Barclay Biking

Barclay's in London has established a system of cycles in central London for hire by the hour.  It's a great way to explore London and it's actually fairly cheap when you manipulate the system :)

First, find a docking station.  

You can rent them by a membership registered online, or you can just use a credit card.  There is a station where you swipe your card and agree to terms and conditions and print your code to rent the cycle.  You pay an access fee of £1.00 (only paid once within a 24 hour period) and then your first thirty minutes of the ride are free.  The next 30 minutes are an additional £1.00.  I think the second hour jumps to an additional £4.00.  

After church and lunch, A and I decided to go for a bike ride the frugal way.  We hopped on our cycles and started off on our journey.  After an hour, we found a docking station and returned our bikes.  We popped into a Costa Coffee for a drink of water, and then returned to the docking station and got out two more bikes.  

We biked another hour and then returned our cycles and walked to the nearest tube station to go home.  It was a beautiful day by the way.  The weather was gorgeous. 

Don't let this picture deceive you.  These were taken in Hyde Park, on a bike path.  A good part of our time, we were forced to venture onto the road.  Parts of London have designated bike paths and the rest, you make your own way.  I kept thinking...Should have read more about traffic regulations...  However, we stayed safe and had a great day.   Once home, I hopped on googlemaps.co.uk (I do love to do that) to see our route.  It turns out we biked over 7 miles!

It was a great way to spend an afternoon.  And we helped other people learn the Barclay rental system, because apparently we looked like we knew what we were doing ;)  However, now it's time for me to say goodnight, as I head to bed for a much needed sleep.