Route Down To Surrey Hills

philw80

I'm heading down to London for a weekend later in the summer for the RL Challenge Cup Final, but taking the bikes as well. Does anyone know of a decent (safe-ish) route from the Wembley area, down to Richmond Park/Hampton Court and out to Box Hill and the surrounding area? I don't know the area well enough to plot a route on Garmin Connect, so was hoping to get a bit of advice on here!

t4tomo

Here is a ride I did on Friday - approx 75 miles taking in the best of the surrey climbs which start out near richmond park
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2675801


this is 50 mile route from same event which met up at Box Hill.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2681795

that just leaves Wembley to Richmond - North circular?

philw80

That's where I was hoping to avoid :-)

Mccaria

Couldn't you take the Thameslink from somewhere like West Hampstead directly to Sutton and then it is a very short ride on reasonable roads out to Box Hill ?

AchillesLeftKnee

Or if you've got the car, sod London entirely and go park up somewhere like Dorking, Cranleigh, or the eastern side of Guildford. That way, you'll get more mileage in the hills and less riding around J. Random City.

bikergirl17

t4tomo wrote:

Here is a ride I did on Friday - approx 75 miles taking in the best of the surrey climbs which start out near richmond park
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2675801

the ride from wembley out to surrey is a lot of faffing, especially if you want to get in a good deal of surrey. even starting from richmond you have 10+ miles each way of flat/rolling to get to the hills. if you do want to ride it, just
take one of the roads down towards kew (i use the a406, as it is fast and i don't mind the cars).

if you want to do the route above -- which is a good intro to the area -- just take the train to cobham (or at least esher).

if you are looking for something really challenging, do the surrey tour of the hills (an audax uk route). it is about 2500 m over 110 km. it technically starts in shere, which means you do the worst hill last (winterfold/barhatch). suggest you start in dorking, which would make box hill the last climb.

chrisaonabike

Can't help with Wembley - Richmond Park, but here's a route I've done a few times that includes Hampton Court, Leith Hill, White Down Lane and Box Hill:

http://app.strava.com/activities/59178942

If you want to get from Richmond Park to Hampton Court, the best (ie least trafficky) route is to leave the Park at Ham Gate, cross the river at Teddington Lock, and then go through Teddington to Bushy Park and then to Hampton Court.

The RP-Teddington Lock bit is shown on this route:

http://app.strava.com/activities/61285713

.. it's not the shortest, but it's a lot nicer than the direct route.

AchillesLeftKnee

bikergirl17 wrote:

if you are looking for something really challenging, do the surrey tour of the hills (an audax uk route). it is about 2500 m over 110 km.

That's a very well thought out route, I have to say. I think "really challenging" is a pretty good way of putting it

cyclingsheep

From Wembley to Twickenham and Hampton go through west Ealing, Brentford and then either over Kew Bridge and into Richmond or easier past Syon Park and past Twickenham stadium and through to Hampton. It's all pretty well sign posted. From Twickers look at the TwickenhamCC website and there are three gpx routes that take in 5, 7, or 9 of the Surrey Hills depending on your preference.

philw80

Thanks very much for the replies guys! Plenty of options now to look at! Cheers!