The best cycling route out of london?

dunnnooo

So this is getting on my nerves. I like cycling in the countryside (no traffic lights!), and I don't like paying to get there. So I'm trying to work out the best way to get from Clapham common where, for my sins, I live, to somewhere outside the M25.
Tried going to Richmond- Twickenham- turn right to go past the stadium- London Rd/Staines Rd- Staines- Windsor ( ). And the amount of time it took and traffic nearly sent me to the loony bin, though Windsor was nice. Going to try heading a bit more south today, A24/217 type direction, hopefully coming out near Reigate/Buckland/Leatherhead, and will see how it goes.

Who else has tried this? Does anyone know the 'best' route to get out of London, or a better one than those above? Where are the nice areas to cycle, within pedaling distance, outside london? Any help hugely appreciated.

Beardface

Have you considered riding along the Thames out of London? It links up with the Basingstoke Canal and the River Wey, so you can ride off into Guildford and onto Horsham etc, or Basingstoke. No traffic lights, scenic views etc, much less stressful than the roads

iPete

If you want to head Windsor way and avoid any major carriageways, traffic is an inevitability, here is my route that avoids any nasty roads:
http://app.strava.com/rides/4580513

Monkeypump

Try all or part of the Olympic Road Race route? 9 laps of box hill might be 'challenging', but a couple should be fine.

http://www.london2012.com/documents/ven ... -route.pdf

keyser__soze

Heading towards Epsom/Ewell will get you out into decent cycling countryside quicker than going west towards Windsor. As for the best route from Clapham to there, I'd have to leave that up to someone else to suggest.

clarkey cat

yes go to Epsom, then you are basically at Box Hill and can enjoy the Surrey Hills.

anonymousblackfg

Get to Surbiton, then do any of the rides on the KW website.

Else the most direct is head to epsom and then head up past the hospital and you head under the M25 and you have the surrey hills in front of you.

Else turn up at 9am on a Sunday outside the laithwaites on the Portsmouth Road in Surbiton and go with others.

njee20

I ride down the A24, either through Epsom and Leatherhead and out towards Bookham/Guildford on the A25, or left at Ewell and up onto Epsom Downs and the back of Boxhill.

dunnnooo

Cheers for the (unexpectedly fast) replies. A couple more questions, leading on, if I may..

Stav- Didn't know you could. Where do you pick up the thames route from? Is it footpath (like the Thames Path), or are cycles expressly permitted?

Thanks for the route iPete- will try it next time I go that way.

And to Keyser

MonkeyPump- exactly how big is Box hill- I'm worried now about dragging my fat behind up it?

Anonymous- KW= Kingston Wheelers? Looks like a nice group, but I might pass on the 'turning up on a
Sunday' thing- I'm on a MTB at the moment, and, well, my speed reflects this. Fitness has nothing to do with it. Oh, no.

And to Keyser_Soze, Clarkey Cat and NJee- cheers again- will try Epsom route today.

TheStone

Another vote for A24 out to Epsom. From there you can take a few quiet, but hilly routes up to Headley, then over to Box Hill. The whole of Surrey is then great.

Or you stay on the A24 for a bit longer and take the B2209 (sign for Mickelham) to the foot of Box Hill.

Box Hill is about 2.5km at an easyish 5%. There are plenty of steeper hills around (Ranmore, Leith Hill), or keep heading south and it's miles and miles of rolling country lanes.

Kieran_Burns

dunnnooo wrote:

So this is getting on my nerves. I like cycling in the countryside (no traffic lights!), and I don't like paying to get there. So I'm trying to work out the best way to get from Clapham common where, for my sins, I live, to somewhere outside the M25.
Tried going to Richmond- Twickenham- turn right to go past the stadium- London Rd/Staines Rd- Staines- Windsor ( ). And the amount of time it took and traffic nearly sent me to the loony bin, though Windsor was nice. Going to try heading a bit more south today, A24/217 type direction, hopefully coming out near Reigate/Buckland/Leatherhead, and will see how it goes.

Who else has tried this? Does anyone know the 'best' route to get out of London, or a better one than those above? Where are the nice areas to cycle, within pedaling distance, outside london? Any help hugely appreciated.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/

Rudd

You might want to check out the saturday ride on the Dulwich Paragon website around biggin hill? Its an extremely efficient route out to kent which gets you on to some fairly cycle friendly roads whilst still very much inside the M25. There are some quite good hills too esp the 20% out of the village of Downe. I live in Dulwich, am pretty slow, but following that route can be 'in the coutry' after just 40 mins. If you want to put some more miles in you can drop off the North downs for Sevenoaks or google 'knatts Valley route' for a 55 mile circuit within the M25 with some great roads. Enjoy!

