Anyone find London a bit overwhelming?

I'm not sure about pubs, but I'd be surprised if not. A friend of mine lives by the river in Twickenham, and hops in her kayak pretty frequently

Its the only thing I miss about living in Wales. I loved the calm Flat easy kayaks on those rivers. Over here the water is usually low or too fast to get upstream. Wouldn't be opposed to doing a multi day tour stopping at any B&B's along the way
 
I'm not sure about pubs, but I'd be surprised if not. A friend of mine lives by the river in Twickenham, and hops in her kayak pretty frequently
I've also got a colleague who kayaks and I think bodyboards out that way.

A friend also had a little speedboat sort of Surbiton way and took me along the Thames up to Richmond, and we did pitch up for a pint at one of those pubs! Entirely different perspective at water level around there :)
 
Dare I say it.. I'm tempted to visit
I don’t know about kayaking, but there’s plenty of choice https://secretldn.com/pubs-thames-london-riverside/#pubs-on-the-thames-in-west-london (quick Google, I’m sure there’s better links, shocking how many I’ve been too :p )

This place is approx 15mins cycle/45mins walk away.. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtVyWN9K2jw/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The route goes along the canal, through the grounds of a manor House and pops you out into the old village on the river. But yeah, London’s horrid :p

Another pic from over the way; https://www.instagram.com/p/CFCi2yWAml4/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Horrid London. Just ghastly :o
 
I don’t know about kayaking, but there’s plenty of choice https://secretldn.com/pubs-thames-london-riverside/#pubs-on-the-thames-in-west-london (quick Google, I’m sure there’s better links, shocking how many I’ve been too :p )

This place is approx 15mins cycle/45mins walk away.. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtVyWN9K2jw/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

The route goes along the canal, through the grounds of a manor House and pops you out into the old village on the river. But yeah, London’s horrid :p

Another pic from over the way; https://www.instagram.com/p/CFCi2yWAml4/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Horrid London. Just ghastly :o

Didn't you know? London is just Buckingham Palace, The Gherkin, and Brixton High Street.
 
London at the moment is fantastic... summer, summer clothing, pretty ladies, handsome men, smiles, ice cream, happy people.

Ok the pollution is gross, but it is exciting. It's a lot busier than it's been, and fortunately people are coming back into the office and socialising a lot more. It's been so fun and enjoyable to see and be part of.

That said, it's still nice to get home to the peace and quiet! :D
 
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London at the moment is fantastic... summer, summer clothing, pretty ladies, handsome men, smiles, ice cream, happy people.

Ok the pollution is gross, but it is exciting.

That said, it's still nice to get home to the peace and quiet! :D
What pollution?

Its been specifically said that outside London pollution is only a bit better than London
 
Its more like pollen or the heat. There was factual data posted on one of these anti London threads a few months back that showed how rural areas outside of London had slightly lower levels of pollution

Fair enough. I live way out in the countryside so it's going to be worse for me regardless, but as I hope you gathered, I'm not anti london! :)
 
Well you can see the haze as you take the train into London - but that might just be the heat haze or pollen.
Most of the greener areas are fine, but walking in high traffic areas you’ll definitely get some exhaust fumes, which is not exclusive to London.

The tube is gross though. Can see all the gunk you’re inhaling down there when you blow your nose.
 
If I am doing deliveries in London with the window open I end up with black bogies. Birmingham the same too. Normally I just leave it on recirculate and keep my windows closed but in this heat it is unavoidable unless you keep the aircon on but that messes up my fuel efficiency bonus :P
 
I don't get all the pollution talk - granted I grew up in London so it's my baseline, but mostly I find the air as good as it's ever been. It's not so much central London I find bad - there's lots of parks and congestion reduction measures like bus only roads etc. I do find some bigger artery roads bad if they have a lot of HGV type traffic.

But I moved to Bedford recently which is a medium sized town I guess, and I find there's a distinct exhaust-y smell in some areas, especially on the roads by the station. Maybe it's more diesel vehicles out here? If I walk the 20 minutes up to the station from the edge of town, I can taste it in the back of my throat. That's never happened in London really.

I think any built up town will have areas of high traffic with some air quality issues, but London has at least introduced lots of measures to reduce it. Remember smog came from coal fires, not motor vehicles. It's a thing of the past.
 
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I don't get all the pollution talk - granted I grew up in London so it's my baseline, but mostly I find the air as good as it's ever been. It's not so much central London I find bad - there's lots of parks and congestion reduction measures like bus only roads etc. I do find some bigger artery roads bad if they have a lot of HGV type traffic.

But I moved to Bedford recently which is a medium sized town I guess, and I find there's a distinct exhaust-y smell in some areas, especially on the roads by the station. Maybe it's more diesel vehicles out here? If I walk the 20 minutes up to the station from the edge of town, I can taste it in the back of my throat. That's never happened in London really.

I think any built up town will have areas of high traffic with some air quality issues, but London has at least introduced lots of measures to reduce it. Remember smog came from coal fires, not motor vehicles. It's a thing of the past.
That's the thing. Stuff like ulez and restricted cars driving on certain roads don't really exist outside of London
 
I don't get all the pollution talk - granted I grew up in London so it's my baseline, but mostly I find the air as good as it's ever been. It's not so much central London I find bad - there's lots of parks and congestion reduction measures like bus only roads etc. I do find some bigger artery roads bad if they have a lot of HGV type traffic.

But I moved to Bedford recently which is a medium sized town I guess, and I find there's a distinct exhaust-y smell in some areas, especially on the roads by the station. Maybe it's more diesel vehicles out here? If I walk the 20 minutes up to the station from the edge of town, I can taste it in the back of my throat. That's never happened in London really.

I think any built up town will have areas of high traffic with some air quality issues, but London has at least introduced lots of measures to reduce it. Remember smog came from coal fires, not motor vehicles. It's a thing of the past.

Its probably because of what I'm used to and that this was central London. And it was long before things like ulez. It was quite scary when you can smell pollution. That every lung full must be like that.
 
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