The way London should be

I’ll be writing more about this elsewhere, but thought I’d put up some pictures from last night’s London Critical Mass – a monthly event during which a whole lot of cyclists happen to all decide to cycle along the same route. About 450 people did that last night, cheered by this week’s court victory declaring it legal, and it was enormous fun.

Cycling to the start at Waterloo Bridge, I was forced on to the very busy Farringdon Road down to Blackfriars Bridge. There is a “cycle path”, one of those very narrow, painted strip on the road, ones, but when, inevitably, a post office van was parked across it, I had to force my way out, through strength of will, into a stream of fast traffic, to get around it.

Then, when I was with all the cyclists, suddenly, blissfully, you didn’t have to worry about rogue motorists. Sure, with that many cyclists on the road a lot of care was needed, but everyone was being friendly, helpful, and totally non-aggressive. This is what London roads could be.