A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

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mjr
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A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by mjr »

First of all, here are the rules on taking your bikes on the Underground, Overground and so on if you prefer: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/cyclin ... -transport - Thameslink also rolls straight through from the Midland and East Coast lines in the north to the Brighton and North Kent lines in the south, with spaces for bikes off-peak. Crossrail may do similar between the North Kent, Great Eastern and Great Western.

Secondly, there are three key routes IMO: CS3 (the East-West Superhighway), CS6 (the North-South one) and the north side of London Cycle Network Route 0 (the old Seven Stations Link, not often signposted as that: I think it's usually "Paddington", "King's Cross" or "The City" on the signs). All of these are written in terms of how to get to those - then you could travel along them to get to your other station. Shortcuts are sometimes possible but IMO many are less nice and you're on your own! CS6 crosses CS3 at the north end of Blackfriars Bridge and LCN 0 at the Judd Street / Tavistock Place junction. CS3 and LCN 0 almost meet at Paddington.

Now how to get to/from each station:
  • Blackfriars is just across the road from the main CS6/CS3 junction. If you exit the station through the new glass northwest exit, there's a cycle lane by the kerb which uses a cycle-only crossing just before the bridge to join CS6 or use the ramps down to CS3. I think CS3 eastbound be reached more quickly by taking Blackfriars Passage down and jumping the low kerbed central reservation to turn right, then left onto CS3, but I've not tried it lately. It may have been formalised - or blocked off completely!
  • Cannon Street is just north of CS3. Turn right out of the station front, turn right onto Bush Hill, then left onto Gophir Lane and right onto Suffolk Lane down to CS3. Going to the station, turn off CS3 Upper Thames Street onto Suffolk Lane just east of the railway bridge, then left onto Gophir Lane and right onto Bush Hill. Station is just to the left at the top.
  • Charing Cross is also just north of CS3: exit the station front, turn left and take the first left onto Craven Street, which merges into Northumberland Avenue and CS3 is ahead at its end. To get to it, turn off CS3 Embankment onto Northumberland Avenue just south/west of the railway bridge, then right onto Embankment Place under the railway, follow it round left into Villiers St, then the station is at the top end on the left.
  • Euston is north of LCN0: exit the station front, head right and join Melton Road heading south, cross Euston Road into Gordon Street, and LCN0 is just after Gordon Square. To go to it, turn off Tavistock Place onto the west side of Gordon Square, cross Euston Road into Melton Street, then stop at the zebra crossing just after the underground car park entrance and use that to get to the station. There is a shorter way to St Pancras and King's Cross without going south to LCN0 - see the post below.
  • Fenchurch Street is 200m north of CS3. Mark Lane connects the Hung Drawn and Quartered pub on CS3 directly to the west edge of Fenchurch Place in front of the station (turn left as you exit the station front).
  • King's Cross is 200m NE of CS6. Either push/ride through/past St Pancras or, if going to CS6, ride forwards from the station into pretty much any side road across Euston Road and keep heading forwards until you reach CS6 at Tavistock Place or Sidmouth Street: if you do this, turn left to head south towards CS3 or right to meet LCN0 at Judd Street. To get to King's Cross, follow CS6 to the east side of St Pancras, then push through or ride past St Pancras to its west side.
  • Liverpool Street is 800m north of CS3: exit the station front, turn right, then turn left onto Old Broad Street, keep going forwards across at least two sets of traffic lights, straight ahead across Bank junction, then left after some ornamental ponds onto a paved street (Queen Street, Quietway 11) and CS3 crosses you at the foot of the hill. To get to it, turn off CS3 Upper Thames Street onto Quietway 11 Queen Street, then turn right onto Queen Victoria Street by the "forgotten streams" ponds on the right (where the street changes back from paving to tarmac), continue straight ahead across Bank junction, fork left into Old Broad Street at the next set of lights and the station is eventually ahead on the right just after its underground station.
  • London Bridge is 400m south of CS3: exit the station onto Tooley Street, turn left, then onto Duke Street Hill, turn right at the traffic lights onto London Bridge, then until Arthur Street is unblocked again, turn left at the lights onto Cannon Street, then third(?) left onto Bush Lane, left into Gophir Lane and right into Suffolk Lane and CS3 is ahead. Going to it, turn off CS3 Lower Thames Street onto Fish Street Hill, follow it left into Monument Street, then left onto London Bridge, left after the bridge into Duke Street Hill, straight on into Tooley Street and the station is on the right.
  • Marylebone is 400m north of LCN0, but it's another fiddly one: exit through the station arch, turn right onto the road, left at the end onto Harewood Avenue, then go straight across Marylebone Road at the lights to join a cycle track on the far left corner that turns immediately left and enables access to Wyndham Street, then turn right at its end, left onto Seymour Place at the next crossroads and LCN0 is Crawford Road at the next crossroads. To go to the station is simpler: turn from Crawford Road onto Seymour Place, cross Marylebone Road at the lights into Lisson Grove, then next right into Harewood Row and the station is ahead.
  • Moorgate - 800m north of CS3. Exit the station onto Moorfields (not Moorgate) and head north (the southern end is currently blocked by Crossrail anyway), turn left onto Ropemaker Street, then at the end turn left onto Q11. When going to the station, turn onto Queen Street, follow Quietway 11 to Moor Lane, then turn right after Pham Sushi and The Heron into Ropemaker Street, then right into Moorfields. As others point out, only folding bikes can be taken from this station at any time.
  • Paddington is on LCN0 and 200m NE of CS3. To go to CS3, exit the station front arch, turn right onto Praed Street, keep going straight and turn left onto CS3 when you reach it. Take the lane on busy Craven Road / Praed Street. To reach it from CS3 westbound, turn left off Westbourne Terrace at the no-right-turn crossroads with Craven Road (where the cycle track ends in early 2019) and make a U-turn into the bike box and when lights turn green continue straight across (a hook turn - a move cars can't easily make) and Paddington is ahead on the left.
  • St Pancras is on CS6, which runs along Midland Road and Judd Street along the west side of the station.
  • Victoria is only 500m south of CS3 but awful IMO - best of a bad bunch is probably to exit the station front and push ahead right along Victoria Street towards John Lewis's Head Office. Ride along the street either side of it (the right one is smaller but involves a paved stealth road past the front of the cathedral), then turn left into Palace Street, take the next possible right, left at the end, then right at the lights at the end to rejoin the small section of protected track to the junction with CS3. Take the lane pretty much all the time... At least it's simpler in the other direction: at the west end of Birdcage Walk, cross the road to a small section of protected cycle lane, continue straight on across the lights and keep going straight ahead on some pretty minimal cycling infrastructure (bus lanes and bike boxes) and the station is just off to the left - if you continue past the Grosvenor Hotel, there is step-free access from the street.
  • Waterloo is 700m west of CS6 or 600m east of CS3. Exit the station front, turn left, cross into Sutton Walk, turn right at the end onto NCN 4 Belvedere Road and then CS6 is at the end of Upper Ground - it's difficult to miss. Alternatively, NCN 4 Belvedere Road in the opposite direction and then Westminster Bridge connects to CS3 by Parliament which is better for Victoria, Paddington and maybe Marylebone. To get to Waterloo easily, turn off CS6 at the south side of Blackfriars Bridge onto NCN 4 Upper Ground, then after a while, turn left onto Concert Hall Approach, fork right onto Sutton Walk and the station is ahead after a crossing.

