Cycling from Paddington to Hackney this Saturday

[AlanD]

My on-line map, Bing, gives me a road route that takes me along Euston Road, past Kings Cross and into Pentonville Road, towards The Angel. I drove along there not long ago and it was rather exciting
Can any London savvy cyclist suggest a suitable alternative route?
I don't have GPS, just my PC and pen/paper.
Thanks, Alan

[mercalia]

regents canal path?

[mjr]

It's pretty simple to use Regent's Canal, although it's slow and getting to it from Paddington is counter-intuitive... http://cycle.travel/map/journey/11852 is the first bit of the route - just stay on it instead of climbing up at Royal College Street. It all gets a bit annoying around Camden Lock Market: cobbled bridges, dismounts, loads of people to push through. Oh and you get diverted off in Islington when the canal goes in a tunnel.

The alternative I use more often is to go out the front of Paddington, up the old taxi ramp road, then almost straight over into London Street, then a sort of 10/11 o'clock turn by some cycle parking one junction before the end (Strathearn Place, says the map), then straight on as much as you can into Connaught Street, left fork at the Duke of Kendal into Kendal Street and keep straight-on-ish (riding around squares and across staggered crossroads - you get turned right down Spanish Place at one point, but just take the next right into Hinde Street) until there's no street ahead at Wimpole Street, turn left (it's one way) and ride north until you can turn right into Weymouth Street and that puts you on a cycle route signposted towards King's Cross (protected in places, which I quite like but many on here say they don't) and if you keep going straight on to the end (not turning off for King's Cross at Regent Square) and then follow signs (turn right first at the end, I think - apparently this is London Cycle Network Route 0). Turn left at the end of Lever Street to cross City Road and enter Hackney... but whether that's useful depends where in Hackney you're wanting to go

I do have a sat nav app, but I struggle to hear its voice prompts over the traffic noise and I don't really like stopping to check it every few minutes, so I tend to follow the signs unless they look like they're doing something silly. http://cycle.travel/map will give sensible routes that print nicely, but it sometimes struggles with London's unusual cyclescape.

[AlanD]

Thanks for that MJR.
My computer is misbehaving, but I managed to print out what you put. If all else fails, I'll just tag along behind everyone else going to London Fields. Not a part of London that I know.

[mjr]

Ah, London Fields, of course, sorry. I've ridden almost to there. If you use the canal path, you need to leave it at Lock 7 and head away on the same side as the path and it's not far. If you cross City Road from Bath Street (the road at the end of lever Street) into Shepherdess Walk, continue along it, then turn right into Eagle Wharf Road and follow that basic direction/cycle route to the odd junction with Goldsmiths Row, turn leftish to cross the canal by lock 7, straight on to London Fields.

[ArMoRothair]

Euston Road used to be part of my commute.

I've looked at alternatives like the canal and various zig zag routes through back streets. Ultimately Euston Road is the way to go. The traffic actually isn't as bad as it seems because it's usually choked up and stationary in lanes 2 and 3 leaving the bus lane reasonably clear. You'll need to do a bit of judicious filtering here and there.

But it is by far the quickest route - probably half the time.

As for the pollution...

[mjr]

Euston Road is faster but have you tried the other routes? It's like night(mare) and day. Euston Road is not much fun most of the time and pretty scary sometimes and I grew up by the A5!

[AlanD]

Safely negotiated and without incident
Took suggested back-route and modified it to join Pentonville Rd with the intention of turning left at The Angel. However, did not recognise The Angel and ended up at Old Street and then going up the A10.

The return route the next day was most interesting because of the two peds who had a death wish and stepped off the kerb in front of me; one when the crossing light was against them and the other too engrossed in a vitally important phone call. I love to see their look of pure terror when I bellow "NO!" at them. However, I'll never travel up Oxford Street again, it's all stop-n-start.

[mjr]

The return route the next day was most interesting because of the two peds who had a death wish and stepped off the kerb in front of me; one when the crossing light was against them and the other too engrossed in a vitally important phone call. I love to see their look of pure terror when I bellow "NO!" at them. However, I'll never travel up Oxford Street again, it's all stop-n-start.

Please be nice! You're not a car, you know: it's fairly easy for most of us to pass behind the pedestrians and share the road more nicely than that, without making them think that people on bikes are a-holes.

I agree on Oxford Street. It's easy to find but tediously slow and not much fun.

[Claireysmurf]

Sounds like you did the Dunwich Dynamo