Hi,
I’ve learned a lot from here in the run up to passing my module 2 earlier today, so thought I’d share what happened on my test at Erith.
I came from West London, and had my test booked for 8.15, so a nice run around the north circular to get warmed up. We stopped just down the road from the test centre to talk about roundabouts - there’s a big one junction of Anderson Way and the A2016, so just make sure you’re in the correct lane, as it has four lanes on approach, including the nearside, which slips around to the left. You’ll come from the 2 o’clock position, so if you’re going right at the roundabout, get into the right hand lane nicely!
I had a couple of questions: where’s the emergency engine kill, what would I expect the bike to handle like with a pillion, how would I check the tyres. Simple textbook stuff - nobody’s going to struggle with those.
The ride was fairly simple: independent ride towards Thamesmead, which lasted about five minutes. When my examiner took over again, I wondered what I did wrong, but no problems. The ride, end to end, lasted about 20 minutes, included three ‘pull over and then ride on’ tests, one of which was on a road with a nasty adverse camber into the kerb, which nearly caught me out. Look out for the 20 signs as well - went through a couple of roads like that. No hill starts.
No bus lanes to worry about, no tricks on telling you to take the next right, and then finding out it’s a no-entry road - had a couple of those thrown at me during training - and no one-way roads either.
I tracked my route using Google Tracks, and you can see it here - if it helps someone else out, that’s great.
Total route was about 8 miles, and according to the stats, I didn’t get above 30mph. There were a couple of sharp turns, which you’ll see on the map, but really nothing to worry about. Of course, your route could be different.
Just remember your lifesavers. At times, it felt like I was overdoing it, and regular - and OBVIOUS - glances in your mirrors all the time.
Good luck!
Regards
Paul
