The next hour or so passed in much the same way - feeling as if I was part of the traffic, but one which was actually allowed to do things like cycle over a pedestrian bridge. At busy places there were cycle lanes, but not like we have all too often in the UK. Here they seemed to be thought out, placed where they were going to be of benefit, and often segregated. Where they came back out, or crossed junctions, you had right of way, and it was a right of way adhered to by the drivers around you.

Moving up the inside of traffic it pulled slightly to the left to create more space, even taxi drivers indulging in this moment of road sharing. I was beginning to see why this scheme has proved so popular in Paris (and in a country which someone told me treated cycling as a 'sport' not as a way of getting around). Add to this that it's virtually free (if you return the bike to a station within half an hour you pay nothing, after that it's €1 per half hour until it's being held onto for a long time when the price ramps up) and it becomes a very attractive option.

There are problems, of course. Stations at the bottom of hills tend to fill up leaving nowhere to park your bike, while those higher up can stand empty. But the terminals at the station can tell you where the nearest alternative stations are, and exactly how many bikes are currently parked there, or how many spaces are available for you to park. Meanwhile a van with a big trailer shuffles bikes about, and takes damaged bikes to the barge workshop which moves about the Seine.

There has been talk of replication of this scheme (albeit on a smaller scale) in London. The Mayor, Ken Livingstone, seems determined on the issue. But it is perhaps a statement on the UK mentality towards cycling that apathy or an instant gut feeling of 'it wouldn't work here' takes hold whenever it's mentioned.

Maybe they're right. I certainly haven't enjoyed a feeling of being part of the traffic with a right to be there as much as I have in Paris, and this may be the crux of the problem for the UK. Never mind the tenfold increase in cycling within Paris (with only a threefold increase in accident rates); never mind the social and environmental benefits. Like attempts at 'café culture' within the UK the whole difference is based on exactly that: 'culture'.

Whatever the reasons, emboldened by my jaunt the previous day I was joined by my partner for a trip round to the Eiffel Tower on the bikes the following day where my thoughts on Parisian cycling were confirmed and vindicated. Vive le Vélib!

.anthony robson