🚲 The best way to cycle from Leytonstone to Westminster
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- You can cycle from Leytonstone in east London to Westminster in central London entirely on quiet streets and protected cycle lanes.
The route is 14.4km long (9 miles) and makes use of LTNs in Waltham Forest and Newham, as well as Cycleway 2, Cycleway 3, and the Mansell Street link.
The journey takes around 50 minutes to ride, which is roughly the same time it takes to get public transport between these two places.
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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: www.komoot.com...
And you can find a viewer-created and maintained map of all the London Cycle Routes videos here: www.google.com...
I also highly recommend the Safe Cycle London map for route planning, which is compiled by @SafeCycleLDN on twitter: www.google.com...
Just did that route apart from a few different roads from Walthamstow to Westminster for the first time on Sunday,just exploring and seeing where I led me,had I seen this video before I'd of done it since last year!!
Have you had a nice time! Thanks for watching
I used this video to get me from Leytonstone to Westminster. I have to agree the CS2 requires some balls of steel. I had two left hand turning car encounters but the moped riding down the cycle lane calling me “unbelievable” for waiting at the red light and then squeezing past me to run the light was a step too far 😂
Lollll that is incredible. It’s the wild west on that road sometimes
Great video, this used to be my old commute. I find CS2 really stressful so I used to cycle through the Olympic park, Victoria park and the roads that run parallel with the Regent’s canal, via Broadway Market and Hoxton, etc. which were actually relatively quiet. Although this was not possible to do in winter as the nights drew in, so CS2 served me well!
Interesting, glad I’m not the only person who is a bit hmmm about C2. I wish they would shore it up a bit
great video, defo gotta try C2 sometime lol
It’s an experience!
Another nice video!
I agree about your c2 observation, though hectic is not a word I would use. In the videos, almost always, that stretch felt a bit odd. It is difficult for me to pin-point what exactly, but it is an odd feeling, a feeling that something is off about it. And I have never been to London, and just watched your videos.
Very perceptive! I hope you have a ride here one day!
@@Londoncycleroutes Not very perceptive of me, if I cannot pinpoint it. Ha ha.
Sometimes when I need to continue west where Cycleway 2 ends, I just keep going through Aldgate and on towards Bank Junction. The bit around Aldgate is perhaps a bit hairy as you of course don't have segregation anymore, and you also need to move across to turn right into Leadenhall Street. But because of the timed restrictions at Bank Junction, I generally find that when I need to travel through the area, the traffic volumes / speeds are not too bad. It's almost bizarre actually when you're coming out the other end of the city, and you're on Queen Victoria Street which has sections where it's really wide, and there's hardly any traffic on it. I assume the City of London will give the streetscape around there a bit of a makeover in the years to come to better suit its current function. It would be nice if at the same time they sorted out the road layouts around Aldgate so Bank could properly function as a link between Cycleways 2 and 3. Actually a few other cycleways converge on the City of London (1, 4 and 6 as well) so it really does make sense for them to ensure the city is easy to get in to / out of on a bike to better link all these routes.
I would agree that driver behaviour around Bow / Whitechapel leaves a lot to be desired. Is a bit annoying that all the side road entrances just cut across the cycleway, very common to have drivers just creep out. Would be easy to solve by sending drivers who need to access the main road on a minor diversion to a larger junction that's better equipped to deal with cyclists and motor traffic mixing, but you'd need political change in Tower Hamlets for that to be considered of course.
Yeah I think Queen Victoria street is getting cycle tracks - no announcement yet but I’ve FOI’d some preliminary designs and they look great, the real deal. It’s meant to be part of the theoretical ‘Aldgate to Blackfriars’ cycleway. I can’t wait for Bank junction to be done (and threadneedle st), it will revolutionise the area- still need to work out what routes it will enable, I think it’ll be a little complicated
Thanks! I’m planning to live in Leytonstone when I grow up so this video was a massive help for me. Liked.
thank you! hope it's handy
You've inspired me to take trip down to the south of my borough and head into town that way next week.
Brilliant! Hope it goes well!
