Cycling UK Forum

I';ve booked a very cheap advance ticket from Leicester to Portsmouth next month. But the interchange time is only 50 minutes - to get the cheap fare I had to accept what I was given! I used to cycle from st Pancras to Embankment [Millbank] so know the [a] route. But the timing is still very tight. Anyone got any advice on how to access Victoria Station most easily and what platform the Portsmouth trains likley to leave from? Anything to shave a few minutes off would be useful!

Trains to Portsmouth leave fromWaterloo.

Thanks for that. This one doesn't.

departs Leicester at 12:57 travel by Train service provider East Midland Trains to station London St Pancras arrives 14:13 ( seats reserved: Coach: A Seats: 03A, 04A , and space for 2 bicycles )

departs London Victoria at 15:02 travel by Train service provider Southern Railways to station Portsmouth Harbour arrives 17:02 ( seats reserved: Coach: * Seats: ***, *** , and space for 2 bicycles )

Google maps gives directions and timings of 4.4 miles which on a bike should be a leisurely 20 mins ride.

A201 Kings Cross Road, A4 Fleet Street, Whitehall, Victoria Street.

Have a play with the route on BikeRoute Toaster and you might be able to find some quieter side streets.

St Pancras to Park Lane is possible in various ways, none of the faster routes are particularly pleasant. Down Park Lane is straight and downhill, so fast. Hyde Park Corner down to Victoria is straight and downhill (Grosvener Pl), so fast. You could skip the one-way section by walking/slow-pavement cycling at the bottom of Grosvener Pl where it takes a left and bend at the traffic lights, but it's much of a muchness really.

platform information is here, so you could check it when arriving at St Pancras before you get off the train (assuming you have Internet access on your phone) : http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/VIC

on the day I'd just head straight to a blue-uniformed (I think) station guard at Victoria, and ask where your train leaves from. Victoria is busy, and they do change platforms a lot.

cheers

Thanks folks, useful advice. I suspect I'm being over-anxious, but getting two people, two bikes and a trailer from one train to another seems to take ages when it's all at the same station, leave alone cycling across London in between!

Redvee wrote:Google maps gives directions and timings of 4.4 miles which on a bike should be a leisurely 20 mins ride.

This timing might be true if it was a flat country road with no junctions. In reality you are going to encounter something like 25 sets of traffic lights on the way.

I certainly wouldn't use Fleet St, Strand and Whitehall route, Strand and Whitehall are awful for bikes, about the worst there is short of Oxford St. Strand westbound in particular is prone to be solid standing traffic with no room to squeeze a bike through. I'd come via Holborn Stn, into Kingsway, turn right soon at some lights which facilitate it, turn right into Drury Lane and left into Shorts Gardens, left into St Martin's Lane, brave Trafalgar Square and cycle down the Mall, having checked that it is open, and into Buckingham Palace Road.

A train to Portsmouth Harbour from Victoria will depart from the Sussex side of the station, ie 9-19, most likely 16-19, whiih are on the Buck Palace Road side fo the station.

50 mins leaves no time to spare for your train from Leicester being late, or being in any way uncertain where you are going..

theres some maps sent free from london transport showing cycle friendly routes.

The Transport for London website

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/X ... P_REQUEST2

has a bicycle option and usually gives sensible routes. They say 23 mins.

Iviehoff is right - platforms 16 to 19. I arrive at 07:50 in the morning into Victoria and the train at Platform 16 is going back out to Portsmouth and Bognor Regis. It is often a train that splits (at Horsham), so make sure you get in the right bit of the train.

I work on Grosvenor Place, so one route into Victoria is to turn right off Grosvenor Place somewhere (I access via Wilton Street which is down the side of the building I work in) and head straight down Belgravia Street. Be careful at the junction with Ebury Street, you can easily get left hooked by vehicles turning left to pop out at the bottom of Grosvenor Street again (Hobart Place). Best to stay in primary in the left hand lane.

Keep going straight down (mind the parked cars, but it is plenty wide enough) - and at the bottom you will come out opposite the Grosvenor Hotel. Turn left and immediately go into the right hand lane, and straight up the bus lane to the crossing.

This avoids the joyous one way system.

There is also a side entrance further down to your right, which comes in at the head of those platforms, but you can't turn right to get down there, and the pavement isn't very wide for walking the bike; probably easiest to go in by Starbucks and Superdrug, keep to the right of the concourse, and you will pop right in there (those platforms are set further back to the right of the escalators).

PRL wrote:The Transport for London website
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/X ... P_REQUEST2 (not a working link)
has a bicycle option and usually gives sensible routes. They say 23 mins.

The only plausible interpretation is that is pedalling time, and excludes any time spent waiting at junctions or otherwise held up by traffic.

Update - had to defer trip at last minute due to son being involved in RTA [car passenger, not seriously hurt luckily]. Rebooked ferries and both train journeys for outbound travel on 6 August. Then found out that:

- ASLEF have called a strike on East Midlands Trains for 6 - 8 August; and

- Southern trains aren't allowing bikes on trains during Olympic period [which hadn't crossed my mind when I rebooked the tickets!]

Have admitted defeat and arranged to drive down to Portsmouth with son and Mrs E, who will then drive back to Leicester. Luckily the return leg from Dover is on 14 August, so unaffected by the Olympic bike embargo...things can only get better?

ericonabike wrote:- Southern trains aren't allowing bikes on trains during Olympic period

That's not completely true. The rail companies retreated from a blanket ban, but there are still some quite savage restrictions. http://www.southernrailway.com/your-jou ... es-travel/