Can anybody recommend a good route planner for riding in London please? I am ideally after one that will prefer the better quality cycle infrastructure (such as we may never get to see out in the Shires), even if it does mean that the route is a bit longer. I will need to get from Euston to near Clapham Junction in the evening, back towards Picadilly Circus the following morning, and then back to Euston that evening. I would usually use cycle.travel for riding in previosuly uncharted territory, but I'm wondering if there is anything that might provide a better route with more of a preference for decent protected infrastructure (even if only out of curiosity to see what it's like).
I will have my own clown bike with me, and a means to follow a GPS route.
Alternatively, if you can recommend any good quality cycle routes in the vicinity that I could follow for some of these journeys I could plot my own route.
Thanks.
Route Planning in London
Re: Route Planning in London
As ever https://cycle.travel/
I’ve used it to get between mainline railway stations & happy with the result.
I’ve used it to get between mainline railway stations & happy with the result.
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rareposter
- Posts: 3465
- Joined: 27 Aug 2014, 2:40pm
Re: Route Planning in London
The Santander Cycles app.
It's the "official" London bike hire scheme, the docked bikes. It's slightly limited in that in can only direct you between docking stations but it offers up 3 routes: fast, mixed and scenic with the latter using all the cycle lanes, parks, etc.
You don't need to hire a bike, the route planning part is separate to the hiring a bike part but you do need to download the app and you'll need to select the docking stations nearest to your start and end points.
I really like it for riding around town in spite of generally knowing most of it; it's useful to find the out of the way routes.
From Euston, I'd go down through Russell Square (the back roads through there, not the main road!), cut through between Holborn and Covent Garden tube stations, over Waterloo Bridge (there are segregated lanes there), then along the cycle lanes of Albert Embankment on the south side of the river, past Clapham Common then it's a short section of normal road to CJ.
It's the "official" London bike hire scheme, the docked bikes. It's slightly limited in that in can only direct you between docking stations but it offers up 3 routes: fast, mixed and scenic with the latter using all the cycle lanes, parks, etc.
You don't need to hire a bike, the route planning part is separate to the hiring a bike part but you do need to download the app and you'll need to select the docking stations nearest to your start and end points.
I really like it for riding around town in spite of generally knowing most of it; it's useful to find the out of the way routes.
From Euston, I'd go down through Russell Square (the back roads through there, not the main road!), cut through between Holborn and Covent Garden tube stations, over Waterloo Bridge (there are segregated lanes there), then along the cycle lanes of Albert Embankment on the south side of the river, past Clapham Common then it's a short section of normal road to CJ.
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tomsumner49
- Posts: 68
- Joined: 4 Aug 2008, 3:33pm
Re: Route Planning in London
cyclestreets is another one that seems to do a reasonable job in London, it offers 3 routes a bit like the santander app.
Cycle.travel is good too and shows the main numbered London cycle routes/"superhighways"
My route from Euston would be down Gordon St. > Byng Place > Gower St. (which has a raised cycle path alongside the road). Continue down to Shaftesbury Av. and then take Endell St. and keep going ~straight until the Strand.
Then depending where near Clapham Junction you are aiming for you could cross Waterloo bridge as suggested above or go down Savoy St. and follow the river on the north side all the way to Chelsea Bridge (its a completely segregated cycle path along Victoria Embankment then a fair bit of wand segregation the rest of the way). Crossing the river there will bring you into Battersea Park.
Cycleroute/Quietway 5 is an another option to get to Clapham Common if you cross the river at Waterloo but is a bit wiggly.
To go from Clapham Junction to Piccadilly you could go over Chelsea Bridge > Ebury Bridge St > Ebury Sq. Then fairly quiet back streets up to Hyde Park at Albert Gate and through the park to Hyde Park Corner.
Edit: In case of interest just remembered this guy who has some videos of cycle routes around London including one from Euston to Westminster which covers some of the route described above https://www.youtube.com/@Londoncycleroutes
Cycle.travel is good too and shows the main numbered London cycle routes/"superhighways"
My route from Euston would be down Gordon St. > Byng Place > Gower St. (which has a raised cycle path alongside the road). Continue down to Shaftesbury Av. and then take Endell St. and keep going ~straight until the Strand.
Then depending where near Clapham Junction you are aiming for you could cross Waterloo bridge as suggested above or go down Savoy St. and follow the river on the north side all the way to Chelsea Bridge (its a completely segregated cycle path along Victoria Embankment then a fair bit of wand segregation the rest of the way). Crossing the river there will bring you into Battersea Park.
Cycleroute/Quietway 5 is an another option to get to Clapham Common if you cross the river at Waterloo but is a bit wiggly.
To go from Clapham Junction to Piccadilly you could go over Chelsea Bridge > Ebury Bridge St > Ebury Sq. Then fairly quiet back streets up to Hyde Park at Albert Gate and through the park to Hyde Park Corner.
Edit: In case of interest just remembered this guy who has some videos of cycle routes around London including one from Euston to Westminster which covers some of the route described above https://www.youtube.com/@Londoncycleroutes
There are no great solutions
There aren't any great solutions. I generally use a combination mishmash mostly involving google maps and reference to several other maps/map layers.
This one gives most of the major marked routes. These are often (depending on the council) accompanied with numbers painted on the road and little blue signs with numbers hidden on lamp posts etc like a treasure hunt
. With Southwark you can usually navigate the route without looking at a map once you're on a marked trail. The routes are 24 hour, so if you're out in the day there might be much better routes through a park for example.
https://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org
Next one is this handy map layer:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed ... 69165&z=15
This one has a load of specific routes but also LTN areas marked out which makes it very handy if parts of your journey are not well served by specific cycle routes.
There's also the "cycling" layer on google maps.
If I'm planning a journey, I use a combo of all three of those.
Good luck!
This one gives most of the major marked routes. These are often (depending on the council) accompanied with numbers painted on the road and little blue signs with numbers hidden on lamp posts etc like a treasure hunt
. With Southwark you can usually navigate the route without looking at a map once you're on a marked trail. The routes are 24 hour, so if you're out in the day there might be much better routes through a park for example.https://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org
Next one is this handy map layer:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed ... 69165&z=15
This one has a load of specific routes but also LTN areas marked out which makes it very handy if parts of your journey are not well served by specific cycle routes.
There's also the "cycling" layer on google maps.
If I'm planning a journey, I use a combo of all three of those.
Good luck!