Redhill to London

asprilla

Anyone know a good route from Redhill to London?

Clever Pun

A23 is the direct route.. not bad till it gets towards streatham, brixton etc

before Croydon you might want to try the A235 then head over crystal palace

or head accross on the 232 and go through beckenham and catford

asprilla

Cheers. What do you mean by:

Clever Pun wrote:

not bad till it gets towards streatham, brixton etc

Is that bad as in busy, difficult to follow, dangerous?

SteppenHerring

The A23 is definitely the flattest route in. On the way back though I really wouldn't fancy the A23/M23 junction on my own in the dark. Actually I don't like it during the day in a group.

Purley can get a bit mad, but again it's the flattest route. Continuing on the A23, it gets a bit fast & mad between Purley and Waddon but it's downhill so You can hold high speed on the way in. On the way back, not so sure but other people do cycle on it.

Further North than Croydon I can't help you I'm afraid.

londonlivvy

Asprilla wrote:

Cheers. What do you mean by:

Clever Pun wrote:

not bad till it gets towards streatham, brixton etc

Is that bad as in busy, difficult to follow, dangerous?

A23 isn't much fun, IMO.
- some pretty fast dual carriage way sections with huge trucks blasting past.
- some single carriage way with no bus lane which makes filtering tricky
- millions* of sets of traffic lights
- loads of kamikaze pedestrians, particularly in thornton heath / north croydon

*this may be a teeny exaggeration

I think I would instead look at sportive routes (I know pearson100 left from sutton) and see if they have better routes into town. I'd aim for Coulsdon, Chipstead, Woodmansterne, Carshalton. Then I'd avoid the A24 in Tooting like the plague. Brixton is also good for elevating the HR.

Clever Pun

Asprilla wrote:

Cheers. What do you mean by:

Clever Pun wrote:

not bad till it gets towards streatham, brixton etc

Is that bad as in busy, difficult to follow, dangerous?

choc-a-traffic easy to follow, just a bit grim. It's quicker to go a longer way during rush hours. late at night it's fine


as mentioned previously the A23/M23 junction is a tw@t if you're heading south. I can't remember it being bad heading north

asprilla

Clever Pun wrote:

It's quicker to go a longer way

Music to a Silly Commuter Statter..

Origamist

I'd keep it simple. I'd go A23 to Coulsdon, then the A237 (an old school road - very little cycle provision, narrow in parts, so expect the odd close overtake) to Mitcham (watch out for the one way system). From there, you have the poor A23, the poor A24/A3 or the poor A214 over Wandsworth Bridge.

asprilla

Thanks all.

It's going to be a while yet, but if I do move then I guess I'll have to do quite a few weekend exploratory rides.

Origamist

Clever Pun wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

Cheers. What do you mean by:

Clever Pun wrote:

not bad till it gets towards streatham, brixton etc

Is that bad as in busy, difficult to follow, dangerous?

choc-a-traffic easy to follow, just a bit grim. It's quicker to go a longer way during rush hours. late at night it's fine


as mentioned previously the A23/M23 junction is a tw@t if you're heading south. I can't remember it being bad heading north

You can avoid the A23 by going: Reigate Hill, Blackhorse Lane, High Road, Starrock Lane, Portnalls Lane and then onto the A237.

SteppenHerring

Origamist wrote:

You can avoid the A23 by going: Reigate Hill, Blackhorse Lane, High Road, Starrock Lane, Portnalls Lane and then onto the A237.

Reigate Hill? Really don't like that one. Busy, steep ...

If you want to go up the back way (watch it - ed) then take the A23 towards Merstham then at the lights by the industrial estate, take a left into Rocky Lane, follow this over then right on Gatton Bottom, left up Markedge Lane (short climb) and that joins up with the High Road Origamist mentioned. Turn right onto there and it will lead you (eventually) down Portnalls to Coulsdon where you can pick up the A237.

Going to be very dark along there in the winter though.

I sometimes ride the section of the A23 from Purley to Coulsdon on the way home - and usually wish that I hadn't. It's possible to survive but not nice.

asprilla

Mate of mine comes in from Dorking every day as well, so I'm going to ask him what his route is and try to jump on that at an appropriate point.

Origamist

SteppenHerring wrote:

Origamist wrote:

You can avoid the A23 by going: Reigate Hill, Blackhorse Lane, High Road, Starrock Lane, Portnalls Lane and then onto the A237.

Reigate Hill? Really don't like that one. Busy, steep ...

If you want to go up the back way (watch it - ed) then take the A23 towards Merstham then at the lights by the industrial estate, take a left into Rocky Lane, follow this over then right on Gatton Bottom, left up Markedge Lane (short climb) and that joins up with the High Road Origamist mentioned. Turn right onto there and it will lead you (eventually) down Portnalls to Coulsdon where you can pick up the A237.

