Anyone live around Stevenage and Hitchin that can tell me...

[Mile195]

...Are the cycle paths along the lee valley down to Enfield even remotely suitable for road bikes on skinny tyres?

Also, NCN51 - is it a proper tarmac surface, or more of a trail?

Finally, A1 and A6 - what are they like for riding? They look fast, but not massively busy from Google street view.

I'm thinking of cycling London to Bedford tomorrow and trying to decide on a route. Any input appreciated!

 

[uphillstruggler]

@Mile195

stay clear of the A1 and A6 unless you can find a path - they are fast duel carriage ways with heavy goods vehicles and people in a rush

where are you leaving from?

you could plot a route on lanes and b roads adjacent to those roads and you should be fine. there was a BHF ride a couple of years ago from London to Milton Keynes that pretty much went north - look it up - it would be easy to plot and adapt the route say from Dunstable to Bedford on nice lanes and quiet roads.

 

[Mile195]

Call it Stratford in East London. I'm starting in West Kent, but I can get myself to the canals as far as Stratford and I've ridden them before that far. Beyond that, I don't know what they're like. I'd rather use the road if they're very gravelly (is that a word?)

 

[JackE]

I've ridden the Lee path many times from Hertford to the Thames. Beautiful ride but I wouldn't attempt it on skinny tyres. In certain areas the path was improved dramatically for the Olympics but overall it's still quite rough with sharp grit/flint in many places. Personally I wouldn't do it on less that 32mm tyres.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I've done the Thames to Waltham Abbey stretch on 700x23 slicks. There are a few cobbled stretches in the southern part but most of the surface, from memory, turns into packed gravel. As there are no sharp turns, there's nothing that makes unreasonable demands on the road bike. Apart from it being a bit brutal on the bum over the cobbles and a bit heavy going on the gravel after a few miles. But I wouldn't say it was challenging.

 

[Douggie954]

I regularly ride the A6 from Bedford to Luton to work and it is not as bad as a lot of people think. Since the Bedford bypass opened you get a lot less lorries on the A6. From Luton you can ride to Harpenden on a tarmac cycle path. Not sure from Harpenden as I have only done it once and that was quite a long time ago.

 

[vickster]

I did it in July with @jefmcg wouldnt do it again on a carbon roadbike on 23mm tyres. Very slow going, lots of peds too

 

[jefmcg]

Try Google maps and click on the 'cycle' option. But keep away from the A1 and A6.

Google map bases it's routes on what are official cycle routes. I've had it steer me off a major road to a side for 500 metres and back onto the same major road with 2 right turns, adding nothing except 2 dangerous turns. I've also had it direct me through are park on a path that was not only not very suitable for cycling but actually explicitly illegal to cycle on.

I find strava is better, as it's routes are based on the routes that roadies actually pick. Here is their suggest route, added without warranty, expressed or implied

https://www.strava.com/routes/3592436

 

[tallliman]

The bit on that strava route that uses the a1000 is fine, cycled that a bit when I'm at home. The old road parallel to the current a1 is pretty nice to ride though I forget what it's called.

 

[Mile195]

Thanks for the replies all.

I initially started with a Google maps route, but I abandoned it after a while. It tried to send me down paths that were barely traversable by foot they were so wet and muddy, let alone a road bike.
I took the towpaths from Stratford as far as Broxbourne. Doable in the wet on a road bike (just about) but hard to safely get above about 15mph.
After that as I say the off-road routes were largely unsuitable for road bikes, and cost me alot of time finding alternatives, or trudging along at 9mph... This is Except around Stevenage where the cycle routes are brilliant! Segregated lanes down the main roads and underpasses at virtually every junction. Why more new towns aren't designed like that I've no idea.
Beyond Stevenage I mostly took A roads since time was getting on, and they really weren't that bad. Next time though I'll check out Strava as suggested.
Google maps showed 74 miles door to door. Ended up doing 85 so I wontbe trusting that again!