time to get to bed.
Day 1 (April 22)
Saturday morning, we started a day that would be a circus at Truth (36, 38 Fulham Palace Rd, London W6) and met up with a couple of Doris’s friends (Dylan and Matt), Luci and Linus. We all hopped on the #9 bus to meet up more people and have a long wander that would wind us through the city near Parliament.
Somehow our group of nine managed to get a few tables at the Red Lion (48 Parliament St, London SW1A) for Saturday lunch. After lunch, we continued to Trafalgar Square to pass the Canadian Embassy and the government of Quebec offices. We had a drink at the fantastic looking Mercato Mayfair (St. Mark’s Church, N Audley St, London W1K) to refuel before passing through Hyde Park on the way to dinner.
Our large group got even bigger for an amazing dinner at Maggie Jones’s Restaurant (6 Old Ct Pl, London W8) and we all parted ways by getting on buses.
Day 2 (April 23)
Sunday started with breakfast in the Broadway Shopping Centre and acquiring a cup of milk for the baby from Starbucks, which travelled with us all day. We got the #9 bus again and visited Fortnum & Mason before an incredible sunday roast at Fallow (52 Haymarket, St. James’s, London SW1Y). I had the venison.
We found one of the few playgrounds in central London at St. Giles. The was followed by a walk past the Arup offices to see what became of the new Charlotte St building that was under construction on my first visit to London in 2015. Our meandering walk took us on Regent St, into Selfridges and north of Hyde Park before we got the tube from Paddington back to Hammersmith.
Day 3 (April 24)
On Monday, we stopped in at Whole Foods for breakfast pastries before continuing our walk to the Victoria & Albert Museum. After the museum, we had a light lunch at a Lebanese restaurant nearby.
Later, we had afternoon tea at the Dean Street Mansion, which was very good. (Even while a toddler ate so much of the good stuff.) We walked that off through Carnaby Market and Regent St while it rained.
Day 4 (April 25)
We discovered that the toddler really likes Gregg’s sausage rolls. It was market day. After taking the Tube to Monument, we visited Borough market followed by seeing one gallery at Tate Modern before the toddler didn’t cooperate.
We spent the afternoon walking over the Millenium bridge and then around central. We enjoyed pints and crisps at The Black Horse (40 Leman St) before heading off to Spitalfields market.
Dinner was at Delicious Pho (3-6 Steward St, London E1). I would recommend it for the food and friendly service.
Day 5 (April 26)
A plain breakfast from Prêt A Manger to start our day. It was raining slightly as we got to the Sir John Sloane Museum. Thankfully it stopped since we had to leave our stroller outside by the gate because they don’t have bag check.
Then we visited the British Museum for a couple hours. A short way away was Cosmo where we had a very good lunch (right before the closed for the afternoon). Our afternoon was closed off with a walk around Covent Garden.
Doris’s sister took care of the toddler after we all ate dinner at the Dartmouth Castle. Doris and I went to see Book of Mormon at Prince of Wales Theatre. This was the only day that we hit the fare cap (and got one extra Tube ride for “free”).
Day 6 (April 27)
A big walking today (15.5 km) that started with a trip the “wrong” way on the District line to Ealing Broadway so we could catch an Elizabeth Line train. We randomly got off at Bond Street and had pastries from Ole & Steen.
Another day of market lunch after meandering from Bond Street to Camden Market. We found a delicious chicken schnitzel kiosk. Another random turn took us up Primrose hill for a view before heading down through Regent Park.
Another Tube ride from Baker St on Bakerloo to Paddington over to Parsons Green on District to visit Doris’s sister’s place. One more meandering walk to eat dinner at Kings Arms (425 New Kings Rd, London SW6), which I would highly recommend.
Day 7 (April 28)
Early rise to get the train to Gatwick for our flight home.
In total, we spend $91.32 each on our various transit use over the week in London including to/from Gatwick, which seems pretty reasonable.
2024 Bike Ride 04
27 April 2024Our Saturday morning ride over to Ile des Soeurs. As always we stopped at several playgrounds and skipped even more playgrounds. I even rode on a few new streets and under the REM station.
Total trip distance: 11.54 km
Moving time: 056m
Today’s ride:
Today’s ride in the context of all my Montreal rides:
2024 Bike Ride 03
26 April 2024[corrected] Friday adventure ride up to the Plateau for dinner at Pho Rachel and to see all the people out enjoying the sunny weather. The parks were busy with people enjoying their first park beer and/or picnic of the year.
Total trip distance: 11.54 km
Moving time: 056m
Today’s ride:
Today’s ride in the context of all my Montreal rides:
2024 Bike Ride 02
21 April 2024Costco trip partly using the new bike path that runs along the REM for one block then ends abruptly with no connection to any other bike path. The nearest bike path to the end is 500 m further down Wellington past the container yard where trucks enter/exit constantly Monday to Friday.
Total trip distance: 3.84 km
Moving time: 0h15m
Today’s ride:
Today’s ride in the context of all my Montreal rides:
2024 Bike Ride 01
20 April 2024Getting out for the first ride a few weeks after I had planned to. It was a nice enough day, but quite windy near the Lachine canal. We stopped at a playground, scoped out where soccer will be and visited two libraries.
Total trip distance: 16.35 km
Moving time: 1h20m
Today’s ride:
Today’s ride in the context of all my Montreal rides:
Weekly roundup March 25-31
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