This is brilliant, thanks. While I see this is an older vid, you mention suggestions: I’d love some more in and around the Forest Gate area. Purely because I’m moving from Sheffield down that way and am keen to cycle more. 😊
I can definitely do more around Forest Gate, there's some good new stuff being built around there soon and I'll be showing it off. Make sure you check out the map linked in the description for routes that go near there that I've done already
The cycleway between Ealing and Greenford might make an interesting video. It's seen some improvements recently, and should be looking to get a pretty big improvement around St. Stephens avenue around early 2024. Great video btw, love the sunset!
oh really, do you have any details on the planned improvement? I like to swoop in when they do new things, always a good time for a video
@@Londoncycleroutes www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201308/cycle_schemes/3165/st_stephens_cycle_scheme
A segment of the roundabout will soon hopefully be closed to motor traffic and the rest will be turned into a two-way lane, which is a great step in the right direction for Ealing considering it's current record on cycling infrastructure.
Nice that they’re removing that one way section! Do you cycle that way often? Am worried the streets aren’t quiet as they’re not LTN’d but are they ok?
@@Londoncycleroutes I cycle that way pretty regularly and its about as quiet as the average LTN, I'd say. It's definitely gotten better since they permamently removed the left turn from Haven Green into Gordon Road, except for cycles.
@@blubfishuwaaa oh that brilliant to hear, I always wondered - will def do some routes that way in that case! thanks for the intel
Some bits of the first few Boris-era cycleways feel odd to me... C2, the far eastern bit of C3, some bits of C1. Feels like they were whacked in ages ago and haven't seen improvement since. The segregation on bits of C2 is really patchy, and the road surface and painted signage feels lacking in quality. Makes them feel less like proper popular routes like C3, C9 or most of C6.
Pedicabs I always find really annoying - but I guess they're better than more taxis. A bit too wide though.
C2 has always had really bad problems with drainage and flooding and seems like they've never been bothered to fix them in addition theres always seems to be a lot of gravel built up at the crossing with all the construction nearby that never seems to be cleaned. Came through recently and was a massive flood filling the lane after bow roundabout heading eastbound. Shame really as it ruins an otherwise not bad route.
@@196hasnain Yep - definitely seems neglected.
yeah it's not great, though the cause is actually the opposite - they have improved it gradually over time in a piecemeal way (it used to largely lack segregation). but right in the sense that at a certain point, the improvements stopped!
yeah good point about the drainage@@196hasnain
I used this route when I cycled from Lee Valley YHA at Cheshunt to Waterloo. Great fun!
The pedicabs are too wide.
That’s a long way - and strong agree on the pedicabs
Very convenient bike path👍
It’s a decent network!
Shocking driving incidents!!
Very bad aren’t they!
I love watching your videos, I find them really relaxing and informative!
Do you have any good routes in the Borough of Barnet? I've taken the tube to Hampstead Station and then used your routes south from there, but it doesn't seem like there are great options within Barnet.
I really wish Barnet would put in more routes, even one or two major routes which joined on to Haverstock hill and then to Royal College Street could make lots of North-South commutes into the city possible. What is the best way to gain support for routes? Is it via TFL or the council?
Thank you! I would love to do more in Barnet but as you say the council is very meh… I am going to do a video that starts in East Barnet soon if that counts though? Honestly it’s hard to say what can shift support, definitely write to your councillors about it though as a good starting point. If you’re really feeling ambitious join Barnet Cyclists (the local LCC group) and they might have some pointers
Your videos are great. Could you please do a good cycle route from Draper's Field to Victoria Park that is kid friendly? If you have a kid on the back of the bike, the steps/lift to cross the River Lea is tricky. The A12 ramp is also a dicey. Any other ways through?
Interesting, have you tried the Monier Road footbridge? It’s a bit further south but can connect you to the canal that runs alongside the park
Lighting and technical details excellent. C2 though, left me feeling tense and nervous. It's a shame, as everything else was fascinating and under control, with the rare exceptions of vehicles blocking your lane.
Any chance of redoing the start to finish w/o C2? Needless to say, it will take longer, and be more relaxed.
there's not really a way to bypass C2 unfortunately - or all of it anyway. it's possible to go through the olympic park and join the end of Stratford High St but that only misses out a good bit. you can also bypass the Bow Road to Stepney Green section with a detour to the south (Mornington Grove, Hamlets Way, Solebay St) but it doesn't miss out much... maybe one I should highlight separately for a leisure ride given a lot of people don't like C2!
