Commuting from Leatherhead

ding33

Just moved to Leatherhead and looking for a decent commuting route to the city. Tried straight up the A24 today and then A3 from Clapham which I think is the quickest route but isn't very scenic! Anyone have any better options?

surrey_commuter

moved a year ago to Epsom (half way for you) and have come to the sad conclusion that there is no alternative to the A24. There are very few tweaks to make it better.

There are a few of us on here so if you say whereabouts in Leatherhead and the City you may get some good advice.

warreng

I normally turn left in Blackshaw Road in order to avoid Tooting

The way back I cross on Putney Bridge and head down that way

But A24 is the quickest (most dangerous and grim though)

rhodrich

You can always go on the A244 to Esher or the A243 to Kingston, and then through Richmond Park, across Putney Bridge, and then Embankment. A little bit further, but a lot more pleasant.

murvis1er

+1 for the A243 Chessington, Hook, Richmond Park etc. Used to take this route to Surrey hills when I still lived in N London as it didn't feel that much slower and was much nicer than the alternatives. Can even hop onto the (admittedly slightly rough) shared use pavement between Chessington WoA and Leatherhead if you're in pootle mode and fancy a break from the traffic.

ps. incase you're not already aware of it there's a path connecting the A243 to Leatherhead (Kingston rd) which allows you to avoid the M25 interchange

vimfuego

Surrey Commuter wrote:

moved a year ago to Epsom (half way for you) and have come to the sad conclusion that there is no alternative to the A24. There are very few tweaks to make it better.

There are a few of us on here so if you say whereabouts in Leatherhead and the City you may get some good advice.

Likewise - I usually just stick with A24/CS7 - its really direct and not actually as bad as some make out, particularly with the recent improvements at Oval, Stockwell etc (bits of Merton High St have a new black velvet surface too). Then again, I'm usually on the road before 6.30 so traffic and chopper levels are no way near as bad as they can be later on. If you're OK with extending a bit to get away from commuting silliness you can take advantage of RP as others have suggested - me I just see the commute as bonus miles and it's more about just getting there, so the direct route wins out. You can make small tweaks to break it up & I've taken to using variants of the "E&C bypass" to avoid that whole mess - roads up to Southwark Bridge are seriously quiet given that most other riders don't seem to want to deviate from the blue paint at that point (even though the avoid section is I think the original CS7 routing).

ding33

Thanks all for the helpful thoughts. I used to commute through Richmond Park from Thames Ditton so might give that route a go in the coming days.

Good to know a few others are using the A24 and that it isn't too bad if in a rush!

rhodrich

ding33 wrote:

Thanks all for the helpful thoughts. I used to commute through Richmond Park from Thames Ditton so might give that route a go in the coming days.

Commuting through Richmond Park from Thames Ditton is definitely the way forward

mtb-idle

I'm an A24/A3/CS7 rider too. Based in Ewell and I cross Nonsuch park and then join on the London road just before the big S bend.

It's boring yeah, I've ridden it over a thousand times now (no seriously) but it's about as good as it gets.

Alternatives already mentioned above. If it's a nice summer evening on the return i will stick on Embankment and stay there until either Vauxhall Bridge and come back to Stockwell or Putney Bridge and come through Richmond Park but the RP route is a good legs/good weather route. Too far to do it on a miserable day.