Cycling in London

London cyclist ‘Juliet’ writes:

Useless-to-bad cycle facilities: the vast majority of cycle lanes. Which are overwhelmingly too narrow, stop/start at random, are full of crap & broken glass, encourage dangerous undertaking, etc etc. Avoid bike lanes on pavements if at all possible unless you enjoy pedestrian-slalom (pedestrians, sadly, are fitted with neither indicators nor brake lights). Be aware that cycle lanes may stop very suddenly & spit you back into traffic (see: Upper Thames St, among others). Use your judgement & if in doubt stick with the traffic. (I also have a whole rant about the abstract concept of cycle lanes & why it sucks. But I shall leave that for now.)