Things to do in London – Santander Cyclists

If you’ve read my first Things To Do In London Highlights post  you’ll know that a couple of weeks ago me and my husband spent four days in London completing a sort of bucket list of London things to do.  Today I thought I’d share a bit more about what we got up to on our last day there. We’ been invited to try out the Santander Cycles you might have seen dotted around the city and go for a ride around one of the many routes in London.  Now I haven’t been on a bike in years so I was pretty intent that I didn’t want to ride on roads so we chose a route that was more park based. The bikes cost £2 each for 24 hours and there are loads of places you can pick up and drop off the bikes. You just need a code to release them which you get once you’ve paid and to return them you just insert the bike into an empty bay at any Santander Cycle point. We picked up the bikes from nearby to Trafalgar Square and walked them down to the Mall. We rode down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace which I’ve never actually seen before. It was so swarmed with tourists though as it was changing of the guard so I didn’t get very close. After deciding St James Park was a little busy we headed down to Hyde Park instead.
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There we rode along the lake in the sunshine which was so lovely and plenty of room for a novice cyclist like me! I met this lovely old man who was feeding the ducks and told me he was feeding them just like his wife had done every day and that she had passed away last week. It was so sad but so lovely that he was there keeping up her tradition.
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After a really lovely morning on the bikes we returned them to a bike point right near Hyde Park and headed off for lunch. We headed to Yo Sushi which is one of my favourite places to go and eat. Not only did I have my usual sushi and gyoza I tried the duck bun which was so tasty and then the pièce de résistance was the incredible Frapple Pie dessert. This yummy cone was filled with black sesame ice cream, apple filled sweet gyoza, dried raspberries and a syringe of salted soy caramel. It was honestly the best dessert I’ve had in ages!! YUM!
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I would totally recommend the Santander cycles, not only for if you want to get from A to B pretty quick but if you fancy using them like we did to ride around one of the cities amazing green spaces. Thanks so much to Talented Talkers for persuading me to get on one!! ha ha

Coming up next week will be more detailed posts on some of the other things we got up to in London including afternoon tea at Sketch London.

What I Wore

Sleeveless coat – River island
Jeans – H&M
Bag – Primark
Watch – Jord Wood watches
Trainers – Primark

*The cost of the cycles was paid for and food but all photos and opinion are my own.