National Express East Anglia

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melliff

Active Member
My partner and I took the train from Liverpool Street to Ware yesterday to do the Lea Valley cycle route from Ware to Limehouse.

The NXEA website gives the impression that the company is very cycle friendly but the train we caught had no provision for cycles at all and the area around the doors was too small for more than one bike so we had to stand in two separate areas.

How can they run trains without any cycle facilities at all?

Martin.
 
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chillyuk

Guest
Bad news with the train, but hope it didn't sour the day too much for you.

I moved to Harlow last year and the Lea Valley run to London is one that I keep looking at as I have a number of access points fairly locally to me.

Can you tell me is the route easily followable and well signed. I can't be bothered stopping every 5 minutes to study a map. What is the surface like to ride on and is it busy with pedestrians taking up the pathway.

I'm retired so will do it during the week when hopefully it should be a little quieter.
 

claud rider

New Member
Location
Norwich, Norfolk
The good thing here in Norfolk is that all the local trains will take bikes with no pre booking...just turn up and go...and bikes go free!!!
Trouble is the carriage is fairly small and space is limited so can be a squeeze in the summer.
Bit of a scramble at the station stop because you can guarantee that YOUR bike is buried under several others!
 

TheDoctor

Europe Endless
Moderator
Location
The TerrorVortex
The Lea Valley route has a somewhat variable surface - from tarmac to short stretches of rutted dirt track. Bits can be busy with anglers, dog walkers and such like.
Navigation is pretty easy - it's essentially a towpath beside a navigable river, so if you follow the water you won't go far wrong!
 

Will1985

Über Member
Location
South Norfolk
NXEA is very good if you live on the Intercity route. I agree the local trains are pretty useless and I've had problems with a bike when the Norwich-Liverpool St service stopped at Marks Tey to switch onto a slower train.
 
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melliff

Active Member
chillyuk said:
Can you tell me is the route easily followable and well signed. I can't be bothered stopping every 5 minutes to study a map. What is the surface like to ride on and is it busy with pedestrians taking up the pathway.

The route is easy to follow - it's the towpath pretty much all the way. The only tricky bit was at Bow Road where the towpath led us up onto the roundabout and it took us a few minutes to cross the road and find the towpath again.

I have put the GPS track for the route on bikely.com in case you have a SatNav.

Martin.
 
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chillyuk

Guest
Thanks for the advice about the ride. I will set out early one morning and ride it.
 

andym

Über Member
melliff said:
My partner and I took the train from Liverpool Street to Ware yesterday to do the Lea Valley cycle route from Ware to Limehouse.

The NXEA website gives the impression that the company is very cycle friendly but the train we caught had no provision for cycles at all and the area around the doors was too small for more than one bike so we had to stand in two separate areas.

How can they run trains without any cycle facilities at all?

Martin.

Oh come on I think you're getting a tad melodramatic here. For one thing you don't need to stand - just lean the bike against the door (leeping an eye out for stations where the platform is on the other side).

Go to Spain or Italy - things may not be perfect for cyclists on British trains but yes there are train companies who are only too happy to run services without facilites for cycles - as in 'no bikes' in any shape or form.
 
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