🚲 A brilliant way to cycle from Vauxhall to Stratford without traffic

You can cycle from Vauxhall in south London to Stratford in east London, entirely on quiet streets and protected cycle lanes.

The route is 13.4km long (8.3 miles) and makes use of Cycleway 5, Cycleway, Cycleway 3, and Cycleway 2 – as well as a recently built protected link on Mansell Street.

If you find this video useful or you just enjoy watching it please remember to subscribe to the channel and hit the bell icon so you’re alerted to new videos, as I try to post new ones like it every week.

And if you like what the channel is doing, you can also contribute to the London Cycle Routes Patreon below. It really helps keep the channel going:

http://patreon.com/londoncycleroutes

You can see a digital map of the route and download a GPS/GPX file to use on whatever device or app you want here:

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1413715331?ref=wtd&share_token=agMf64kP1etLRfgXOg3ZRKIRd9tm3ngPEdP4uJ7kQDaD6wc8vM

And you can find a viewer-created and maintained map of all the London Cycle Routes videos here:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1h9Hxm57fPvZmcuSXajM_Wu0G0s6f_bs&ll=51.505213496092054%2C-0.1285238120117249&z=12

I also highly recommend the Safe Cycle London map for route planning, which is compiled by @SafeCycleLDN on twitter:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1XlpvN9R-Wg7qZHyezO8y-eVlftr4e0WX&hl=en&ll=51.516975804561284%2C-0.21828576419061996&z=11

Hello and welcome back to London cycle routes today I’ll be showing you how to cycle from voel in South London to Stratford in East London this ride takes about 45 minutes and you can do the whole thing on quiet streets and protected cycle Lanes by public transport the same

Journey also takes around 45 minutes so cycling is a perfectly good option for this fairly long trip if you find this video useful or you just enjoy watching it then please don’t forget to subscribe to the channel as I try to post new videos just like it every week I’d also

Like to say a massive thank you to all those of you who support the channel on patreon if you’d like to contribute as well you can find a link in the description below the video all right let’s get going so we’re starting at the foot of

Roxel bridge and we’re going to use the cycle crossing here to get over Albert embankment this is a two-stage Crossing so make sure you’ve got a green light here as well as on the edge of the road two st’s Crossings can be frustrating as you have to wait twice sometimes but I

Go over this one pretty regularly and in my experience it’s actually pretty painless to get over the timings work reasonably well in both directions I think the left ter we just took into voxel pleasure Gardens required us to go on to the shared pavement for a second

The shared pavement is quite narrow and also used by people walking so make sure you take that one with care it would be much better to have a separate cycle Lane heading into the park to prevent conflict on what is quite a narrow path there I love the public realm

Improvements at this end of voxal w you can see all the planting and when this was filmed in summer it was looking fantastic I think voxal walk is a really great example of how just a little bit of greenery can make such a difference to how a street looks not having too

Many parking spaces as well I think really makes a difference and reduces the amount of clutter that you see on a street like this it’s quite a long ride today if you know your London geography well you’ll know that Stratford is a pretty long way from voxel but we’re

Going to do it in just 45 minutes which as I explained at the beginning is not much longer and really about the same as it takes to get the tube there which would probably be the way that most people made that journey by default in London and by the way since people tend

To ask I’m not a very fast cyclist I think it’s fair to say that I’m pretty average when it comes to speed so you’ll see me traveling at the sorts of speeds other people are around me and also if you make this journey you can probably

Expect to do it in around 45 minutes as well although of course with longer trips like this they can vary a little bit because you know you might get lucky with the lights you might get unlucky with the lights that sort of thing there are a couple of things to watch out for

At the end of Sal Street here the first is that I wouldn’t use that little cyc L there or you might end up hitting your head on a tree branch the second is that to use this Crossing you do have to press that button to make the light turn

Green unless someone else has already done it for you which it seems that they had in that case there’s also some good news about Hercules road which we’re on now Lambeth Council which manages the streets around here is going to put in more planting at the sides of the road

Which I think will make it look a lot more Lush and a little bit less Baron than it does now that first section of it where we pulled into it is really really wide and there’s a lot of unused space which I think will look a lot

Better with planting in it rather than just Baron tarmac now we’re going to use a cycle gate here you see we have a green light here and that lets us into this box here we then wait for a second green light which you can see on the

Main traffic light there and it let us across to Bess road which has fantastic protected cycle Lanes along it on our journey today we’re going to be using four different official signed cycle routes the first which we’re on now is cycleway 5 and that’s mostly been a

