On 27 Jan, 12:12, congokid wrote:

In article
,
Mizter T writes

Thanks Mizter T, and also to Paul and David x 2 for your replies.

I think I'll stick to the simple route I did yesterday, and bite the
bullet. Looks like an expensive commute whatever I do.

It's a pain not being able to take a regular bike on an empty Met train,
though - that bike is a smoother ride over 5 or so miles than the
Brompton.


Sorry about adding in the large dose of confusion there!

I wasn't really expecting you to jump at the chance of cycling on a
Brompton to Finchley Road! It doesn't jump out at me as an ideal
location to leave a regular bike locked up all day either.


Can I confess to making another mistake (this isn't going very well is
it?!)...

Regarding Chiltern trains, in fact it appears that you *can* take a
regular bicycle on their trains in the contra-peak direction - i.e. in
your case that's against the predominant flow of people into London in
the morning and vice-versa in the evening. See their webpage he
http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/tr...ing-your-bike/


So, that would be one option, though Chiltern trains to and from C&L
are basically only half-hourly. Their timetable is available as a PDF
from this page:
http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/pl.../download-our-
timetable/

Alternatively you can look up train times on the National Rail website
he
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

One other (slightly cheeky) possibility, should you wish to retain the
option of travelling on the Met line, is that you could cycle your
regular bike into Marylebone then leave it and lock it up there in the
safe cycle storage place, then either travel onward to C&L by Chiltern
train or alternatively by the Met line from Baker Street station which
is just around the corner (I'm not getting muddled this time, it
really is!). That would mean you wouldn't have to wait around in order
to catch a half-hourly train.

However one thing I'm not clear on is where the cycle storage place is
at Marylebone (I've a vague picture in my head of it but that's not
helpful!). It's possible it is beyond the gateline, i.e. you would
need to pass through the ticket gates to access it (or through the
manual side gate). *If* this is the case and *if* you had a season
Travelcard I don't think there would be any problem if you were to
pass in and then back out of the automatic gates, the issue would be
more whether staff might take affront at their hospitality -
specifically their cycle facilities - being 'abused'. If you were to
aim to travel out on a Chiltern train then this might make it a bit
less of an issue.

I will endeavour to find out where the cycle parking is at Marylebone
and report back - if it's outside the gateline then there wouldn't be
any practical problem with you doing this (I suppose morally speaking
you could 'justify' it by at least heading out on a Chiltern train
every now and then!).