I was in London today to see my favourite band, Steel Panther, at the Hammersmith Odeon, or rather the Eventim Apollo as it’s currently known. Shame they have to mess with a world-renowned venue name but I guess the sponsorship money comes in handy!

Anyway, I digress…

My train arrived into Euston and I’d hatched a plan to ride a Boris bike to my hotel in west Hammersmith rather than get an Über or the tube as normal. I let the Boris Bike app on my phone find me a suitable route which would keep me off as many main roads as possible so it would make the ride more fun and I’d also get to see some of the parts of London I’d not normally see.

It ended up taking me around the top of Regents Park, across Edgware Road and onwards through Notting Hill and Shepherds Bush to my hotel. Quite a bit of the route followed a canal, some on an adjoining road and some of it on the towpath itself. Sounded perfect!

The only problem was I’d forgotten to start Strava on my phone so missed recording the first part of the ride – doh! A ‘Rookie’ mistake ;-). Not to worry as it’s all about the ride and not the Strava stats at the end of the day.

The ride itself turned out to be really good. I knew I would never break any records on such a heavy bike and with my bag on my back but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I even went past the QPR ground at one point, which was a lovely surprise as from the map I just saw an expanse of green and was imagining it would be a public park!

I dropped off my bike at Ravenscourt Park underground station, just around the corner from my hotel and incidentally my local tube station for 2 of the 3 years I was at Uni in London. Always great to re-visit old haunts.

Route: click here