Going to be very dark along there in the winter though.

I sometimes ride the section of the A23 from Purley to Coulsdon on the way home - and usually wish that I hadn't. It's possible to survive but not nice.

I agree, Reigate Hill is not going to be for everyone - 45mph + is easily doable and traffic can be heavy in the rush hour. I'll be honest though, whilst I enjoy it on a weekend spin, I'm not sure I'd want to be flying down their every night. Howerver you can avoid it easily enough.

Origamist

Asprilla wrote:

Mate of mine comes in from Dorking every day as well, so I'm going to ask him what his route is and try to jump on that at an appropriate point.

I know a sponsored chap who comes in from Dorking, races MTBs. I meet him on CS7. Not sure of his route though.

If you do move, you'll have lots of route options - all of them with pluses and minuses IME.

sketchley

A24 (CS7) to tooting broadway, then turn left onto Mitcham Road and then follow to right on to A217. Follow A217 all the way to J8 M25 then straight across and down Reigate Hill.

The A217 is mostly duel carriageway but traffic flow is broken up by lights and roundabouts, I've not ridden it in rush hour but providing you keep a decent pace up I don't think it'll be a problem. There are various routes to left and right of A217 if you want to avoid it.

I've only done this at night and this is from memory but look right on the map. A "nice" route would be to take the A4/A217 to Mitcham, then the A237 towards Wallington and on to Colusdon North and turn right on to B2032, Chipstead Valley Road, just before railway turn left onto How Lane past Chipstead Golf Club and then onto "high road" and through Coulsdon to J8. It's country lanes and a bit up and down but shouldn't be busy although not done it in rush hour. This time of year you will need bright lights as it's country lanes and no street lights.

EDIT: That's London to Redhill, but works the other way too

clarkey cat

bit far - I wouldnt bother.

SteppenHerring

Sketchley wrote:

A24 (CS7) to tooting broadway, then turn left onto Mitcham Road and then follow to right on to A217. Follow A217 all the way to J8 M25 then straight across and down Reigate Hill.

The A217 is mostly duel carriageway but traffic flow is broken up by lights and roundabouts, I've not ridden it in rush hour but providing you keep a decent pace up I don't think it'll be a problem. There are various routes to left and right of A217 if you want to avoid it.

I've only done this at night and this is from memory but look right on the map. A "nice" route would be to take the A4/A217 to Mitcham, then the A237 towards Wallington and on to Colusdon North and turn right on to B2032, Chipstead Valley Road, just before railway turn left onto How Lane past Chipstead Golf Club and then onto "high road" and through Coulsdon to J8. It's country lanes and a bit up and down but shouldn't be busy although not done it in rush hour. This time of year you will need bright lights as it's country lanes and no street lights.

EDIT: That's London to Redhill, but works the other way too

I hate the A217. I live right next to it. Whever I take my 11 year old son out, we have to do a short stretch on it to get anywhere. Add in the fun of the recent roadworks ..

Down Reigate hill is a lot of fun - easy to stay with the traffic around 45mph. Up is an utter bedstead - although it does introduce you to a new experience: being pleased to see the M25.

Origamist

SteppenHerring wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

A24 (CS7) to tooting broadway, then turn left onto Mitcham Road and then follow to right on to A217. Follow A217 all the way to J8 M25 then straight across and down Reigate Hill.

The A217 is mostly duel carriageway but traffic flow is broken up by lights and roundabouts, I've not ridden it in rush hour but providing you keep a decent pace up I don't think it'll be a problem. There are various routes to left and right of A217 if you want to avoid it.

I've only done this at night and this is from memory but look right on the map. A "nice" route would be to take the A4/A217 to Mitcham, then the A237 towards Wallington and on to Colusdon North and turn right on to B2032, Chipstead Valley Road, just before railway turn left onto How Lane past Chipstead Golf Club and then onto "high road" and through Coulsdon to J8. It's country lanes and a bit up and down but shouldn't be busy although not done it in rush hour. This time of year you will need bright lights as it's country lanes and no street lights.

EDIT: That's London to Redhill, but works the other way too

I hate the A217. I live right next to it. Whever I take my 11 year old son out, we have to do a short stretch on it to get anywhere. Add in the fun of the recent roadworks ..

Down Reigate hill is a lot of fun - easy to stay with the traffic around 45mph. Up is an utter bedstead - although it does introduce you to a new experience: being pleased to see the M25.

+1 The A217 would be one of my least favourite routes south. It's not too bad after midnight, but it's for braver souls than me during the rush-hour. IIRC, it is better going nothbound than southbound, but I'd not recommend it.