cycle routes from ED

[bawdy-nan]

Someone promised to post their favoured routes. I've recently joined the happy shoal of cyclists but am not sure of best routes. Has anyone got any top tips?

[Polly D]

To avoid the Old Kent Road, go through Burgess Park. I think it's route no. 22. Coming from ED - go through Peckham Rye and at the library you can't miss it. There's a point where you have to cross a main road (it's where the 63 goes) and then you can continue on into Burgess Park up to Elephant & Castle. From there it obviously depends on where you want to go but when I used to do that route it made the world seem so much safer!

[kingtubby]

Hi Bawdy

I was going to put my routes on google this weekend, and post the links on here , and everyone else should be able to share the routes too. I know Nic the White city guy has posted one already.

As for the E & C it has been a cyclists nightmare since the penny farthing go with Polly's way, but nothing is nice round there,

KT

[AllotmentOwner]

I guess it depend on whether you're commuting or its just for pleasure. As regards the former, I used to head into the City via Greendale, Denmark Hill and the Walworth Road and it's dreadful route. These days I turn off Grove Vale into Copleston Road then wiggle onto Bellenden Road all the way to the Peckham High Street. Cross over and pick up the footpath/cyclepath behind the Pulse that follows the path of the disused Surrey Canal up to the Old Kent Road. Short hop to Bricklayers Arms under the flyover then rightish and head towards Borough tube along Great Dover St. Over here and onwards to Southwark Bridge.

HTH

[bawdy-nan]

What about for pleasure?

Or just daft little tips - for example, my legs would crumple trying to get up Lordship Lane hill. Instead, I weave up Crystal Palace Road, or if I;m feeling truly pathetic and afraid of the bendy buses on Barry Road, I make a dash for Friern Road (barely any cars) and mosey up there...

[ktm]

Just a heads up on Burgess Park and Surrey Canal Path (the route Polly D mentions), please don't cycle through there out of busy hours or in the dark. A friend of mine was recently brutally assaulted at about 8pm by a pair of scaffold pole wielding scoundrels in the park. He luckily made an escape with bike and possessions intact (unlike his nose). The cops said "eh, sorry, it happens all the time, rapes, assaults, it's not very safe round here..." I used to go through there every day at rush hour when it was very busy and it was fine, but if you're out and about late I wouldn't recommend it.

[Polly D]

ktm - that's horrible. And that's really all the police said?! Poor guy.

[ktm]

I think the police said something about it being "far too common" an occurrence.

If it is your regular path though consider this route as an alternative: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=896624. A bit busier traffic wise but certainly better than Walworth Road. Another alternative from East Dulwich to Elephant is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=896631. Crossing Peckham High Street to turn right into Southampton Way can be a big hairy, but with confident signalling not too bad, or you can cycle up to the zebra crossing and walk across.

[snowboarder]

That's SCARY I go along the old canal path both on my bike and when running.

Maybe daylight only from now...but actually no - I hate that things like that can make you stop doing things you enjoy.

Summer Road is good alternative - end up at same place but bit more overlooked.

[Pierre]

It was me that got walloped on the way home through Burgess Park.

Link to my blog for full account: http://inigopete.livejournal.com/ - scroll down to "bruises explained" for the first account, followed by scrolling up to "soc" for the follow-up.

I'd avoid the canal path after dark too. Mrs. Pierre and I have had stones thrown at us while riding along there in the dusk and a friend of mine was attacked for his road bike along there too.

And yes, the response of the police was a completely unsurprised "it happens round here a lot."

: P

[Damo]

As a fellow commuter cyclist, that is one rough story.

You have all my sympathies and I'm glad that you came off relativley lightly. A scaffold pole in the face sounds amazingly painful and I guess the consolation, if any, is that you weren't more seriously injured and they didn't follow you and finish off the job. Or maybe at least if they had tried to pinch your phone etc, there would have been some "justification" rather than an extreme act of random violence. Makes my p*** boil(6)

I shudder to think if that happened to me. As I head into the West End, I've usually steered clear of Burgess Park mainly as I feel it slows me down a bit, would rather go via Southampton Way etc. Luckily I've never been attacked in 12 years of cycle commuting. Plenty of scares and scrapes but nothing compared to this.