Backstreet route but there are some bits which are on protected or segregated cycle Lanes like the one that we’re on now the route is really easy to follow and it has a lot of wayfinding so you can see that C5 is written on the ground or those green and blue signs like the

One that we saw on the lamp post just there there’s another cycle gate here by the way with a two stage lights don’t worry about the non-segregated bits of this route the streets are nice and quiet this one the cut used to be really busy but it’s recently quietened down

Due to a closure that was put in just here which prevents motor traffic from using it as a through route lamouth council is also going to close a couple more streets around this area on Ord Street and Weber Street which will make the whole area even more quiet and

Effectively turn it into a low traffic neighborhood the second of four cycle ways that we’ll be using today we’re actually going to turn on to just here this is cycle way six and it’s a full protected Lane which runs all the way from elephant and Castle up to farington but we’re going

To use it to get across the river temps on black Fry’s Bridge as you can see it’s a two-way protected cycle track of really wide width and during Peak commuting times this is absolutely rammed with people riding into Central London for work cycle 6 has a really nice connection with cycleway 3 which

Runs mostly along the river temps and we’ll be using that to get through the city of London and go east we’ll then use a relatively new Connector route which I’ll show you and that will take us on to cycle weight 2 which is a really long section of mostly protected

Lanes which runs all the way into Stratford more on those to later we’re now about to cross Black fr’s Bridge and a little bit about the history history of the bridge this is actually the second bridge on the site the original was opened in 1769 and was originally

Known as the William pit Bridge after the Prime Minister but when he fell out of favor the name was changed it originally featured toll booths which were destroyed and rioting the second bridge which was built because of erosion problems with the first Bridge was opened in 1869 by Queen Victoria and

Then widened in 1910 to allow trams to cross obviously there are no trams now and that space is what allows such a generous cycle lane today the cycle L was put in in 2016 now you may have noticed that we turned left here and this is a little bit counterintuitive cuz we actually

Want to go East which would have been right but there’s a little hair pin turn here so we’ve gone down this slip Road into the bridge we’ve waited for a gap in the people’s cycling past there’s many people using this Lane as you can see and we’ve now gone left again or

Right going back on our original course in a little bit of a uturn it’s a little bit counterintuitive so just make sure you remember that if you’re not used to the layout of the bridge we’re now on Cycle Way 3 which is our third cycle way

Of today for the section that we’ll be riding today you can expect fully protected Lanes like the one we’re currently on with one small exception and that is the castle Bayard Street tunnel just coming up here now I do say that this isn’t technically a protected cycle Lane although in practice it might

As well be it is a full Street which is almost entirely used by people on bikes the main traffic actually goes in the tunnel to the right here and this tunnel has been given over to the cycle way however you do still need to keep half

An eye out for cars here you’ll see these service entrances on the left that we’ve been passing those are the entrances for buildings along another stre street but often they are used by service Vehicles so occasionally you will see a van or a car coming that way

To access those buildings it is usually dead quiet with no traffic but don’t be too surprised if you see someone driving down there now on the left here is the exit for Queen Street which would take us up towards Bank we’re not going that way today but I wanted to point it out

Because I wanted to mention that the bank Junction has been completely redesigned and has had most through traffic removed from it as well so it’s now a really useful location for cycling through the city of London it opens up a lot of new connections which I will be

Showing off in future videos so if that sounds like something that would be interesting to you make sure you hit that subscribe button on YouTube if you haven’t already and click the Bell icon so that you’re alerted to future videos that I post this section of cycleway 3

Is generally a Dream It’s a two-way protected cycle Lane segregated from General traffic with a nice wide curb so you can have a large Lorry like that one driving past with another car on it and it really wouldn’t bother us at all we feel completely segregated from general

Motor traffic and I’d feel totally comfortable cycling on this section of the route with my son on my back for example considering how Central in London we are and how busy these streets often are I think that’s a really great feat and I’d love to see more Central

London protected Lanes like this opening up I think city of London does have plans for more like this on streets like Queen Victoria Street and uh yeah it would be just excellent to have these kind of routes opened up to all kinds of people who want to ride a bike whether

It’s tourists people going to work or people getting around with their families the only thing that can be a little bit frustrating about this section of Route which doesn’t really show up in the video is that there are quite a lot of traffic lights at Junctions which can hold you up if

You’re unlucky with the lights the time clings aren’t great for bikes and you can find yourself waiting for quite a while at an empty Street although on this occasion we’ve pretty much had a Green Wave so it’s all been really really good now I said that we were

