SUSTRAN1/Lea Valley cycle path

[Tynan]

Saw a bike duck off Ferry Lane last night onto what I later realised was the Lea Valley Cycle Path

gave it a go today as an alternative to the not entirely pleasant Ferry Lane through Walthamstow

nice, despite a long stretch covered in hardboard and another long stretch with rough stones and mud

bizarre feeling to be cracking along with nothing but ducks and geese for company, passed one cyclist and two peds in 20 minutes, missed the right fork that would have taken me directly home so went past Picketts Lock and came through Chingford via the rather dastardly Kings something hill and then home the long way

a squint at the cycle map shows me the right way sans hills, and it looks like the same distance, perhaps a little slower but 15 minutes bowling along the canalside inside of smashing through the self-gratification artists in Walthamstow, sounds like a good deal

it apparently starts in Docklands and goes to Ware, the lady wife went a fair bit North in the Summer and reported nice pubs and farm animals, got the gator arm ready to install for the youngest so it's all looking rather promising

 

[goo_mason]

Cycle lanes can be a rather pleasant way of getting around without the hassle you get on the roads. Until the wrong kind of wildlife starts lobbing bottles or bricks at you

But that's probably just a feature of the paths and the areas they pass through round these parts

 

[domtyler]

It can be nice at certain times, at others pretty terrible. Late at night you can get a lot of weirdo's and/or gangs. At others the canal is lined with fishermen laying their poles across the path, normally accompanied by lots of dogs and walkers.

 

[Milo]

I lived down there at the bottom of spring hill near Springfield park not a bad path until you get to walthem town.

 

[Tynan]

suppose, it does seem to be reasonably remote from anywhere though, the bit I was on, industrial estates and scrap yards as far as the eye can see to either side

we'll see I guess, going to give it a try, there's plenty of pond life on the road through Walthamstow too

 

[Milo]

Once you get past walthem town and on to the stort its quite nice. Theres a old quarry on the first lock of the stort.
Though you would need a MTB to get up that far.

 

[spindrift]

You would know the Anchor and Hope, miloat?

That's an......interesting pub!

 

[Tynan]

Not a glorious first attempt, utterly failed to detect the 'quiet cycle route', no signpost nada, followed my nose through the rush hour traffic and drizzle as far as the cycle route that comes east along the north circ and then end suddenly at the pavement/road with a sign pointing left to Chingford (no lane) and the instruction for cyclists to dismount

and then do what I have no idea at all, rode on the pavement, or what passes for one on the North Circ slip road, fine thereafter although the path is a bit iffy in places, no worse than the road

finishing off with setting a new record for successive red lights, one of those days when you catch red lights you've never noticed before

more squinting at the map called for for Monday

 

[spindrift]

Do you not just stay on the towpath tynan?


http://www.sustrans.org.uk/webfiles/leaflets/London Docklands leaflet.pdf

 

[Tynan]

I wish, I'd love to

My commute is essentially East/West from Chingford to Willesden, so I can do a short bit of towpath to take me fro Chingford to Tottenham Hale and pickup Ferry Lane/Seven Sisters road thereafter, look sgood on paper as it cuts out the road through Walthamstow and a rather steep hill to start with to get me there

I've studied the various leaflets and maps a lot, translating them to the actual routes is proving to be quite a challenge

the bit I can use is the bit from the North Circ south to Ferry Lane, that's fine, it from my house to the towpath that went wrong today, and for that matter getting off the tow path last night, that leaflet has nothing about the routes to do that, there's good local cycle map at home that makes it all look very easy

the obvious road to get me there is unfortunately the North Circular

 

[spindrift]

I swing north from the Regents Canal up the lea navigation, but I come off the towpath at Ruckholt Rd.

You can carry on north through hertfordshire.

 

[Tynan]

indeed, planning some trips en famille northwards when the weather is better, into te countryside for some nice beer garden action

it would be very nice to have a commute entirely along the river

 

[cupoftea]

I used to use that cycle path when I lived in Chingford and worked in Stratford. For about 5 year I loved cycling along that route.

I used to get a number of puntures from the broken glass, but it was wonderful in the mornings and during the summer.

It also felt "out" of the weather

Oh well, I now live in Buckhurst Hill and commute to Westminster.

 

[Tynan]

gone posh cuppa? what's Buckhusrt Hill like, I can never quite decide whether it's slightly posh or chav central (granted rich chavs)

a bit too far east and going a bit too far west now?

have to say I've enjoyed it so far, it's very pleasant and serene, I'm just now squinting at cycling with my daughter to the Lea Valley Riding Centre, a very tempting 5 miler almost entirely on the towpath, once we've got to the towpath

 

[Milo]

Yep i know that pub can be dicey.
I used to live at the marina near there for a couiple of years.