Differences in pollution levels in London?

artaxerxes
artaxerxes Posts: 612
edited June 2009 in Commuting chat
Basically I'm getting hacked off (or rather hacking coughs) with the combination of motor pollution and pollen when I go through the City from London Bridge, through Bank, Morgate and Old Street roundabout. Can anyone recommend a less polluted route through the City from South to North that ends up in Islington? I come in from SE London so I can use London , Southwark or Blackfriars bridges.

Comments

  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    Hi Linoue, I wouldn't have thought the air would improve getting into Islington from your end. Would a pollution mask not help? Sorry I can't be more helpful.

    Could you use below as a starting point?

    http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
  • artaxerxes
    artaxerxes Posts: 612
    Hey
    I did think about using a pollution mask, but they aren't cheap and I've read loads of comments here about the masks causing runny noses and restricting breathing, which to me kind of defeats the object of having a mask in the first place.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Not to repeat myself but masks do make a difference and are not so bad in high traffic volume spots. It's when you really want to open up on a long, traffic free stretch that breathing becomes hard. If you're just filtering through traffic as you probably are most of the time from London Br to Islington, and unable to really push it hard, the mask may not be so bad.

    I used to live in Islington and walk to work in the City and I now live in Lewisham Borough and cycle to Chancery Lane so I know the area and I struggle to think of a traffic free route...
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • artaxerxes
    artaxerxes Posts: 612
    I used to live in Islington and walk to work in the City and I now live in Lewisham Borough and cycle to Chancery Lane so I know the area and I struggle to think of a traffic free route...

    There's always the Greenwich Tunnel - > Regent's Canal route, but that would be the very last option for me as I don't like cycling on canal tow paths.
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    linoue wrote:
    I used to live in Islington and walk to work in the City and I now live in Lewisham Borough and cycle to Chancery Lane so I know the area and I struggle to think of a traffic free route...

    There's always the Greenwich Tunnel - > Regent's Canal route, but that would be the very last option for me as I don't like cycling on canal tow paths.

    That would add quite a hefty bit of time to the commute, you have to walk through the tunnel, you may just about be able to get away with biking it out of rush hour and then yuo'd have to go a fair way north to hit the Regent's Canal and progress along that is fairly slow - bikes are supposed to keep below 5mph or something so they don't hit peds (not that many of them actually do)
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  • TopSpin
    TopSpin Posts: 36
    If you're looking for a quieter route I'd recommend going up Queen St (either from London Bridge to Cannon St or Blackfriars to Cannon St) to cross over Cheapside, you can then work your way up the back streets around Moorgate station to Bunhill Row, cross City Road onto Shepherdess and straight up gets you onto Essex Rd. There's far less traffic lights so should be quicker.
  • prj45
    prj45 Posts: 2,208
    walkit.com does a low pollution route.

    http://www.walkit.com/
    Photos - Blog - Bike
  • artaxerxes
    artaxerxes Posts: 612
    If you're looking for a quieter route I'd recommend going up Queen St (either from London Bridge to Cannon St or Blackfriars to Cannon St) to cross over Cheapside, you can then work your way up the back streets around Moorgate station to Bunhill Row, cross City Road onto Shepherdess and straight up gets you onto Essex Rd. There's far less traffic lights so should be quicker.

    Thanks! I'll give that a go.

    and that walkit site looks useful too.

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