Any city visit can be expensive so it is useful to have a few free things lined up to do. How about these?
1. Go to Borough market on a Saturday morning and spend an hour or so walking around the many stalls selling a wide range of foods and drinks. Nearly all stalls have samples on offer so you will be able to try before you buy. Depending how many times you walk around you might not need to buy any lunch!
2. Join the Metropolitan walkers on a Tuesday evening and go for a walk of about three miles and end up at a pub. This walking group aimed at people in there 20s and 30s is a really friendly group and organises a range of walks at weekends at this one on a Tuesday evening. The ones at the weekends are usually in the country and are a great way of escaping the smog of the city. Simply look at the website to see which train station you have to meet at and away you go.
3. Sit in the Houses of Parliament in the public gallery and watch a debate for free. If you go through your local MP then you arrange a time to see prime ministers question time. Visit the website to read more about it.
4. Hire a Barclays bike (you may know these as a Boris bike). Okay this one is not exactly free but it is very cheap. It will cost you £2.00 for access then nothing for every half hour journey. You can travel a long way on a bike in London and it is a great way to see the city. There are some first phone apps which can help you plan your bike journey and they will tell you in real time where the bike racks are and where the free spaces are when you come to return your bike.
5. Have an intelligent hour and watch a lecture at Gresham College. This historic college in Holborn offers free lectures on a Tuesday evening at 6.00. If you want an idea of what you can expect the you can watch past lectures online from their website. Lectures are from topics from all academic disciplines.
If you would like to contribute your free things to do in London then please e-mail your suggestions to 5thingstodotoday.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy your cheap day in London.
David