OK, so what have I misremembered or what's changed since I last used one?
Last edited by mjr on 14 Jun 2019, 9:44am, edited 2 times in total.
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drossall
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by drossall »

To be honest I just use CycleStreets. Sometimes I even take a GPX from there and drop it into my GPS, because I still don't know all of London that well. I did find Victoria difficult when I went there - it was not obvious how you're supposed to approach on a bike, and I found myself turning into a one-way street against the traffic, and got told off by a policeman even though I stopped pretty-much immediately.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by mjr »

Victoria is by far the worst IMO. It's just 500m from a great route but that's in Westminster borough who... see other discussions on here! Lately I've been using slower trains from Blackfriars instead of bothering with Victoria.

I'm glad you've got something that works for you. I'm not great at following my sat nav in London as I have to use an earpiece to hear it, which has other drawbacks, so I've got fairly good at moving between stations. The main shortcuts missing from the above are slightly more direct routes between Tavistock Place and Paddington or Waterloo but with the extension of CS6, the Waterloo one might now be no quicker. Even if it sometimes feels like you're stopped ages at lights near Blackfriars, the lights with no cycle-specific bits on the more direct route stop you a lot too.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains: Moorgate and Kings Cross to Euston

Post by Adamcycles17 »

Re Moorgate: One thing to note is that no bikes are allowed at any time going north to Drayton Park on the lines to Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North as the line is a tube line and so the same ban as on the deep London Underground tubes applies. Better to cycle to Kings Cross or get onto the route via Thameslink from London Bridge, Blackfriars or St Pancras.

A quick route from Kings Cross to Euston is this:

Leave Kings Cross via the exit nearest to Platforms 9-11 (and 93/4s for Harry Potter!) Cross the road and push through St Pancras to Midland Road opposite the new Crick research centre. Cross the pedestrian crossing and immediately join the cycle path north, turning left into Brill Place. Head due west along this straight road until you reach Eversholt St (which is along the east side of Euston). Turn left and then dismount and push into the station vai the bus station (to avoid the steps). Takes about 5-10 minutes.

Cheers
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains: Moorgate and Kings Cross to Euston

Post by mjr »

adamedwardsteather wrote:Re Moorgate: One thing to note is that no bikes are allowed at any time going north to Drayton Park on the lines to Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North as the line is a tube line and so the same ban as on the deep London Underground tubes applies.

