King's Cross to Victoria route in London

[Glow worm]

Evenin' all. I'm planning to cycle (Brompton) from King's Cross to Victoria tomorrow to get to a meeting. Any locals out there with any tips of streets to avoid- or good'uns? The Sustrans site shows no routes of any use. I was planning to head down a road called St Martins Lane (looks OK from Google Earth!) then on past Trafalgar Square and down the Mall. Or am I mad? Should I listen to Mrs G and suffer the Underground with all it's hideous nastiness instead?

 

[marinyork]

I used to walk that. Not done it on a bike but wondered whether the route I did - Judd St, Saville Row, Kingsway, Strand, Mall would be good on the bike. Enjoy, I quite liked cycling around London in the day time for the first time, it was much more peaceful than I thought and Taxi drivers much less aggressive than in other cities.

 

[gaz]

Would avoid trafalgar square at all cost, is generally v.busy and you often get stuck in traffic.

I would personally take euston road westbound, then baker street, park lane, Grosvenor place towards victoria. pretty major roads, but you should be able to keep your speed up.

 

[BentMikey]

I would personally take euston road westbound, then baker street, park lane, Grosvenor place towards victoria. pretty major roads, but you should be able to keep your speed up.

+1

 

[jonny jeez]

Hi Glow worm, sounds like a good ride…don’t do the tube its horrid and full of germs!!

Your route sounds good, it will take you past the edge of Covent Garden, which is a cool spot and along the mall (which is on my new commute route so I can vouch for it as being “Spiffing”)

Trafalgar Square is a bit busy, but is well controlled by lights so you should have no trouble there.

How are you getting to St Martins. I assume you’ll run west along the Euston road to Tavistock (the spot where the 7-11 bombs all went off) and down past Russell sq to Kingsway, you’ll need to pull a right at the “eat” store (I think) to go past the Masonic Lodge/HQ (a big marble building at the bottom of drury lane), into longacre and on to St Martins.

Alternatively you could head along Shaftesbury lane, down Haymarket and across (down the steps that cars cant ride) into the mall that way (or follow pall mall right and along past St James Palace).

So many options.

What ever route you take, its nice and flat with no really nasty sections that I can see, so shouldn’t take you more that 20 minutes or so.

 

[al78]

The route I would do is along Euston Rd, left down Gower St, keep going to the end then turn right and then almost immediately left at the lights, then immediately bear left down Monmouth St, across seven dials, again keep going straight on (usually a nice quiet wide road) until you reach a T junction then turn right (facility for bikes to turn right here) then left onto St Martins Rd. From here go round the large island and along the Mall then keep heading in that general direction, once you get past Buckingham Palace you will see signs for Victoria Station.

The roundabout near Charing Cross always seems to be heavily congested but is easy to get through on a bike.

I have cycled from Euston to Victoria and from UCL to Victoria along this route many times and have not had any problems so far.

 

[Glow worm]

Hi Glow worm, sounds like a good ride…don’t do the tube its horrid and full of germs!!

How are you getting to St Martins. I assume you’ll run west along the Euston road to Tavistock (the spot where the 7-11 bombs all went off) and down past Russell sq to Kingsway, you’ll need to pull a right at the “eat” store (I think) to go past the Masonic Lodge/HQ (a big marble building at the bottom of drury lane), into longacre and on to St Martins.



Thanks everyone for your advice- really useful- what a great website this is! @JJ yes I'll probably head down Judd St now, and past Bloomsbury then Bedford Squares. Someone suggested Park Lane which is good, but I'm a bit of a country bumpkin to be honest and probably not ready for that level of adrenaline! Also it will be my first proper day back in the saddle after some leg muscle pain that lays me up sometimes so I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Glow worm]

The route I would do is along Euston Rd, left down Gower St, keep going to the end then turn right and then almost immediately left at the lights, then immediately bear left down Monmouth St, across seven dials, again keep going straight on (usually a nice quiet wide road) until you reach a T junction then turn right (facility for bikes to turn right here) then left onto St Martins Rd. From here go round the large island and along the Mall then keep heading in that general direction, once you get past Buckingham Palace you will see signs for Victoria Station.

The roundabout near Charing Cross always seems to be heavily congested but is easy to get through on a bike.

I have cycled from Euston to Victoria and from UCL to Victoria along this route many times and have not had any problems so far.

