Anyone got a quiet road route from West to North East London

[marvincooper]

Hi, my first post here and after some route advice please...

I’m cycling to Earls Colne in North Essex on Friday, from Swindon. I’ve done this a couple of times before with a route going north of the M25. This time I fancy a change and I’m looking at going through London.

Does anyone have a quiet road route from West to North East London that I could take a look at? Can’t do off-road as I’m going to be on skinny wheels. Having said that, is the Lea Valley route suitable for a road bike?

Cheers
Allan

 

[srw]

There is no such thing as a quiet road route in London, especially on a working day. Having said that, if you pick the right main road your runs in and out will be easy. For what it's worth, I'd look for something that is single carriageway most of the way, that is speed restricted all the way, that goes through local centres rather than round them and which has helpful junctions (traffic lights, not roundabouts) with the "big" roads like the North Circular and any motorways.

 

[anyuser]

Not sure if it helps you from Swindon but from the City I normally head out and pick up the A104 which takes me roughly NE as far as Epping and then i divert through North Weald and pick up country lanes as far as Great Dunmow area. A104 is not bad in my experience, although i do not go in rush hour.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Hi, my first post here and after some route advice please...

I’m cycling to Earls Colne in North Essex on Friday, from Swindon. I’ve done this a couple of times before with a route going north of the M25. This time I fancy a change and I’m looking at going through London.

Does anyone have a quiet road route from West to North East London that I could take a look at? Can’t do off-road as I’m going to be on skinny wheels. Having said that, is the Lea Valley route suitable for a road bike?

Cheers
Allan

I've no idea whether the Lea Valley will help you but I've done it on a road bike without problems - there's a few cobbled stretches in the south, further north around the reservoirs there are long, flat stretches of packed gravel which are fine and even relatively fast. Recent rain will have damped down the dust too.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Surprisingly, finding quiet roads through central London is actually pretty easy. There are loads of backroads that parallel the main ones.

Just randomly turn left then right or vice-versa when on main roads. Admittedly this approach does get messed-up by one-way systems in places, but I recently took a new-to-cycling friend across central London on a weekday using almost all quiet roads.

 

[andym]

Your best bet is probably the journey planner on the tfl.gov.uk website. The main issue when you're doing that type of journey is the trade-off between quiet roads and the most direct route.

 

[marvincooper]

Thanks for the tips folks. I'll take a look at the A104. Any more advice welcome!

 

[Deleted member 31621]

Go on the canals. The tow paths are perfectly suitable for that type of bike. The canal system runs down the eastern edge of the Lea Valley to the Olympic Park (or there are more direct canal routes through London). They are both reasonably quiet and a better quality of track than 'off road'.

 

[marvincooper]

Thanks, I was thinking of maybe using the Regents Canal but have never been there before. You think it will be OK on a road bike though? Is it a gravel path? I take the road bike down a local railway path and that's fine for a couple miles so I guess it'd be OK.

 

[Deleted member 31621]

Thanks, I was thinking of maybe using the Regents Canal but have never been there before. You think it will be OK on a road bike though? Is it a gravel path? I take the road bike down a local railway path and that's fine for a couple miles so I guess it'd be OK.

I'm only familiar with the route on Regents canal between Limehouse and Camden, so not all the way, but it is mostly paved, some hardened dirt surface, no gravel. Nothing I think will be overly troubling on a road bike. Had no issues on a Boris Bike with this route. I've seen plenty of people on the tow paths using road bikes without trouble. The one other pointer is that there is a large tunnel under Islington so be prepared to come off the canal, work your way through an estate and some backroads, and rejoin it the other side.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Also, on nice sunny days there will be lots of pedestrians, so it will be a lot slower than the roads.

 

[wakou]

I have cycled from near Heathrow to Chelmsford, Essex. The canal at the western end to about Greenford is unpaved but perfectly cyclable in summer, it would be sticky after a lot of rain etc. Most of it through London is paved, and is a lovely ride, but must be ridden with care, look out for peds and dogs etc. then Victoria Park and on to the Stort Valley canal/Lea Valley...This is excellent for the most part, especially across the marshes, tarmacced, traffic free etc. You can ride this all the way to Harlow. Are you familiar with the Sustrans NCN? you can plan a route using the cycle network... Have a look here....
http://www.opencyclemap.org/
FWIW I cycled on the path from Watford to Harlow the other week, and it was wonderful... (Route 61)

 

[wakou]

Having said that, blasting through London is just that, a BLAST. Why choose a quite route?

 

[CopperBrompton]

I video'd a bit of my ride yesterday just to illustrate my point about quiet parallel roads. This is 5pm on a weekday!



I've done it as double-speed to make it quick to watch. Count how many moving cars I pass or pass me ...

 

[srw]

That looks like the City - 5pm is well before rush hour there. And the routing isn't exactly the simplest.

For the OP, you've got a choice - there are plenty of back-street or canal towpath routes, but the back-streets will have lots of parked cars (dooring risk) and the canal towpaths will have pedestrians. Back streets are much more difficult to navigate, and the junctions will slow you down if you're not as famiilar with them (or gung-ho) as Trikeman. Main roads have the advantage of simplicity and hence speed.