Ben6899

Presuming I live in Kentish Town (because I do) and I fancy a day on the bike to the North (because I do), what's the best route (via road) to take me out of London's sprawl. I have an idea in mind, but don't want to bias any responses.

Cheers!

rolf_f

It doesn't matter - they are all ok! As long as London is behind you, you're doing fine!

bigmat

Rudd wrote:

You might want to check out the saturday ride on the Dulwich Paragon website around biggin hill? Its an extremely efficient route out to kent which gets you on to some fairly cycle friendly roads whilst still very much inside the M25. There are some quite good hills too esp the 20% out of the village of Downe. I live in Dulwich, am pretty slow, but following that route can be 'in the coutry' after just 40 mins. If you want to put some more miles in you can drop off the North downs for Sevenoaks or google 'knatts Valley route' for a 55 mile circuit within the M25 with some great roads. Enjoy!

+1, north Kent has countryside closer to London than Surrey, although from Clapham you would have a bit further to go. Still, a quick ride round the south circular, up the legendary College Road / Fountain Drive climb, a mostly downhill blastthrough Penge, Beckenham and Elmers End and you're in West Wickham - take Kingswayroad at the big roundabout and you're on country lanes with farms, sheep in fields, the whole rural caboodle. The ride to Surrey down the A24 is pretty horrible, but the Surrey hills are worth it when you get there and it should only take you an hour and a half or so to get to Box Hill if you crack on.

el_presidente

Alternatively jump on a train at Clapham Junction and you can be at the New Forest or South Downs within the hour

Stevo_666

Rudd wrote:

You might want to check out the saturday ride on the Dulwich Paragon website around biggin hill? Its an extremely efficient route out to kent which gets you on to some fairly cycle friendly roads whilst still very much inside the M25. There are some quite good hills too esp the 20% out of the village of Downe. I live in Dulwich, am pretty slow, but following that route can be 'in the coutry' after just 40 mins. If you want to put some more miles in you can drop off the North downs for Sevenoaks or google 'knatts Valley route' for a 55 mile circuit within the M25 with some great roads. Enjoy!

+1

Clapham is fairly central South London so you can head South/South East out of town quite easily. I have a few routes which take me around Westerham and the bits in between there and where I live which are quite nice and have some decent challenges.

SteppenHerring

I've ridden it the other way (from Tadworth up to Clapham) and that was pretty easy. It was early morning though. The dual carriageway stretch of A217 from Sutton to Banstead lights should be avoided though - slightly uphill, very fast traffic.

If you go down to Epsom, I would head straight up towards the racecourse from there rather than following the A24 through and on to Leatherhead. Mainly because it isn't very nice. Looping round the West of the racecourse through Langley Vale then turning left towards Headley is nice. Take a right after Headley (don't be tempted to take the right turn marked as "Surrey Cycleway" unless you have something more substantial than a road bike) then a left into Lodgebottom road (easy to miss if you're going fast down the hill) follow that to the bottom, left, then left and you're on Box Hill.

Or head over to Ranmore, Coldharbour, Whitedown or any of the other delights that Surrey has to offer.

willy b

As quite a few others have said, down the A24 is your best bet towards Epsom and then onto Box Hill. My route to Box Hill:
http://app.strava.com/rides/3524871

Ben6899 wrote:

Presuming I live in Kentish Town (because I do) and I fancy a day on the bike to the North (because I do), what's the best route (via road) to take me out of London's sprawl. I have an idea in mind, but don't want to bias any responses.

Cheers!

Im in West Hampstead. I always ride up the A1000 to Barnet and then that's it. You're in the countryside. 8) Some really great rides around Hetford, St Albans area, very countrysidy too!

il_principe

A307 from Kingston isn't bad - deposits you at Cobham. From there on there are plenty of lanes and access to most of the well known "Surrey Hills."

Ben6899

willy b wrote:

Im in West Hampstead. I always ride up the A1000 to Barnet and then that's it. You're in the countryside. 8) Some really great rides around Hetford, St Albans area, very countrysidy too!

Brilliant! The A1000 is what I had in mind - I just wanted confirmation from someone who'd gone that route.