Interesting you say that.
If I were doing this I would go leytonstone to olympica to Vicky Park onto the south end of Broadway mkt to connect with C13 through to old street. From there you can go through Finsbury, barbican and head south at farringdon to connect with C3 at Blackfriars....
There are maybe a few gaps in this to get to your standard. But adding this into komoot suggests a similar (ish) route to what I suggest.
Avoiding C2 is much needed.
Thx☼♥!!
Thanks for taking the time to watch!
Another great video, but pedantic commentary feedback: you entered the London Borough of Newham far earlier, roughly 2 mins into the video. Note the resident parking zone at 2 mins 3 (when the small child is cycling in the street), one of the indications of a boundary; further north on Odessa its a Waltham Forest parking zone. The boundary is so indistinct that it needed the joint Waltham Forest-Newham implementation for the low traffic neighbourhood.
also at 5 minutes 48 I think you should proceed to the pavement, which has a shared use sign and then join the cycle track at 5 mins 52. that way you aren't crossing the pedestrian crossing when its green for those crossing in the video at 5 mins 51. An indication of this arrangement is the right turn for cyclists on the pavement which is parallel to the pedestrian crossing, in view at 5 mins 50. So theoretically by crossing on the carriageway you could collide with a right turning cyclist too who has the facility parallel to the pedestrians. None of this is intuitive, the shared use path is a bit narrow and uninviting, and every single cyclist I have ever ever seen did what you did. I am the outlier.
yes that's a good point! I knew about the joint LTN so I should not have made that mistake!
@@danielblaney5331 yeah this is correct, someone else has posted too - good spot! although not clear to me that the shared pavement has fewer conflicts necessarily given you're still mixing with pedestrians (albeit in a legal way). quite a confusing design
@@Londoncycleroutes i'm intrigued anyone else posted this point as i never see anyone else doing what I think is supposed to be 'correct'.
you certainly need to have the eyes of a hawk to spot the turn, I usually pride myself on being able to work out what you're supposed to do but clearly not this time!@@danielblaney5331
Hey man, awesome video! I've never been to London but it's interesting to see how the bike-friendly infrastructure is coming along. I'd love it if you also posted the entire commute without it being sped up, they'd be great background videos! Cheers from Bulgaria!
Hello! I love to hear from viewers abroad - I will consider posting the unedited ones, a few other people do ask for them sometimes as well. All the best and thank you for watching!
🤙🏼 *A nice looong video, and a lovely route!* 🤙🏼👌🏼👌🏼
I really enjoy skatin down that part of stratford, lookin forward to ridin the "extension" on the other side that I mentioned before... but they've paused and disappeared 😂 Just some closed signs 😭
I agree about the bit before Bow roundabout, cars turnin without lookin is mad, I try to look put for it but you can't always, and the roundabout scares me 😱 even though it's been "fixed". I walk on the pavement to pass it.
East Londoners turn like madmen round there lol, someone once turned into me, to go onto the pavement, not even the road, he wanted to go onto the pavement, didn't indicate... can't anticipate that madness lol.
A man runnin in the bike lane, in Mile End 😂🤣
Agree about pedicabs, mixed feelings. Maybe they could regulate how wide they can be, love the cargo bikes, with kids / cargo, not too wide and reduces cars on the road 🤙🏼
Oh that’s annoying about them stopping work on the extension! I swear contractors just do what they want lol. Also that’s crazy about the pavement, sounds like I got off lucky!
I spotted a common mistake at 15:08 - at 15:12 the pedestrian signal turns green, so cyclists shouldn't be turning left at that point.
The better way across is to use the shared path at 15:06 to get to Mansell Street. You mount via the lowered kerb at the ASL designed for that purpose. This avoids the traffic light and the pedestrian light.
