London, Oxford, Cambridge. London.

[derrick]

As above has anyone done this, and do you have a tried and trusted route, Organizing a club ride. all help appreciated.

 

[Blue Hills]

As above has anyone done this, and do you have a tried and trusted route, Organizing a club ride. all help appreciated.

I have a gpx for a ride I have ridden between Upminster station and Cambridge you can have if you want.
It's on of my "routes"where I just mark turns - very compact file - works both ways due to simple turn markings. Must be easy to follow as I did it at night.
Let me know if you are interested.

I also have a gpx route which goes from Oxford to Eastcote.

Also ridden.

 

[mjr]

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/110724 gets you London to Cambridge. The backbone of it is CS1 to Enfield Island, National 1 to Ware and a B road to nearly Cambridge.

The National Byway to Sandy and then National 51 gets you to Oxford - friends have ridden this and say it's okay. See also https://cycle.travel/route/oxford_cambridge

National 5 then 4 would take you from Oxford to London. National 57 and back roads through Rickmansworth would be more direct and probably better surfaces but includes a couple of stiff hills. I've ridden only parts of these, not the London end.

 

[srw]

London to Oxford: https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/fnrttc-oxford-21st-september-2018.239315/

Oxford to Cambridge: https://www.squarewheels.org.uk/bike/routeCamOx/

I've done the whole of the London Oxford route in bits. Getting out of London is, as always, utilitarian, but once you're at Rickmansworth it's lovely. Personally I prefer the variation after Thame that stays north of the A40 via Stanton St John.

I've done bits of the Oxford-Cambridge route, and it's a bit of the country it's difficult to go wrong with.

I know nothing about going from Cambridge.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Cambridge to London, come down through Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow. Then pick up the reverse of the Dunwich Dynamo.

 

[mjr]

Cambridge to London, come down through Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow. Then pick up the reverse of the Dunwich Dynamo.

Unless something has changed, I'd not do that unless you'll be entering London in the evening. Some of the roads are basic width and too busy for me during the day. Even blasting down the A10 would be preferable IMO.

 

[derrick]

Cambridge to London, come down through Saffron Walden and Great Dunmow. Then pick up the reverse of the Dunwich Dynamo.

Thats the easy bit, we do London Cambridge London as a reguler ride.

 

[uphillstruggler]

There is a route that theBHF use between Oxford and Cambridge, I’m sure you could find that online, it’s a great route on quiet roads for the most part.

as for the London legs, can’t give any better advice than some of the above

best of luck

 

[matticus]

Oxford to Cambridge: https://www.squarewheels.org.uk/bike/routeCamOx/

I can endorse this (although I only went to St Ives!) . You really must go through Woburn park

 

[mjr]

Oxford to Cambridge: https://www.squarewheels.org.uk/bike/routeCamOx/
[...]
I've done bits of the Oxford-Cambridge route, and it's a bit of the country it's difficult to go wrong with.

It depends why you're riding and what you want to see. Richard's Route is about 10 miles shorter and avoids most of the towns but has about a dozen climbs on it, whereas a mixed Byway/Sustrans route has three, out of Croydon, to Cranfield and to the Claydons - and the last of those isn't a big hill - but crossing Milton Keynes and Bedford can take time if you're not used to urban cycleway riding.

 

[Solocle]

I've got Oxford-Cambridge and Oxford-London.
Oxford-Cambridge

Most of London - Strava glitched, it's 99.99 km. The missing bit is down the A4020.

The Oxford-Cambridge - it's taken from an Audax route, so reasonably direct, but not too busy. One change I made was at Amtphill towards Shefford, cutting out most of the A507, because it's a pretty grim single carriageway. The last bit into Shefford wasn't too bad 2nd time though...

Oxford-London, the B480 isn't the nicest, but it gets the job done. Alternatively, cut up to Wheatley, then use the A40 from there. Just the Oxford-Wheatley bit is a bit of a grim dual carriageway, there are nice back road alternatives. After that, although the A418 section is slightly hectic with the motorway junction, the A40 is pretty nice and quiet. It was fine for me all the way down to the Denham roundabout (Sunday moring/lunch). Do not follow the A40 any further than that, it's effectively the M40 from there.
The A4020 is the old A40, there's a bit of 40 mph dual carriageway - but when I hit it, it wasn't busy enough to be a problem. When the traffic started building, it basically went from comfortable freeflow to queues. There might be better routes, but I'd be reasonably happy doing that one again. However, there might well be times of day where it's to be avoided.

I'll defer on London-Cambridge.