Travel advice London Marathon

[manda]

Hi people,

Just wondering if anyone has any advice regarding travelling to the marathon next weekend as we're going up to cheer a relative on. We're travelling from Southampton and were ideally hoping to drive and park somewhere for free- but obviously not anywhere near the race itself!! We've parked in Richmond before and got the train in but it seems there are no trains running that weekend- only Tubes which takes ages. Ideally we want somewhere near either a mainline station or as near as possible to say Waterloo as we can get without getting caught up in road closures etc. I know there are lots of areas with free parking on sunday but we either park Richmond or north of water (Camden, Westminster) neither of which would be ideal for the race day.

We're hoping to watch somewhere around Bermondsey so want easy connection to Jubilee line. We then hope to catch up the race towards the end again but we're allowing time to walk if tubes are heaving. Having never been though- I don't know whether they end up being too busy to use or not?

We can get the train although it would cost more- does anyone have any ideas how busy the trains tend to be- really don't fancy standing the whole way and all the literature says how busy public transport will be....

Any tips gratefully received!

[TheGayTent]

As long as you get there before 9am there are plenty of places to park in and around Greenwich for free. Certainly there are lots of places within a 10 - 15 min walk of the centre of Greenwich.

I'd watch from either just before or just after Greenwich as the centre itself and around the Cutty Sark is very heavily congested. From there you have lots of options. Personally I'd jump on the DLR or walk through the foot tunnel to the Isle of Dogs. You could watch from Mudchute (only 2 stops from the Cutty Sark on the DLR) or 15-30 min walk depending on the crowds through the tunnel. Ocassionally, you may have to wait for 10 minutes outside the foot tunnel as on race day they limit the amount of people in the tunnel at any one time. You can also have to wait 15mins at the DLR station as they also limit the numbers on platforms for H&S reasons.

An alternative to Mudchute is to stay on the DLR and go through to Westferry - this is a good place to watch as you can see runners twice - it's both (approx) the 15 and 20 mile mark. Easy then to get into town and the finish area from there too.

The tube is busy, just have to accept that it will take you longer to move around than normal. Though on the plus side, it is an extremely good carnival atmosphere. The trains are far less busy than the tube and if you're travelling in from Waterloo you won't have an issue getting a seat and sitting all the way in to London. Leaving again may be a tad more crowded and uncomfortable, but at least you can have enjoyed the public houses by then so not mind as much...