The trip that I have organised today is firmly located in south London, across an area that I have never visited before, perhaps even neglected. The weather is reasonable, a couple of clouds, a bit of sunshine – temperatures in the low 10s. Not too bad. I will be cycling down Streatham High Street, Europe’s longest high street. Streatham is a peculiar place. It has one London’s biggest ice-skating rings, a bowling alley and a very old public swimming pool.

But before I tell you about the trip itself, let me introduce you to a very important member of my automatic entourage. My bicycle. Aluminium frame, rather stiff, very comfortable saddle which is crucial for trips of any length – and a pair of very good tires. I brought it over from Denmark with Ryanair, which was surprisingly easy.

For this trip I have taped the GPS device to my bike so I can at any time clearly see whether or not I am heading in the right direction. On sortie i I had the GPS in my pocket, which occasionally meant that I lost the signal. The device also has a speed and distance indicator. I have configured it to tell me distances in nautical miles and speeds in knots. That way I am using the same system of measurement as the aircrafts that fly above me.

The first point today I locate on a rather non-descript street, if you could call a street that. A car dealer next door dominates the scene. No customers around. I leave just as quickly as I arrive and continue the journey to my next destination, less than a mile away – set on a quiet residential street. A couple of cars are driving by, one stops and a woman gets out. She looks quickly in my direction as I am fiddling around with the f-stop on my camera. I try to look occupied. She walks into a nearby house.

Just as I cycle away from the waypoint, up a small hill, the scenery changes considerably giving me an incredible view across south London. It’s beautiful, and for a moment the sun comes out, but disappears soon afterwards. I take my picture and continue towards the third and last point of this journey located close-by. I wind my way into a maze of one-way streets to get to point det29, located in a street inhabited by one-storey semi-detached houses. The street is empty. The sky is off-white. It’s Sunday. I turn around and head home.