Learning London geography

this may sound a pretty dumb question, but:

flipping out the a-z often gets old fast, does anyone have any advice for learning my way around london except for HTFU and riding around?

thanks

do the taxi course or learn as you go along

the only way you will learn is by experience..the more time you spend in London getting around the more you will learn

I know this sounds daft, but trial and error has always worked reasonably well for me. Just look up where you want to go before you depart and as long as you've got a decent sense of direction you'll be fine and dandy. Alternatively just ask a cab driver at one of the green hut things when you're purchasing a well-priced bacon roll.

Depends if you are talking about the centre of London specifically, or London as a whole?

knowing the tube map kind of helps with knowing what areas are near to others

sometimes its a bit useless for this though

best thing to do is get out and ride

buy a fucking tom tom.

hire a fucking cabby for tuition.

build a fucking scale model of london.

Just get out on the bike and explore.

become a fucking currier.

become a fucking map maker of A to Z.

get a fucking tattoo of the A to Z.

I know this sounds daft, but trial and error has always worked reasonably well for me. Just look up where you want to go before you depart and as long as you've got a decent sense of direction you'll be fine and dandy. Alternatively just ask a cab driver at one of the green hut things when you're purchasing a well-priced bacon roll.

might try this, i am trying to find a route from regents park to strand that doesn't involve regents street, but i basically can only remember to the end of great portland street then get lost in the one way streets, so may just keep heading south until i remember which way i went.

Just cycle randomly, all you need to know is where north/south/east/west is.

Cab drivers generally take the most direct route which is why they get so infuriated by people dithering. Yes, I know they're cunts who buy the Daily Mail, think that Nick Griffin "has a point", do u-turns in the stupidest places and remove the bulbs from their indicators as soon as they pass "the ignorance" but for zipping about they always take the most direct routes. And if you're sat at traffic lights next to them just ask - 99% will answer. Maybe not happily, but they'll tell you.

top tip.

stanfords on long acre sell a paper version of the a-z on one piece of paper.

it is about a1 size and costs less than a tenner.

mix a dilute batch of wall paper paste and wack up on the wall in your hall.

top tip no 2. to get it on the wall is a job for two / three people.

london is a breeze thereafter. you just check the route before you set off.

well. it has worked for me.

good luck.

What I like to do if I'm unfamiliar with a journey is plan the route with Google Maps, then break it down in to key points, turnings etc.
If I know parts of my route from my departing destination I only write down from where I first will need aid.

I then write/print this neatly, and have this set up.

ID Card Holder + Cable Ties

Josh; if you have planned out a specific route you can write it on a bit of paper, with arrows for left and right and so on and tape it to your stem; saves you looking in the A-Z. You're a student so I should point out that in wet weather you might want to cover the paper up with plastic. You're at Kings so I should point out that the plastic needs to be transparent.
As for the rest of it; don't ask me, my sense of direction is shockingly bad and I only know my way around because of couriering. When I started I didn't even know my way round Soho and I still get lost if I go to new places. Other people pick it up very quickly; I hired riders who had been in London a week and they never got lost. Maybe, like me, you'll never have that ability. Unlike me you probably won't compensate for it though by being devilishly handsome and possessed of a winsome charm.
Getting lost in London is good fun though; you're never really 'lost', you're not going to be discovered dead from hunger and thirst, and chancing upon interesting and unfamiliar bits of the city is something I miss.

Apparently LaLIlULUlu has a more hi-tech version of my paper-taped-to-the-stem system. :(

I discovered an unknown tribe once whist in East London. They has a cure for cancer and Aids, could communicate with aliens and control the weather with astounding accuracy. Unfortunately I was lost at the time so unable to report my findings to the relevant authorities.

Just cycle randomly, all you need to know is where north/south/east/west Beers are

Thats Better ;p

I never leave home without one of these.

look at an A2Z of the area in which you're staying and the place in which you'll visit most often. Draw out all of the major roads on this route. Repeat until you have it in your head. As you learn more add the lesser roads. Have a strong idea of which direction each road leads to eg Kingsland road South to North.

keeping to main routes helps most, if you don't know the small roads they will just slow you down. to get to the strand without regents street, gower street per chance? when you know how main routes link with each other, finding random roads requires remembering only a few details.

being lost is actually being found.
after having relocated on a feature, e.g station, park etc that you have come across by chance-then set off in the correct direction towards where you want to go you have learnt something.
I rate being lost as an adventure to embrace, whether in the urban jungle or deep forest.