I hope you heal quickly and get riding ASAP, I presume this isn't putting you off?

ps I'm familiar with your "work" from a cycle based forum and have seen the Ratbike around ED a couple of times. I'm on a Trek Portland with panniers at the moment, so say hello if we pass on the road and keep on truckin'.

Damo

[professordingo]

I regularly cycle up to Russell Sq - via Bellenden Rd, up Southampton WAy take a right round Coleman Rd for a short cut onto Wells Way alongside burgess park (I don't go thru it) and then Albany rd and right onto portland st. follow the cycle route, you end up crossing new kent rd, follow the cycle route, crossing newington causeway up the side of sth bank uni and then blackfriars or waterloo bridge - i prefer the latter and you can get up onto to it without having to fight the buses on the roundabout!

mostly cycle route, and i've never (yet!??) had any probs, except for pedestrians who think cyclists don't matter.

[James]

Just read your account Pierre and it makes me bloody furious to be honest!!! You have my total sympathy and I really hope you're going to be ok.

I am fed up with hearing about decent, law abiding people being terrorised, abused and attacked like this. I am your typical Guardian-reading ED-ite but when faced with stories like this I wonder why we can't herd all this scum up (as they are probably already known to the police), incarcerate them somewhere and let them do it to each other.

[Jeremy]

I do tend to agree. And being liberal minded is not necessarily incompatible with taking a tough stance on violent crime.

[beatnic]

Pierre that is rough, I'm really sorry to read that. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[Mac]

Hi, I've got a route that works well for Waterloo.

I've illustrated it on Google Maps:

http://tinyurl.com/2hc8x5

For a year or two I cycled up the Walworth Road and then hung a left at the main E&C roundabout.

Problem was Walworth road had one to many crossings and that roundabout is a nightmare.

I now turn left at Cambewell Green and follow the 185 route to Oval.

Hope that helps someone.

PS Pierre I read your blog and I'm sorry you had such a terrible experience. Heres to safe rides home from now on.

[East of Dulwich]

Sorry if this has already come up but...

...has anyone tried out finding cycle routes using the Transport for London's journey planner site?

You have to change your preferences and it's a bit fiddly but you can generate a very detailed cycle route much like one of these programs/sites for car drivers. Admittedly the route it suggested for me (to Russel Square) was a bit round-the-houses but I'd be interested to hear if other people find it useful.

The page for cyclists is at https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/cycling/cycleroutes/default.asp

East (of Dulwich)

PS - I add my sympathy to the assaulted cyclist. I have to add that I cycled up and down Canal Path by day and night for years as my regular route to work. The worst I experienced was being chased by nine year olds on bikes with water bombs. I thought it was funny until they rode after me straight into the middle of the Old Kent Road, without looking. Luckily none of them got hurt...and I stayed dry.

The point is, I think, that assaults on cyclists are really very rare, however appalling it is that they should happen ever.

[Doodles]

Excellent thread. Thanks to Bawdy for starting it. I also use the old canal path on my way to London Bridge. All sympathies to Pierre re the assault, but that is no reason for people to stop using the route. In fact it is an argument for more people to use it more often. Busy streets are safe streets. If we start accepting no go areas we will end up in cities full of bland middle class ghettos behind locked gates surrounded by wastelands where the rest of us live.

[Pierre]

Thanks all for the sympathy, although that really wasn't what I was after.

I don't think it's a good idea to ride through Burgess Park after dark. Originally I thought it was a great idea, in a defiant "so they hit me with a pole? Screw them, I'm not going to change my route home! I'm not scared!" sort of way. Then I thought, I wouldn't want my wife riding through there on her own after dark, no matter how defiant she felt, because sometimes it's simply not worth the risk, I'd rather she took a _very_ slightly longer route home and I had her safe. And I thought that's probably how she feels about me.

While I'd love to say we should _all_ defiantly ride through the park, that kind of solidarity only usually accompanies Critical Mass and would probably result in there being a slightly higher incidence of rolling bling for the fools to attack; bear in mind these are people whose value systems mean they think nothing of swinging a rod of metal at someone's face in order to steal their bike. A few inches lower and I'd currently be breathing through a tube and having someone wheel me to the toilet, if I was breathing at all.

