Over the May bank holiday weekend, I went for a bike ride through the empty streets of London. As a disclaimer, for those of you reading this outside of May 2020, London is currently in Lockdown due to the global pandemic known as COVID19. After weeks of the strict lockdown, the UK government as of May allowed people to go out for unlimited amounts of time for exercise and fresh air. During this entire bike ride, I was safe and practiced social distancing. Now back to my experience of biking around empty London. It was apocalyptic. I have lived in London for nearly 5 years now and I have never seen the streets of London so empty.
Over the weekend I decided to go outside for a bit of an adventure (by myself). After seeing a bunch of people post pictures of the empty streets of London I had to go see it for myself. We had some glorious weather in London and I wanted to see central London for myself. I am lucky enough to live near a Santander bike hire and was able to rent a bike contact-free. I rode my rented bike around some of the most popular tourist spots in London only to find them completely deserted. It was scary to see my beloved London so empty. I originally only wanted to take pictures for myself to document this historic moment, but I thought it would be interesting to share them with the online world. I shared my pictures on my Instagram as well.
Chinatown – London Lockdown Chinatown – London Lockdown
I also decided to record my entire bike ride again for my personal documentation of such a historic time. Usually this time of the year London is packed with tourists and busy with the daily lives of commuters. To see it so empty was peaceful and scary at the same time. I hope that in our lifetimes we never have to experience lockdown like this again, but I was able to document my bike ride and decided it would be fun to share on my Youtube channel. If you haven’t already feel free to check out the video below and leave a comment on what you think of lockdown and empty London.
Piccadilly Circus – London Lockdown Regent Street – London Lockdown
I hope someday soon we can go back to normal, but until then I am happy to have explored some of my favorite spots in London while the streets were empty! What do you think of empty London?