Also at 16:05 using the toucan is the best way, as you've demonstrated, because it also aligns the timing with the next traffic lights to Tower Hill.
yeah
that's a great spot on entering Mansell Street, I hadn't realised that or the cycle arrow pointed to the dropped kerb. another very confusing design!
re: the toucan, it's definitely the best way although I don't know if it is *technically* legal because you're technically passing a red signal to access the green light toucan? but it's certainly as safe as just using a regular toucan for both cycles and peds and it's the way I'd recommend
@@Londoncycleroutes i personally turn right a different way for Tower Hill to either suggested but its a bit impossible to explain in writing. However it only involves one red. I don't approve of crossing the toucan by running the red because I think it can be joltingly disconcerting to a pedestrian who is expecting you to stay behind in the white line, but i see the convenience if you think you are being courteous.
@@LondoncycleroutesI think the painted arrow was a new-ish addition in the last year, don't recall it being there in years past, although there was a signpost to the C3, which is now partially obscured by a speed limit sign. There is a better sign indicating to use the footpath at 15:03, but it's easy to miss.
And while using the footpath is the correct way, it isn't obvious to pedestrians approaching that it's a shared space, so inevitably leads to some unfortunate attempts at education from all parties.
@19:40 when you're doing the route in reverse there's a weird setup with the pedestrian crossing traffic light followed immediately by the road crossing traffic light (just around the corner) and it's very easy to miss the second traffic light. after crossing the main road you have an immediate 90 degree right turn - the first time I used C3 I nearly hit the kerb. I did ask City of London Highways to paint the kerb a bright colour to reduce the risk of accidents - but they haven't !
ah yes there are two quite close together, I hadn't thought of it like that but I can see how it could be confusing
Haven't got through the whole video yet, but you talked about the potential waiting time at red lights down the C2 around Stratford High Street, but didn't mention (maybe you didn't spot?) the on and off ramps to the pavement for cyclists to skirt around red lights and anyone crossing.
If you don't need a breather at the lights, it's a really useful way to keep moving down that stretch.
This is really interesting - I hadn’t considered that that’s what these are for. I thought these might be for accessing eg the Olympic park rather than bypassing the lights? I know there some some bypasses like what you describe on CS7 in south London, on the way to Elephant
@@Londoncycleroutes IIRC they were part of the original plans for the extension to Stratford. I think they're at all the crossings along that stretch as a way to allow cyclists to bypass signals as well as accessing the crossings to negate right turns to side streets because of how dangerous it can be on that road.
There's also the short bi-directional section on the southern side of Broadway to allow cyclists to avoid having to go from the eastbound cycle lane across traffic (particularly all the buses around that part) to get to West Ham Lane. Think it's just after 6 mins in when you passed it. You can see the extra strip of cycle lane and the entry to Chant St with bollards and some vague signage. Don't think it actually has a number or indicates where it goes, but there's a bike sign at least.
I don't think many people realize it's there as I've only seen one other cyclist use it, but it does allow a safe route from the eastbound cycleway at the Great Eastern St/High Street island to the top of Stratford Park via a cheeky quietway along Chant St and Pitchford St. Handy if you're heading towards West Ham Park or beyond and prefer a lot less carnage.
I see, that makes sense@@mgbrewhard
Every time I see the pedicabs touting for business at Westminster Bridge I feel sorry for the poor tourists about to be fleeced. Apparently they cannot be regulated currently due to a loophole that allows them to be carriages under a 1869 law that has been tested as recently as 2003.
Yeah it’s a bit depressing - they used to block the cycle lane on Westminster bridge as well until the protection was installed
i have very mixed views of pedicabs - they should be such a good thing, but they clearly aren't. one of the things that winds me up is that they often don't keep left.
What does the law say about them using cycle lanes? Surely it should be illegal.
Hello I'm very new to cycling, do you know of a route from Tottenham court road to Swiss cottage. Thanks.
Welcome! I don’t think there’s a perfect route, but I would go via Cycleway 27 and Park Crescent to the Regent’s Park Outer circle. I’d then go up Chalbert St, St John’s Wood Terrace and Ordinance Hill, and St John’s Wood Park. It’s not amazing but there aren’t any terrifying bits or anything like that
I don’t understand why the CS2 is so filthy in both directions.
To join the C3 I tend to go on for a bit and then take a left at The Minories. It’s not a protected route but pretty quiet especially on the weekend.
Yeah that’s a reasonable way to do it! And I agree about CS2 - TH council needs to invest in some street cleaning I think…
@@Londoncycleroutes When planning the route did you think about going through Olympic Park?
