Facts

 

Capital: London

Population: 59.16 Million

Language: English with a bit of Welsh

Currency: The good old British Pound

 

2 Wheels to China Facts

We live here

Five days  and 140 miles cycled (on this tour!)

 

2 Wheels to China Ratings

 

Food & Drink: 7/10

Plenty of beer options, widely available. More Tandoori restaurants than you can shake a stick at, plus the home of pie and chips.

 

Road conditions: 3/10

Some of our roads are a disgrace. Despite seeing roadworks almost every single day, the roads are just in generally awful condition. Dual carriageways and other main roads are downright dangerous for cyclists, and very few have cycle lanes. When they do it is on the half finished edges of the roads. The cycle network is improving, but some of it is not even on roads!

 

Traffic: 2/10

Some British drivers are very cyclist unfriendly, unlike their continental counterparts. Even outside of rush hours and on minor routes, British roads are very overladen and very busy. One of our biggest problems was with small roads being used by lorries.

 

Scenery: 5/10

It's not as dull as you might imagine. Some of the country lanes and accompanying villages are very pretty. The cycle route from Folkestone to Dover was quite spectacular, once you climb the initial hill. And we saw an unbelievable number of Asparagus fields in Kent.

 

People: 5/10

Friendly enough, though generally in a hurry. We came across some friendly campsite owners and the proprietor of a guesthouse in Horsham was particularly helpful.

 

Bureaucracy: N/A

 

Miscellaneous

Britain is quite expensive, both for accommodation and food. On the plus side you will never be short of places to buy it.

 

Campsites were clean, but on the basic side. Some were quite remote, and not signposted.