Learning London geography

put in your destination then follow the pink line.

.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.

:D

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.

except when you're 35mins late for that lecture/date/court case.

During daylight hours, work out where the sun is and use it to help you find your bearings. In north London, the sun generally rises in the east, is south at midday and sets in the west. So if it is noon the sunis somewhere in south London.

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.

ahh could work. i have also ordered a load of tfl maps from here https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/cycling/cycle-guides-request.aspx which have colour coded recommended cycling routes that may prove useful

The sun is always in South London, Clive

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.

A thousand plus one plagued at you kind sir.

There is no such place as South London; there is London and then there is the wasteland south of the river.

except when you're 35mins late for that lecture/date/court case.

I am actually a wizard, and arrive where I am supposed to be at exactly the right time.

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. :(

+will.

get a phone with GPS and download Google Maps to it.

sorted.

Another way to work out where you are is to listen to the accents around you. South African accents and you are undoubtedly in Wimbledon; American, probably Chelsea or Knightsbridge; Russian, Kensington; Australian, somewhere west; Scottish, you're lost.

There is no such place as South London; there is London and then there is the wasteland south of the river.

This is just the sort of thing to expect from someone who schooled at Eton and was brought up in a large house in Cheyne Walk yet pretends, preposterously, to be a working class Northerner.

Heres a good way to remember the streets that lead into Soho from Shaftsbury Avenue

GOOD - Greek st
FOR - Frith st
DIRTY - Dean st
WOMEN - Wardour st

I was told this by a cabbie he said they learn lots of things like this when doing the knowledge

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

Move to London...

i live in london?

i live in london?

Exactly.
LOL...

I generally do the same as lalaialalialiou, check the route on google maps (cyclestreets.net is also good for finding quiet back roads), write down relevant turnings and either have it in my pocket or if I'm going to several places, I have a little a6 plastic clip board that I punched two holes in and cable tied it to my stem. I also have google maps on my phone as a backup, dont carry an a to z anymore.
I have a shit sense of direction and still get lost in Soho, and have lived in London all of my life.

I have a shit sense of direction and still get lost in Soho, and have lived in London all of my life.

Female. 'nuf said...

Exactly.
LOL...

Bless. Always two posts behind the game...

Female. 'nuf said...

i've got one of these in english. wicked.

Help her out guys...

It really depends on what your learning style is, Josh. Any ideas?

I'd make a start by riding along the nine most important major A-roads first. A1-4, A10, A11, A13 and A40 all start reasonably close to St Paul's Cathedral. The A2, A11 and A13 are furthest away; the A2 starts at Borough and the A11 and A13 at Aldgate. The A10 and A3 start at London Bridge. The ninth is the A5, which starts at Marble Arch. The A40 should run all along Oxford Street, but is in fact interrupted and doesn't include much of its length. London's layout originated with these nine roads, and once you know them well, you can find your way virtually everywhere else with some ease.

There is a second layer of A-roads that are worth knowing: A501, A41, A104, A3211, A205, A23, A315, A402, and A404. The A406 North Circular Road is also worth knowing. Not that pleasant, but often the quickest route around North-west London.

For those who are laughing now about knowing A-road designations--those are the ones worth knowing as they apply over reasonably long distances and save you from having to learn too many of the regularly changing street and road names. Most of the rest of London is a morass of confused, confusing, and, frankly, superfluous A-road designations. Signage for these major A-roads is surprisingly good once you start paying attention to it and can be very helpful in navigating. Like bus numbers, there are also usually some relationships between A-road numbers that can help with guessing if you're lost.

There are some roads and streets of such obvious character, like Park Lane, that I haven't included, as they're easily knowable. The above A-roads, however, include quite a lot of London's most important and distinctive streets, anyway. All the rest of London you will be able to fill in over time.

But, as I said, if you prefer not to learn from a more or less systematic beginning, another approach may work better for you. I never took the systematic approach, either, I've just been riding my bikes around London for fifteen years. I'm sure that learning about these A-roads would have made learning much quicker for me, at least. If you want to have fun, just get lost deliberately and find your way back without an A to Z, then spend hours at home desperately trying to work out where you've been. :)