RedcardPingle

I cycle a fair bit between LHR T5 and Staines. Its a pretty nice route, less than 20mins and not too much to contend with - only the large roundabouts either side of stanwell moor road. Though you can avoid the southern one by taking the underpass or the bridge and the northern one by going through Stanwell but neither are that bad. Most of it is cycle/pedestrian shared space off the road, you get to enjoy the sheep grazing at the side of King George VI reservoir, and pass the western side of the southern runway where you can admire the take offs and landings from close up.

Cycle parking is obvious and abundant at both the southern and northern ends of the arrivals level outside the terminal (where the buses leave from).

Its a nice, if slightly odd, way to get to Heathrow and I try to do it any time luggage allows. A shower afterwards is an absolute necessity though!

alexwuk

While doing marathon training I once ran from Mayfair to LHR (with a loop of Hyde Park thrown in), it's about 13 miles 'sans loop' on the A4 and really not that bad. Takes about 1h 45m incl the lights you need to stop for. Only issues are shower facilities as most of the LHR departure lounges don't have showers (except BA T5?) and luggage (I used a bike courier). Wholeheartedly recommend before long night flights if you have the time and stamina.

layz

BA T5 is good on the shower front. There's showers in Galleries North and also in the spa area of Galleries South.

There's also showers in the Galleries in T3 (in what used to be the spa area, although I believe the spa part is now closed due to no longhauls, but the showers remain open).

T1 BA international lounge has showers, but not domestic.

For other airlines the Star Alliance lounge in T1 and SkyTeam in T4 have showers. Not sure about the others, although I'm pretty sure the VS Clubhouse also has them.

LGW has showers in the lounge, I think shared between club and first.

I've never tried it, but I believe it's not a problem checking in a bike if its within your luggage allowance. You need a proper cycle carrier, but that's about it.

typical

I've checked in my bike London to Edinburgh, in advance of a nice ride from Edinburgh to Aberdeen. I wrapped the exposed bits in bubble wrap and used a bike bag from Decathlon, similar to this one:
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/bike-cove...d_8023151.html

Picked up a couple of small dings but nothing serious. It was pretty smooth at either end. Edinburgh is a good airport to cycle to/from as well!

corporate-wage-slave

Thanks for the information, I'll try and photo the LGW bike racks on my next visit to add it to the information. Otherwise very informative, thank you.

[C-W-S pays 4 loads of VED for his cars and farm machinery, and also likes to cycle uninsured].

LTN Phobia

As this rather interesting topic (although well beyond anything I fancy doing) is relevant to the whole of LGW rather than just BA, it has been moved to the UK forum so that the thread will be noticed by a wider audience and may be of benefit to the wider community, bearing in mind that some LGW airport users may not think to look in the BA forum.

LTN Phobia
Moderator: BA forum

mentor of monty

I was fascinated, as a cyclist, when I drove past the dangerous piece of infrastructure to which you refer on Sunday(note I'm a cyclist who drives- not mutually exclusive!). Totally nuts. I quite regulalrly pass very near to gatwick when cycling in the south downs/ to brighton from London I think there are a number of other routes to take which allow you to avoid the hairier elements of the a23.

One would be to leave london through mitcham and wallington and the a237, then weaving soulth via chipstead/ hooley/ reigate avoiding the a23 but running alongside...

stut

Well, going back a bit, there used to be a sheltered, CCTV-monitored set of Sheffield stands by the portakabin. I understand these have been moved to underneath the DLR viaduct, but I couldn't vouch for monitoring/usage these days (I imagine the airport it well served by CCTV, mind).

Never used any public showers - I just cycled slowly enough not to sweat

(I tend to cycle on a Dutch-style bike in normal clothes...)

stut

It's a while ago - but I found it OK. I didn't follow the NCN21 all the way from SE London as I was coming from SW, but the section from Croydon to Gatwick was fine, albeit a little hilly. I think it's the section past Gatwick that gets all off-road and foresty...

stut

Folks, as this seems to be an informative thread on getting to the various London airports on two wheels, I've split out the debate into a new thread, which you're very welcome to use on the general cycling in the UK theme (I may well head over there myself):

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/omni/...re-debate.html

I've tried to keep the split as clean as possible - apologies for any crossover.

So, please keep this thread on topic, and carry on with the UK cycling discussion on the new thread, which is OMNI-bound.

stut
Moderator
UK & Ireland

teflon

Having cycled to LCY a couple of times, I can confirm that there's adequate bike parking:
street view; proximity to terminal

There were a few bikes looking a bit worse for wear there, but I was optimistic and presumed they'd been abandoned. I left mine there for five days with no issues. In fact, the only problem I've had there is that once a grasshopper took up residence on my rear mech.

typical

I found a photo of the bike hoops at Gatwick North Terminal on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cicoach/8395744444/

You can see them to the right of the trolley park.


These are the bike pods at the South Terminal:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnoram/5978422883/

However, other than the four very close to the rental car offices, I don't know where there are others. (I assume there are, or were, more - since other pictures show several more in a row.)