Hi Al78 - Sounds good - hadn't spotted Gower st as an option so will definately give that a go. I've got 45 mins to get to Victoria St in total from King's Cross so I reckon I should be OK at my usual 8-10 mph!

 

[g00se]

Just a thought if you're still after other routes. I used to walk this area a lot as a pedestrian. I've got a decent pootling route but it'll be a pain to remember for tomorrow. But simplified with a few more busier bits:

West out of Kings Cross on Euston Road then take a left onto Judd Street. Follow onto Hunter Street past the Bloomsbury Centre down onto Guildford Street. Turn left,then right onto Lambs Conduit Street (map has pedestrian and one way but there is bike access and a cool bike shop, cafes etc).

At the end, turn right onto Thobalds Road. And follow the traffic into the one-way and go Drake St, Proctor St, right onto High Holborn, crossing over Southampton Row.

Now you're at the top of Covent Garden.

A good route here is to turn left onto Endell Street and dog-leg onto Bow Street. At the end is a bike crossing access to the Strand and Waterloo Bridge. At this junction (watching out for peds who aren't aware of the bike crossing), turn right onto Strand and immediately left onto Savoy Street which will take you down to Victoria Embankment.

Now turn right onto Embankment and you can sightsee all the way down to the right turn onto Northumberland Ave which takes you to Admiralty Arch and the start of the Mall.

With the exception of crossing Southampton Row, it's prob one of the best scenic pootling routes. Cheers.

 

[slowmotion]

Absolutely no need to worry about Park Lane. It is really wide, and there are bus lanes in both directions, so you can keep out of most traffic if you want. I would take any route that uses the Mall though. On a sunny day, it's a great place to be on a bike... not for Scottish hard men though!

 

[zimzum42]

I would personally take euston road westbound, then baker street, park lane, Grosvenor place towards victoria. pretty major roads, but you should be able to keep your speed up.

This is probably the simplest route, and likely the quickest...

 

[Glow worm]

Well- I made it! Even better, my wife is still talking to me even though she thinks I'm nuts. A huge thanks to everyone for all the advice on routes. I ended up going down Gower St then weaving along past Russell Sq and down across Oxford St, & down St Martin's lane (which I recognised from Google Street View) then Trafalgar Sq. (closed eyes and hoped for the best) through that big arch thing and down the Mall which was the highlight. Really enjoyed it and thanks for all the tips.

@Slowmotion & gaz- I came back along Park Lane and you're dead right- it was a doddle apart from some idiot in an Audi who started beeping at me for some reason even though I was well over to the left.

@ g00se- good news is, I have to go back to Victoria next month, so I've noted your suggestions to try next time.

It felt like I needed almost a 6th sense during the busy bits like Trafalgar Sq and the Euston underpass as there's so much going on. But being a reasonably assertive rider, I got on OK making sure I could be seen which worked well.

So- If anyone ever needs any help on negotiating the mean streets of Swaffham Bulbeck to return the favour- I'm your man

 

[zimzum42]

My commute regularly takes me from Westley Waterless to Bottisham, but a court order bars me from setting eyes on the A14. Any route tips?

 

[Glow worm]

Quoting zimzum42 My commute regularly takes me from Westley Waterless to Bottisham, but a court order bars me from setting eyes on the A14. Any route tips?


The Singapore to Westely Waterless bit's a doddle. I'd weave my way through Malaysia and Thailand, then Laos (avoid Burma), China, Kazakstan (to avoid Iran etc), then Russia and Ukraine. After Slovakia, I'd head through the Czech Republic and Germany, then into Holland. Take the ferry from Hoek Van Holland to Harwich and enjoy quiet lanes of Essex and Suffolk and then get to Westley Waterless.

From there (the interesting bit), I'd head out of the village north west along Westley Bottom Road, along the bridleway, over the railway line then over the A11 and the A14 still on the traffic free route to join the A1303 into Bottisham. It's all downhill too. It's agreat route I've done may times (to Westley that is- I've rarely continued on to Singapore)

 

[Flying Dodo]

Glow worm - if you were carrying further along Euston Road in the future, and want to avoid the Euston underpass, at the point where the road starts to go down, take the left fork and at the lights hop off onto the pavement to the right, where there's a cycle path which then takes you across the junction with Tottenham Court Road (complete with bike crossing).