Using four cycle waves today but it’s actually 4 and a half we’re going to be going on a short stretch of lightly protected cycle Lane here down Manel Street and we waited for the crossing and then we turn off left here down this one segregated Lane now this was only

Put in about year ago or so and it’s actually a really useful link linking cycleway 3 which we were just on and cycleway 2 which we’ll be heading to which will be taking us down to Stratford you can see it’s a little bit of a bodge job with those shared

Pedestrian and cycle Crossings and the segregation isn’t quite as emphatic as it was on the previous Lane that we were on I think these ones wouldn’t protect you from a car but they do still make you feel safe nonetheless and in practice stop drivers from from entering

The cycle Lane now just coming up there’s another cycle gate like the ones that we were dealing with on cycle wave 5 so here we wait for the green light which lets us into this Advanced stopline we go here and we wait for another green light which lets us across

This Junction now that all worked fairly well and straightforward but I should give a note of caution that at Peak time that cycle gate doesn’t always work so well when the roads are really busy around here you often find cars stopped in the protected cycle box or also just

Stopped across the junction it is really quite common to see which is a shame there are better ways of protecting Junctions like that and hopefully when that scheme is maybe revised with permanent materials we’ll see a much better design which will give cyclist their own phase for crossing the

Junction I should say that this building work here which diverted us out of the cycle Lane is not normally there it was only there when I came past which meant that we had to to cycle with General traffic for a second we’re now of course

On Cycle Way 2 which is the fourth or fourth and a half of our 4 and a half cycle ways today now Cycle Way 2 is probably my least favorite of the cycle ways that we’ve been on it’s mostly segregated like the lanes that we’re on

Now but there are also sections of it which lack segregation like this one approaching the junction here and also a couple of bits where you’re required to use a bus lane for short stretches generally it’s reasonably comfortable but when it can be busy down here it does sometimes feel a little bit hectic

Now while I was fully confident about cycling with my son on my back on cycle weight 3 I think cycle weight 2 I’d probably have second thoughts about it to be honest it’s probably in need of a little bit more protection one of the worst bits in fact I’d probably say the

Worst bit of it is actually this section running past White Chapel Market you can see that there’s no prote C at all there are also parked cars and vans along the road and we don’t even get a bus Lan for some of it although that is quickly

Sorted out with a wide bus lane here the reason that it lacks segregation going past the market is that when Cycle Way 2 or as it used to be known cycle Super Highway 2 was built Market Traders objected to having a protected cycle Lane past the market and because they

Are a major political constituency in the London burough of tower hamlets which in now the protection was not installed which I think is a real shame as it does leave a significant Gap in what is otherwise a pretty long and well protected cycle route which goes all the way out to

Stratford now coming up in a second is a good example of how not to use a bus stop bypass these guys just rode over the zebra Crossing what you should do is wait when people look like they’re trying to get onto the bus stop Island

So that they can catch a bus I think generally people are pretty considerate when they use those bus stop bypasses and that’s probably the worst example I’ve seen either on or off camera I talked about this in my last video so I won’t go into too much detail but this

Design of bus stop where the cycle track goes behind the waiting area is the best way to do bus stops because it means that you don’t have to overtake a stopped bus in traffic which can feel really dangerous and put a lot of people off cycling but given the design is

Slightly less convenient for pedestrians who have to cross the cycle track to get to the waiting area like the one we’re passing through here I think it’s really important for people riding past them to look out for pedestrians who are trying to cross and to give them priority on The

Crossings as you can see cycleway 2 uses a number of different types of segregation mostly we’ve got curb sometimes we’re on a step track unfortunately this section here is one of those examples where we’re actually just in a bus lane it’s not as bad as the section outside White Chapel market

And in practice actually it does feel reasonably comfortable because the protected Lane leads right into the bus lane and then leads straight into another protected Lane like the one we’re on here so I wouldn’t let that put you off too much the other danger that you should just be aware of when using

This cycle Lane is that there are quite a lot of side roads going onto the cycle track not just roads but also driveways and other crossovers which might have a vehicle poking out of them at any moment so while you’re riding down here here do just keep your wits about you and make

Sure that there’s no drivers poking out now today’s route is pretty easy to follow I think mostly due to the fact it follows designated cycle ways that we’ve talked about in detail which mostly themselves run in a straight line and have good wayfinding however if you need