Folded bikes are allowed.

Thanks for the KX-Euston shortcut. I've only walked that.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by mercalia »

The Thames Link trains thru London Bridge are useful as means you can avoid London altogether and you dont need to book any space for the bike
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by mattheus »

A really useful guide - thankyou mjr!

I have one small criticism - the sections are written back-to-front from the "traveller's" point of view!
e.g. traveller arrives from the provinces at Waterloo, wanting to get to Euston. The first thing she wants to know is how to leave Waterloo!

Anyway, thanks again :)


[I write this as someone who struggles every time with getting out of Paddington - ridiculous I know .... ]
Last edited by mattheus on 11 Jun 2019, 12:14pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by Vorpal »

Nice thread. :)

It would be nice if tfl could indicate on the cyle guide which stations are also 'step free' or somehow combine the accessibility map http://content.tfl.gov.uk/avoiding-stai ... -guide.pdf with the guide to taking you bike on the tube http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bicycles-on-p ... nsport.pdf

Even if you can take a bike, it can be a pita to get a loaded bike up and down stairs or on a long & narrow escalator.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by mjr »

mattheus wrote:A really useful guide - thankyou mjr!

I have one small criticism - the sections are written back-to-front from the "traveller's" point of view!
e.g. traveller arrives from the at Waterloo, wanting to get to Euston. The first thing she wants to know is how to leave Waterloo!

Good point. I'll reverse the sections when I get a few minutes unless anyone posts pointing out a drawback to that.

I write this as someone who struggles every time with getting out of Paddington - ridiculous I know ....

Not really ridiculous to me. It took me about four years to figure out that you head up the road ramp at the buffer end of the platforms, then turn left to head towards the northern terminals (via LCN0) or right for the southern ones (via CS3 - it used to be that you went straight ahead and continued across a few junctions before turning left into Stanhope Terrace and then straight over into Hyde Park, which you can still do as a shortcut, but CS3 is easier navigation).

Vorpal wrote:It would be nice if tfl could indicate on the cyle guide which stations are also 'step free' or somehow combine the accessibility map http://content.tfl.gov.uk/avoiding-stai ... -guide.pdf with the guide to taking you bike on the tube http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bicycles-on-p ... nsport.pdf

Even if you can take a bike, it can be a pita to get a loaded bike up and down stairs or on a long & narrow escalator.

Yes, good point. You can look up station maps on www.nationalrail.co.uk but I can probably add most of them from memory:
  • Ramp access possible to most/all train platforms: Marylebone, Euston, King's Cross, Liverpool Street, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Victoria
  • Ramp access to most, with lifts to some platforms: St Pancras (lift/escalator only to A-B and Kent lines?), Paddington (Crossrail?), Waterloo (escalators to Waterloo East)
  • Lifts or escalators to most platforms: Moorgate, Fenchurch Street, London Bridge, Blackfriars
I don't particularly mind escalators: wheel the bike on and apply the brake on the lower wheel (back going up, front going down) until it starts to level out again.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by Vorpal »

mjr wrote:I don't particularly mind escalators: wheel the bike on and apply the brake on the lower wheel (back going up, front going down) until it starts to level out again.

I mostly don't mind escalators, but I once had to get a loaded touring bike up & down one of those sets of 20+ metre escalators. It wasn't fun, and the folks trying to get past gave me dirty looks and comments. Like I was only there to be in their way. :roll:
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by mjr »

Vorpal wrote:I mostly don't mind escalators, but I once had to get a loaded touring bike up & down one of those sets of 20+ metre escalators. It wasn't fun, and the folks trying to get past gave me dirty looks and comments. Like I was only there to be in their way. :roll:

Understood. This may be another thing where I'm lucky that people are less inclined to annoy six-ish foot men with big bikes and that it's pretty obvious people aren't going to push past me easily.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by carlislemike »

I think that pushing past 2-3 old blokes with laden touring bikes takes nerve. Doesn't mean we let them barge. Who needs to rush outside Rush-Hour? I actually found the instructions excellent and I do live and ride regularly in London, station to station.
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by Vorpal »

carlislemike wrote:I think that pushing past 2-3 old blokes with laden touring bikes takes nerve. Doesn't mean we let them barge. Who needs to rush outside Rush-Hour? I actually found the instructions excellent and I do live and ride regularly in London, station to station.

Yeah, well, it might have worked better if I were, old, tall, or a bloke. :lol:
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by carlislemike »

Vorpal, no issue. Have you seen or got the t-shirt
I’m a Woman. What’s your Superpower? My 25 yr old daughter, super fit, super healthy, sports nut who presses and benches weights I can only dream of, is in that category. She’s not tall, not old and not a bloke but god help anyone who crosses a woman who teaches Maths in an inner London Comprehensive. You don’t need the male bit just the tongue!
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Re: A Guide to Crossing London Between Trains

Post by carlislemike »

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