Routes around Elephant and Castle

englander

Hi all, just moved from SW London up to Elephant and Castle sort of way. I used to frequent Richmond Park/Box Hill/Surrey Hills quite a lot, but now they are rather more tricky to get too (a considerable amount of riding on congested roads to get to these places). Are there any interesting/nice routes heading eastward/northward from E&C? My rides tend to be 30 to 60 miles. I've explored over towards Dartford and that's alright - Shooter's Hill is a decent lump in the terrain. Other than that, it feels a bit isolated amongst big, traffic heavy roads. Anyone got any tips them for where to explore?

spearmint_wino

The nicest, quietest way out of Elephant is to go SE on the Old Kent Rd cycle lane, right after the Heygate Estate, down Portland Street, through Burgess Park, Peckham Quiet Route (goes behind the library and all traffic-free) then up Forest Hill and over to Crystal Palace.

If you're looking for something local there are lots of quieter roads to link up that can take you over Forest Hill and Crystal Palace to string together. Otherwise go from there and down into Surrey Hills / Kent.

englander

Fantastic - that's the kind of advice I was looking for! This week I have some exploring to do

phreak

I live just off the Walworth Road, and my usual route sees me go out via Denmark Hill and Dulwich to Crystal Palace and out into Kent that way.

I'd recommend getting out of town if possible, but if you'd rather stay in London, here is a route with 19 climbs in and around Crystal Palace

http://app.strava.com/runs/19-cols-of-c ... e-10143049

englander

That's an impressive route, phreak, I'll whack that on my Garmin and give it a go when my knee decides to stop aching !

FransJacques

this may be abstract, but whether you live in Chicago or Frankfurt, Mallorca is always Mallorca.

point being, no matter where you live in inner London, if your favourite places to ride are the Surrey hills, Kent hills, Chilterns, Essex, Ashdown Forest, the Weald, Ivinghoe Beacon etc. they'll always be your favourites regardless of what your home post-code is. I ride the same places when I lived in Paddington or Fulham or Wapping.

If you're looking for some magic Zone 1-2 riding routes there are none - it's called commuting and it's dangerous not fun. That Strava ride is the equivalent of trying to run the London Marathon along Oxford street on a Saturday before Christmas - you'd be battling in the gutter with cars, broken glass, busses, and waiting at red lights. Why else is the avg speed 21 kph? At least Richmond Park is slightly safer option.

Mr Will

The cycle superhighway will get you most of the way to Richmond. Failing that, Crystal Palace is a common starting point for a few of the local clubs or Chislehurst direction gets you to the countryside and hills pretty quickly.

monkimark

Head through crystal palace and out to biggin hill - I've only recently started exploring around there but there are some nice routes to be found.
This route goes from Tooting but it could be easilly tweaked to E&C http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2414882
Here's a little after work loop I plan on trying out when i get a free evening http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2558420

englander

FransJacques wrote:

this may be abstract, but whether you live in Chicago or Frankfurt, Mallorca is always Mallorca.

point being, no matter where you live in inner London, if your favourite places to ride are the Surrey hills, Kent hills, Chilterns, Essex, Ashdown Forest, the Weald, Ivinghoe Beacon etc. they'll always be your favourites regardless of what your home post-code is. I ride the same places when I lived in Paddington or Fulham or Wapping.

If you're looking for some magic Zone 1-2 riding routes there are none - it's called commuting and it's dangerous not fun. That Strava ride is the equivalent of trying to run the London Marathon along Oxford street on a Saturday before Christmas - you'd be battling in the gutter with cars, broken glass, busses, and waiting at red lights. Why else is the avg speed 21 kph? At least Richmond Park is slightly safer option.

Yes, I appreciate that I'm not going find any roads akin to the French countryside, but general consensus is to head towards Crystal Palace and go out from there. I've cycled around Biggin Hill/Woldingham once or twice before, so that's another place to look at.

FransJacques

Easiest way out from Crystal Palace is straight south and don't turn. Down Annerly Rd - A214 - Layham's Road - Skid Hill Lane then turn Left of Beddlestead Lane and Left onto Clarks Lane then Left on Pilgrim's way.

That is how 85% of south London rides start :-)

englander

Update: just went out for a slow exploration and to see how my knee is coming along (hurt at first, pain subsided about 50% when it had warmed up...) and I'm very pleased with the way down to Crystal Palace. The roads were far far quieter than I was expecting (granted part of that is due to time of day) and overall I was impressed. I need to iron out a few things, such as working out when it's better to follow the road around a park rather than leisurely trundling through at 8mph and what not, and when I can shake this injury I'll start exploring further south towards the M25.

http://app.strava.com/activities/74841586