For the moment I'd rather advise people to avoid that particular area. By all means keep cycling, but I'd rather hope that if there are very few cyclists in that dark nasty patch of ground then there will be fewer attackers...

: P

P.S. hi Damo - I'll keep an eye out for the Trek Portland! - will happily meet for a pint and a rant. ;)

[East of Dulwich]

Pierre,

Even if you don't want any more sympathy, I'm at least sorry that I hadn't read your blog posting before I posted my last message. I'd have been a bit more sensitive and I can't blame you for avoiding the park and advising others to do likewise.

All the same, I'm with Doodles on the way ahead: as soon as ordinary people abandon an area as being unsafe, it falls to the control of the sociopaths and psychopaths. The reality is (and I've had someone try to mug me on my doorstep) streetcrime is a feature of the London landscape and will happen anywhere: in Peckham, East Dulwich or, for that matter, Chelsea. For myself, I'd rather learn how to take sensible precautions -- not that this would have helped in your case or course. For example when I'm walking at night I try to look like I know where I'm going and I never carry crime magnets like a flashy mobile or laptop bag.

As for critical mass doing canal path, I was once on a LCC Bike Week ride that went down that route, heading south. About 30 of us came accross a gang of (I kid you not) about 20 or thirty very serious looking youths in dark glasses, marching north in a cohort. I don't know if they had more serious business to attend to but they let us pass them in the opposite direction - we in polite single file - without saying a word. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

East (of Dulwich)

[Doodles]

I?m not taking this lightly. I?m no spring chicken and did once end up in hospital after a particularly unpleasant person set about me with a Stanley knife. That was, however, some 30 years ago. It made me nervous about going out at night for a while but that wore off in time. That was in North London. The only other time I?ve had someone take a swing at me was in a Fish and Chip shop in Winchester, for F sake.

So that?s twice in getting on for fifty years of going where I want, when I want and probably not taking all the sensible precautions I ought to*.

I think my point is, its not that common and it is too easy to start people panicking, and that makes things worse. So, I?m the balding, knackered looking, bloke cycling through the park and will continue to do so. I will take care and, if something feels wrong I?ll be the balding ,knackered looking, bloke cycling in the other direction.

Obey your gut instincts but lets not panic.

*Actually, I suspect my parents kept me under so sort of control for a few years. Make that four decades.

[biggerearrings]

Hi ho,

So glad I found this forum. I'm doing the london to brighton bike ride this June and although I love cycling, I haven't done so in a while. I need to try routes away from central london, so maybe from dulwich village - where I live, to wimbledon or sutton? I've cycled to clapham already a few times but need something more challenging. Can anyone help?

Cheers

[benmorg]

biggerearrings Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi ho,

>

> So glad I found this forum. I'm doing the london

> to brighton bike ride this June and although I

> love cycling, I haven't done so in a while. I need

> to try routes away from central london, so maybe

> from dulwich village - where I live, to wimbledon

> or sutton? I've cycled to clapham already a few

> times but need something more challenging. Can

> anyone help?

>

> Cheers

there aren't any many scenic bike rides through the suburbs around Dulwich. I'd recommend taking your bike on the train from East Dulwich to Wimbledon and then exploring Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park by bike, or if you're feeling ambitious cross Richmond Park and pick up the Riverside path north around Kew Gardens - it's the nicest stretch of the thames in London.

Further afield, I very very strongly recomment the Thames Valley bike path from Barnes to oxford, or at least the first half of it to Runnymede. It's the most beautiful bike ride I've ever done in the UK, takes you past endless fantastic houses with gardens down to the river with little jetties & boats moored at the bottom under willow trees. It's idyllic, best in May or June. You can get a map here (http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/index.php?f=itemdetl.php&p=nn5a). Doing the whole trip to Oxford takes 2 days and is harder than London to Brighton.

For the London to Brighton you need to work on those leg muscles - the hill up to Ditchling Beacon at the end is quite something!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

My dad wistfully remembers cycling from Peckham to Glasgow and back, several times. I suspect that might be quite challenging!

[nylonmeals]

This is the best cycle route cite that I have found - always safe, always quiet roads