You can cycle from Acton in west London to Clapham Junction in south London entirely on quiet streets and protected cycle lanes.
The route is 12.3km long (7.6 miles) and makes use of Cycleway 49, Cycleway 4, Cycleway 34, the South Fulham Streets West Clean Air Neighbourhood and historic LCN routes.
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And if you like what the channel is doing and want to support it, you can also contribute to the London Cycle Routes Patreon below. It really helps keep the channel going:
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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/2063972183?share_token=aAGclp9uTLkc5JFzW2n6fba8XfJyuQ2N6z2pqjW2oJy7yt1IUM&ref=wtd
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
20 Comments
"It's a big club, and you ain't in it"
Aah …. sunshine … shorts weather …. warmth! A great pick me up Jon, thanks mate! 👍
Apropos comment re: bus stop 'islands'. Many moons ago one of the arguments against trams (running on shared roads, as they did nearly everywhere here 🇬🇧) was that 100% of passengers had to cross 50% of the road. This always amused me, given that, applying the same logic to the buses with which 'they' sought to replace trams, 50% of passengers likewise have to cross 100% of the road!
Great video as always. A few comments:
Along British Grove is Mark Knopfler’s British Grove Recording Studios, so quite a few well known records have been recorded there.
LBHF have now put in restrictions on Rivercourt Rd which was the road off Cycleway 9 on King St where you advised people to watch out for cars exiting. It is one of those “can be used by LBHF resident” restrictions you mentioned but it still appears to have reduced traffic quite a bit. They now need to do the next street too (Weltje Rd)
After crossing the A4 at Bridge Avenue, I avoid using the riverside path under Hammersmith Bridge as it is too narrow but instead head to Worlidge St, then Queen Caroline St and Crisp Rd for the Fulham section.
3:59 — how very appropriate guidance, especially with that particular (large) vehicle to your right; stunning Rolls Royce you wouldn’t want to come into contact with 🫣🌚
I used to cycle past the Hurlingham club on Broomhouse Lane fairly often, the traffic there was some of the most aggressive I've seen anywhere, attempting dangerous overtakes and speeding past the width restrictions/islands. Not helped by the surface condition on the road either. It was really surprising because the road design is pretty normal and I'm not exactly a dawdler! It's been a few years now and I'm glad to hear it seems to have been improved by the residents' filter.
Nice to see routes in a part of London I haven’t really cycled in (apart from the ever delightful Wandsworth roundabout). C9 really does look excellent and always busy in your videos, which is great to see.
Just a MAD AS A HATTER IDEA: cycle London from East to West. From Uxbridge to Upminster. Yes 64 km/ 40 miles.
Another interesting video. Thanks for sharing.
@9:02 i do this route very regularly – instead of going down Bridge View and underneath Hammersmith Bridge (and the tight shared footpath) – I always turn left just before Bridge View (the footpath has official blue shared space signs) and then across into Worlidge Street and at end turn right into Queen Caroline Street and then rejoin your route by turning left into Crisp Road. it sounds more complicated than it is!
@7:47 H&F council have now recognised that the lovely tree at the junction of Rivercourt Road and the cycle lane was an accident waiting to happen … so they've squeezed the cycle lane and pushed out the Give Way white lines so that drivers have a half decent view of the cycle lane … still a bit sketchy, though less than it was when you filmed this!
9:52, you mean widen the path, because narrowing it does make any sense.
Where the red car comes out at 7:47 has been improved 1) the cycle lane has a kink to increase visibility for vehicles and 2) it is only open to local traffic from the A4 so is now very quiet
Personally I would avoid Carnworth Road (just before Wandsworth Bridge) on weekdays – loads of industrial traffic. The 'official' route turns left onto Sulivan Road 17:38 – there is a tiny turn left cycle sign. It does however mean 100m of bus lane on Wandsworth Bridge Road so not ideal either.
Thanks for the video.
Perhaps something like a Kinder mass trespass is required for the Hurlingham Club foreshore.
Not being from the UK, its wild to me that parks close overnight. Where I'm from, we have many linear parks/pathways that connect 24/7. Is this common elsewhere? Would lighting not be warranted if its a main cycle route?
Another lovely video!
The C49 routing round Windmill Road is really not good. The road services two car parks, a residential home, is two way and loads of parking on the street. You also get juggernauts down there for M&S deliveries! In short it gets very busy and I always feel under pressure when cycling with my two children – blind spots around sharp corners too. At the very least the road should be one way to traffic and in my mind the better route would as you say be down Fishers Lane with some dedicated lights to safely get on to the Cycleway on the high street.
Great stuff. I occasionally cycle Balham to Ealing so could incorporate a lot of this. When it's dry though I tend to do the tow path on the south side from Putney to Hammersmith Bridge and walk over…
Another option would be to cross Putney bridge then Wandsworth Park and the mouth of the Wandle to get to Wandsworth roundabout.
It's that time of year for planning cycle routes for when the weather is better. I found myself looking at open cycle map and looking at the longest north south and east west routes you can do on the official London cycleway network without a gap. I think south to north is Colliers Wood (C7) to the top end of CS1 and west to east is Brentford Reach to Barkingside. Both would make for seriously long videos But did I get those end points right? e.g. I don't think you can include West Drayton and the canal side path as there's a gap near Paddington for example, assuming OCM is correct. Anyone got any different answers?
Unrelated to this video: Will we be seeing the Silvertown bike-bus in April?