Otherwise known as Barclays cycle hire, 'Boris Bikes' is London's public Bike sharing scheme. It was modelled on the popular and successful Velib network in Paris. New York City recently launched it's own version called Citi Bike, and many cities across Europe and the US have similar bike share programmes.
Launched in 2010, there are more than 8,00 bikes available for hire. They are pretty ubiquitous as you cross London. 3 years on, however, and I still hadn't tried it so this was a perfect item for my list. With the warm days of summer beginning to fade into the distance and the increasing threat of rain and cold winter looming, I thought my window of opportunity for an enjoyable ride was closing. So I got off my backside and finally made this one happen.
And what a great day it was! As it happened, Central London was closed for the professional Bike race Tour of Britain (Like the Tour de France, but not as famous). We were able to Bike through central London with almost no cars. So I was able to be a tourist in my adopted home town and enjoy a lovely Indian Summer Sunday hitting all the top tourist spots in town along the way. A great day out!
And now that I've registered for a key fob, something I'll be doing more often.
Sounds like awesome fun x
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