Feeling a bit athletic and having a free weekend in London, I decided it might be a nice idea to go for a skate. Problem is that skating in London is really restricted and I wonder what could be done to improve it.
Battersea Park is supposed to be a decent skate location, and better still it is onlt about 15 mins by bike from Clapham. Alongside the Thames (past the pagoda) the skating is not too bad – about 0.8km of flat, good quality asphalt. The only problem is that on a Sunday you might run down a small child or a dog. Maybe not a shame, but it would make a mess and the very many parks police would sure have a problem.
Anyway, the rest of the main 2.8km cycling circuit is not muct good for skating. It badly needs resurfacing and at the moment is not really an especially pleasant skate.
The only other option is along the Serpentine in Hyde Park – it’s the number one place for skaters, the road is perhaps 1km long. But just going back and forth is quite dull…
Other options are the Friday Night Skate, Sunday Rollerstroll, and the Wednesday evening skates. But if you really want to train, and get some good speed, night skates are not quite right…
Anyway, I am off to Kalmar in southern Sweden next week – there there should be plenty of good quality flat places to skate!
[UPDATE: 18.06.2006]
Seems that Google has now found this entry about skating in London and plenty of people are visiting this one-year-old post! If you do want some fun summer skating in London, try Friday Night Skate, Sunday Rollerstroll, and the Wednesday evening skates. I’ve been a couple of times on Wednesday evenings – very good fun. You might also have a look at London Skaters Speed Team and Serpentine Road Forum.
If you “really want to train”, you could do worse than talk to the LSST (www.londonspeedskaters.com) people – we do regular sessions at Tatem Park and Richmond Park. You don’t have to be fast to join (but you might find you’re significantly faster after coming out with us regularly for a while 😉
Hi Jon,
I recently found this page (http://www.jonworth.eu/?p=7) on your website. Whilst having a look through it I noticed that you have an incorrect link for the London Friday Night Skate. You currently link to http://www.thefns.com, which is a site operated by Citiskate (a commercial organisation).
The London Friday Night Skate (LFNS) is run by volunteer marshals with no commercial objective and its official website is http://www.lfns.co.uk.
The site also runs the Sunday Stroll (Sunday afternoons) which is probably a more appropriate speed and distance for introducing skaters to group street skating.
Check out some pictures from one of our most recent skates – http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060505/40
There is a similar skate on Wednesdays, details of which are available at http://www.londonskate.com. These people are also all volunteers but only operate between May and September.
If you would like further details of the LFNS or the opportunity to meet us please contact us at mec@lfns.co.uk.
Regards
The LFNS
Sorry for the time it took to get these comments displayed! They were intercepted by the spam filter for some reason… Anyway, this post relates to last summer and I have not really had the chance this summer to get my skates on. I might come along on Sunday this weekend though, weather permitting!
Hi Jon,
Have you thought about the Lee Valley cycle Circuit? Last chance this summer before it gets knocked down for the Olympics… 🙂
I noticed that you have an incorrect links for the London Friday Night Skate & the Sunday Stroll. You currently link to http://www.thefns.com & http://www.rollerstroll.com, which are sites operated by Citiskate (a commercial organisation).
The London Friday Night Skate (LFNS) is run by volunteer marshals with no commercial objective and its official website is http://www.lfns.co.uk.
The site also runs the Sunday Stroll (Sunday afternoons) which is probably a more appropriate speed and distance for introducing skaters to group street skating.
Check out some pictures from one of our most recent skates – http://www.lfns.co.uk/route.php/20060505/40
If you would like further details of the LFNS or the opportunity to meet us please contact us at mec@lfns.co.uk.
Regards
The LFNS