@@sanjaynayyar you could do it via temple mill lane I think, but where possible I try to avoid parks (not always possible) as some people don't like them at night
Probably from all of the construction in the area. Especially around bow roundabout just before it theres a massive new development being built so the trucks drag dirt and muck onto the road. Im sure they lanes get cleared occasionally but you always see piles of crap between the bike lane and road which is annoying if you need to leave the lane to go around a car like at 7:49
I was just wondering whether there is a decent enough route to Heathrow airport from somewhere like Richmond or Twickenham. If there is, that might make an interesting video? Also this video is stunning!!! Love the sunset!
I’ve been trying to work one out to Heathrow- I can get pretty close though it’s hard to get to a useful bit of the airport! Definitely want to do a few more in outer west London either way though
@@Londoncycleroutes now that Hatton Cross underground station is in the free travel zone - you could use that as your destination? or use one of the plane spotting sites as your goal?!
that might work! I think I was able to get up to the fence line. apparently they are building some kind of cycle tunnel into the airport soon but not sure when that'll be done@@fToo
@@Londoncycleroutes a cycle tunnel would be interesting - but the trouble is that it's quite a long way from Hatton Cross to T2/T3 area. just be careful which fence line you use - I got warned off for taking photos through the fence at Heathrow!
@@Londoncycleroutes Cycleway 9 is undergoing an extension around Brentford--Kew Bridge.
Should be completed before the end of the year.
Hey Jon - what tyres do you have on your bike? Did you choose them with the variable terrain of London in mind..?
So I have a road bike with Schwalbe Durano Pluses on it- they’re puncture resistant and in my experience really tough. Basically because there is sometimes glass etc in a city. Another option is Marathon Plus which are even more bulletproof but a bit less like a road bike and slightly more chunky…. Other brands are available and I’ve not tried many but am happy with the Duranos (to the extent that I went for them in my replacement bike when the old one got stolen)
On pedicabs: I feel like if their fares were regulated like cabs (maybe even just the same rates), and the width of a vehicle allowed in a Cycleway were regulated too, they'd be a great addition to the city. As of now, they're a scam and it actually makes me feel vicariously pissed off and a little bit embarrassed on behalf of us Londoners whenever I see people in them.
I think this summarises my view as well - I think the video illustrates the width issue nicely if not the fares!
@@Londoncycleroutes Well, either that or wider cycle lanes are needed!
Yeah the difference in width between a normal cargo bike and a rickshaw is made pretty clear from this video. There's lot of transport related regulation being held up by the general tory psychodrama of the last decade or so, I think there's a reasonable chance we would have regulated pedicabs and privately owned scooters now if we had a normal government.
Just ban them IMO. Loud, obnoxious music, unsafely driven, no demand from residents, and there's something fundamentally unpleasant about paying a guy peanuts to perform hard physical labour carting you around.
👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks for watching!
Are there any usable routes between Finchley Central and Camden? I've spent ages looking at various backstreet routes suitable for my daughter to use - she's fairly new to cycling & wants to ride to uni (but not brave enough for some of the main roads!) Thanks 🙏
I’ve not been able to work out anything great myself - if I was doing it I’d probably go Long Lane, then Bishops Ave and through Hampstead (then Belsize Pk) but I wouldn’t call them really quiet except the lanes on the last bit. I will make a note and see if anything better comes to light! It’s really annoying there are few good connections up that way
Awesome thank you! I had something similar but probably nothing my daughter would be comfortable with (just yet!) I think I'll have to head up that way on my bike and explore 👍
@@TheGoodPen yeah probably the best way! hopefully barnet gets its act together on cycling sooner rather than later
Are the painted lanes on Kensington high street in place, and how bad are they?)
they are in place, and they are awful - I've not been down myself but I've seen lots of pics and there are apparently cars parked in them constantly
@@Londoncycleroutes yeah, not surprised at all. Fingers crossed the road might get into tfl hands or next council elections will have different outcome
V interesting route as usual.
Have you done anything that includes using the Green Way ?
I’ve done one to barking that uses it I think - Stratford barking?
Hi
sup
RBKC to approve new lane down Kensington high street! Cutting edge repurposed fireproof materials to be used...
Vote Conservative, get Conservative!
Indeed…