Cheers.

willy b

Ben6899 wrote:

willy b wrote:

Im in West Hampstead. I always ride up the A1000 to Barnet and then that's it. You're in the countryside. 8) Some really great rides around Hetford, St Albans area, very countrysidy too!

Brilliant! The A1000 is what I had in mind - I just wanted confirmation from someone who'd gone that route.

Cheers.

http://app.strava.com/rides/4528428

This ride shows the route out well. It's quite a quick road the ride on, and nice and wide so plenty of room for passing cars!

Ben6899

willy b wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

willy b wrote:

Im in West Hampstead. I always ride up the A1000 to Barnet and then that's it. You're in the countryside. 8) Some really great rides around Hetford, St Albans area, very countrysidy too!

Brilliant! The A1000 is what I had in mind - I just wanted confirmation from someone who'd gone that route.

Cheers.

http://app.strava.com/rides/4528428

This ride shows the route out well. It's quite a quick road the ride on, and nice and wide so plenty of room for passing cars!

Brilliant. Thanks mate.

Headhuunter

If you like riding in the country but need to live in London, you should move to SE London, London is much "thinner" in the SE. I live in Brockley and can be out in open country in about 45 mins but Brockley is in zone 2. If you live in north London it'd take you hours to get from zone 2 to open country

dunnnooo

Awesome, cheers all. Followed the A24 to leatherhead, then wound my way round to box hill as per most advice. It were pretty and quiet . And the route nice and fast.

Until I took a wrong turn going back to leatherhead. And then another- goodness knows where- which put me in Wimbledon village (WIMBLEDON? says I seeing the sign- WIMBLEDON!?! %&^*"@#), and then nearly back in Richmond. Needless to say, my legs are now ruined, and a pathetically easy scalp will be seen wobbling to central london tomorrow.

willy b

Headhuunter wrote:

If you like riding in the country but need to live in London, you should move to SE London, London is much "thinner" in the SE. I live in Brockley and can be out in open country in about 45 mins but Brockley is in zone 2. If you live in north London it'd take you hours to get from zone 2 to open country

Wrong.

I'm in Zone 2, and if I go directly I can get to open fields/farms/horses/poo etc... in around 25/30mins 8)

Stevo_666

Headhuunter wrote:

If you like riding in the country but need to live in London, you should move to SE London, London is much "thinner" in the SE. I live in Brockley and can be out in open country in about 45 mins but Brockley is in zone 2. If you live in north London it'd take you hours to get from zone 2 to open country

There's also much more incentive to ride quickly through SE London to get out to open country :-)

Mr Sworld

Anywhere bar the M23/A23.

Brighton is shit, you don't want to go there...

Like we love you Londoners making our city overpriced...

greg66_tri_v2.0

A4 to Datchett. It's straight flat and fast. And you get to watch the planes land and take off at Heathrow as you ride parallel to the runway. And there is a Spearmint Rhino and Honda's head office that you get to ride past. Pretty sweet.

The three lane bit isn't that long, fortunately. Or that pretty, unfortunately.

Brakeless

Ben6899 wrote:

willy b wrote:

Im in West Hampstead. I always ride up the A1000 to Barnet and then that's it. You're in the countryside. 8) Some really great rides around Hetford, St Albans area, very countrysidy too!

Brilliant! The A1000 is what I had in mind - I just wanted confirmation from someone who'd gone that route.

Cheers.

Finsbury Park CC go from Potters Bar every Sunday Morning at 9.30. There's normally a quick and a steady group. If you're not sure of the Hertfordshire roads a couple of club runs with them will show you some good areas. Quite a few guys ride out to Potters Bar from various parts of North London.

http://www.finsburyparkcc.org/index.php ... lub-rides/

Ben6899

Brakeless wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

willy b wrote:

Im in West Hampstead. I always ride up the A1000 to Barnet and then that's it. You're in the countryside. 8) Some really great rides around Hetford, St Albans area, very countrysidy too!

Brilliant! The A1000 is what I had in mind - I just wanted confirmation from someone who'd gone that route.

Cheers.

Finsbury Park CC go from Potters Bar every Sunday Morning at 9.30. There's normally a quick and a steady group. If you're not sure of the Hertfordshire roads a couple of club runs with them will show you some good areas. Quite a few guys ride out to Potters Bar from various parts of North London.

http://www.finsburyparkcc.org/index.php ... lub-rides/

Thanks pal. I'll look into this... I am certainly unsure of the Hertfordshire roads!