London to Dover quiet route recommedations?

[Badlands78]

Hi, could anyone recommend a relatively quiet route from (South) London to Dover please? Many thanks!

[mercalia]

looking at my map of the SE cant realy see a non major road route

other than Warlingham to Tonbridge,B269, B2027 but where then dont know.

all the major routes have it? You could spend a lot of time and distance faffing around minor roads? maybe just take a train? The cheapest advanced ticket is about £11 with no travel card

[gaz]

South London encompasses a large area in terms of a start point. Broadly speaking I feel you'll need to follow either the A2 or A20 corridor whilst avoiding those particular roads themselves.

Try http://www.cycle.travel. It usually comes up with a good option which can be tweaked a little here and there based on local knowledge.

Information on your proposed timescales and how much you want to stick to tarmac will be helpful for tweaks.

[mjr]

South London is a big target. I think the usual London quiet option is to head for the Thames and join National Route 1 to Canterbury (shortcutting its off-road bits and detours to the coast if you like), then Regional Route 16 to Dover.

A more southern route would seem to be to follow back roads near the Oxted - Edenbridge railway, then turn east to pick up Route 18 somewhere near Royal Tunbridge Wells, then head along the B road from Tenterden to pick up Route 2 along the coast (with a nasty climb out of Folkestone IIRC).

A middle option looks like following the motorway through a gap in the hills at Kemsing but there are few signposted routes so it's harder to summarise. Have a play at http://cycle.travel/map to see it.

[BTP]

Try http://www.cycle.travel.

I tried using the above for a simple trip: from Lewes (East Sussex) to Newhaven (East Sussex) and the result was a message saying 'Sorry - does not support routes across the sea'!!!

Go figure...




I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my SM-N910G using hovercraft full of eels.

[mjr]

Try http://www.cycle.travel.

I tried using the above for a simple trip: from Lewes (East Sussex) to Newhaven (East Sussex) and the result was a message saying 'Sorry - does not support routes across the sea'!!!

Go figure...

Are you sure you have the East Sussex ones? It's a bad habit of defaulting to the USA ones lately

[Richard Fairhurst]

Yep, exactly that. It tries to be smart (always dangerous) and choose the relevant one to the country you're in. If you're really in Western Australia then it doesn't know whether you want Lewes, Sussex or Lewes, Delaware - sounds like it's defaulting to the latter.

[ANTONISH]

If you were able to give a start point and an an idea of your preferred type of route e.g flat as possible or hills not a problem you could probably get some local advice. Also the type of surfaces you are happy to ride on - some of the off road national cycle routes are pretty dire.
There is a mainly tarmacked cycle route from Dartford to Rochester - adjacent to the A2 most of the way - but you would still have to negotiate the Medway towns. It has the added benefit of passing the cyclo park near Gravesend - where you can find coffee, a meal, toilets and a secure place to park your bike.
Thereafter there are routes on fairly quiet roads to Canterbury . After Canterbury there are again fairly quiet routes on minor roads running North of the A2 to Dover.
Sixty years ago I was able to cycle from SE London to Dover and back entirely on the A2. The road surface was good too - times change.

[raaab]

I cycled to Dover last Sept, following this route
http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1730068943

It was quiet, even the London section was grand in comparison to other London cycling. Some roads in the Kent downs were a bit bumpy but the route was pretty quiet the whole way.
If you are after a less hilly route going via the Canterbury side of the downs avoids some of the hills

[gaz]

You seem to have some privacy settings preventing you from sharing your route.

[raaab]

You seem to have some privacy settings preventing you from sharing your route.

Ah.... should be public now

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/1730068943

[gaz]

Ah.... should be public now

[RossCarmichael]

Hi,

Thinking of cycling down to the Folkestone/Dover area (no particular destination in mind) in a couple of weeks. Is there any cycle friendly accommodation in that part of the world that people would recommend?

Thanks,
Ross

[gaz]

Too close to home to know.

Have you tried: https://www.cyclistswelcome.co.uk/?