A little bit of extra help you can always download the free map of the route which I link to in the description it’s on a website called Kut where you can download it in a GPX file which should work on whatever app or device you choose to use it is a standard

Format there is also another map which I should give a shout out to today and that is the map of all the London cycle routs put together um I often get asked to do this and I think a lot of people don’t realize that it exists but it’s a

Viewer created map currently looked after by a nice guy called Isaac who’s done a little map of all the London psycle Roots videos in one place it’s really useful because if you want to find a route that I’ve done to a particular place or along a particular Corridor without having to scroll

Through all the videos on a list on YouTube you can basically just look for it on the map there and it will link you to the correct video which you can then watch the map has also had a little bit of a redesign recently so that the

Videos are sorted by year that’s because it was getting a little bit crowded with me basically just doing so many videos for a few years now thanks again Isaac for keep keeping the map updated and thanks also to John who originally set it up earlier I mentioned that there are

Points where you need to look out for drivers poking their nose out of side roads and Crossovers and just coming up here is a really good example of that there are lots of cars always pulling in and out of this Texico petrol station and you can see one appearing at the

Exit as the light changes this one was relatively well behaved but not all of them are and you can end up with them poking their nose out across the lane so do be really careful of that spot there one of the things I like about cycling through London and just London in

General is the wide mix of architectural Styles you can get really modern buildings next to sort of old medieval stuff as well and coming up on our right is a pretty big example of that it’s a relatively picturesque old church called bow Church situated just in front of a

Massive flyover it’s kind of a weird thing to see to be honest now this fire over is important for us as we’ll be going under it on the bow roundabout there’s a cycle gate here like the other ones you’ve been through we go through the green light stop at a red light and

Wait for another green light it’s really important that you wait for the lights at this roundabout it’s not safe to proceed when the lights are red there even if it looks like it might be as traffic does come around it incredibly fast we’re then dumped into a section of

Paint cycle Lane which really should be protected by wands or curvs but fortunately it’s only a relatively short stretch before we rejoin the protected Lanes of note is the terrible Road surface going through here and all the sand and dirt and grit from nearby construction which has just been left in

The road and also in the cycle Lane itself which is really not good at all like all of Cycle Way 2 when you’re traveling in the opposite direction you’re on the other side of the road these are oneway cycle Lanes it’s worth saying that here because the road is so

Wide that you can barely see the opposite side of the road and the protected Lane on that side of the road in fact when the bow flyover is in the middle of the road the protected Lane in the opposite direction is actually on the other side of the flyover and you

Can’t see it at all because it’s blocked by the flyover don’t worry though the route is symmetrical and you get a very similar treatment going in the opposite direction with the same sorts of protected lanes that you get in this direction as we head into the last

Stretch of our route today I’d just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who supports the channel on patreon if you like the work that the channel is doing and you’d like to Chuck us a couple of quid as well you can find a link to the patreon page in the

Description below the video it’s much appreciated and it helps me keep producing these videos pretty much every week now the street that we’ve been on for the last while is called Stratford High Street which is kind of a strange name for it to have today as it doesn’t

Really feel like a High Street it more feels like quite a major highway fortunately it does get a little bit nicer as we get to the end of the road you can see there’s a little bit more vegetation coming up and the street becomes not so wide the cycle Lanes also

Become incredibly high quality as we get to Stratford Town Center this is much nicer than the sort of stuff we were using for the last 5 or 10 minutes or so at the end of cycleway 2 and it would be great to see cycleway 2 redone with this

Kind of quality of Lane the whole way through I think it would make such a big difference to the level of comfort on those lanes and also just make it a bit safer and more consistent coming up on our left is Stratford bus station with its I think pretty cool and futuristic

Tent design and on all right is the Stratford Center which is the original uh Stratford Shopping Center slightly overshadowed by Westfield across the road and here is Stratford station so we have made it to Central Stratford all the way from voxel and as you can see from the map that was a

Pretty direct route and as you saw in the video it was more or less comfortable the whole way we did cycleway 5 cycleway 6 cycleway 3 and cycleway 2 let me know in the comments what you think of that what your favorite bit was and maybe some things

That I missed if you spotted them you always do and don’t forget to hit the like button if you enjoyed the video it does give it a boost and help other people find it and if you’re not already subscribed hit that subscribe Button as well so that you’re alerted to new

Videos as I post them more or less every week thanks again to all of those on the patreon and if you’re thinking about contributing as well you can find a link in the description below the video where you can Chuck us a couple of quid thanks

Very much and I’ll see you guys all again next time that