Yep this is for people who want to avoid the main roads!

Is that near Bruce grove? Named after the Bruce family which had land there!

@@Londoncycleroutes yeah not far at all… makes perfect sense if it’s also related to

Other options are available!

It’s great, let’s hope it stays that way!

It looks very different doesn’t it! Though as you allude, even 10 years ago I think this and pitfield street had quite a few people cycling on them, from memory!

Yes! Great pub, have stopped for a pint there before some years ago

it's a strange situation

yep absolutely - and wow, I didn't know the Birdcage pub bit was part of the same scheme, I was admiring that in the video as I was editing it. that would be completely beyond belief

[I'd love to know what the traders make of that!] I've already got my 'half-foreign boots' wet on this debate, but your point applies to 'regaining the streets' in many nations, not just the London and UK in general. In Toronto, there's a continuing resistance by many to establish 'bike lanes' on many of the major routes, most recently out in to the suburbs on major thoroughfares running from Toronto (Bloor Street into Mississauga in this instance) and one of the most popular 'anti-rants' has been (gist) "Well what about all the shops and businesses that will be affected? They're all very upset". Of course, none of these folks actually reference the studies that Toronto proper has done, this being one: Google: "Bikes and Business on Bloor: An Economic Study from Toronto". This was done over three years ago, and the findings are pretty universal, even in the midst of a society reliant on the car. Your point on "traders" is an excellent one, and a polling of them could only help cement the progress you've made so far.

dank je wel!

Do you have any tips on how to make it better? I try not to close the door of the room I record in but it’s mostly walls!

@Londoncycleroutes yeah... use a room with soft furnishings in... like a bedroom or lounge with carpets, sofa, curtains, pillows etc. It'll dampen the sound and make it sound less echo like

@@Londoncycleroutes I'm an audio guy...my last work sojourn in London was mostly on Denmark Street. I design and build old-school audio equipment. Nuff' said on that. One very easy way (if it's not your mike, but I remember you attaining a better one a few months back?) then beyond what @desmond223 states, you can hang some rugs (preferably clean ones!) temporarily or permanently on adjacent walls to absorb reflective sound. Don't get tricked into doing the 'egg crate' thing, it's almost totally ineffective. Google: "How To Make Your Own Acoustic Panels - DIY Professional". You don't need to spend large coin, and if the absorptive material you use is dark and foreboding, or sheds easily, just use white sheets to cover it, and also not lose light in your editing room.

@@desmond223 interesting, I don't have anywhere quite like that but I might try bringing my duvet into the room when I record

tricky one as it involves passing through Wandsworth which is a bit of a mess but I will try and figure something out!

@@Londoncycleroutes Yep. The A214 is insane. It's a normal two lane road to the south of Dorlcote Road, but it's been built like a six lane motorway where it connects to the equally insane five lane Wandsworth Roundabout. I'm wondering if that was London Ringways nonsense. It got put in in January 1969. Trying to sneak along the edge of the Thames embankment might work a bit, but the River Wandle passes smack through the middle of the Wandsworth One Way System and that might block you and force you south of the railway line from Clapham Junction to Putney. It looks to me that you can get from Smugglers Way to Enterprise Way over two modal filtered bridges that cross the Wandle and Bell Lane Creek, but it's a bit of a maze on both sides of the rivers. Once you are through the maze though, you can go through Wandworth Park.

Wait! I found a secret tunnel under Wandsworth Bridge Road at Pier Terrace! I think that is your way past Wandsworth!

Very bad!

Yes! It’s very versatile

Didn’t know you grew up there! What a great place

Welcome! I didn’t know that about the council split on the foot tunnel, that’s really interesting. Honestly it’s not ideal for it even if it was allowed, though I suppose people do it anyway!

The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has a lot of support from local taxi drivers apparently and they don't like barriers and LTNs. Large numbers of local people are very against what the Mayor is doing hence the court cases. Hoping he will realise it's a vote looser as the May local elections showed very clear support for councillors backing active travel.

@@Londoncycleroutes Yeah...the name of the infrastructure should indicate its prime purpose: "Foot tunnel". As a cyclist who dismounts and walks on pedestrian RoWs, I have little favour for those self-entitled (I'm being diplomatic) who think it means they don't have to comply with courtesy, protocol and basic decency let alone the law on such matters. Scofflaws make it difficult for careful and considerate cyclists to make their case for more dedicated infrastructure.

@@stephensaines7100 really we need that pedestrian and cycle bridge that was promised to the Isle of Dogs!

To be fair when it's busy cycling on the foot tunnel is a non-starter. I do cycle on it if it's empty though.

Yes critics of active travel stuff are well organised but they’re a small minority and their bark is very much worse than their bite

[I was watching a video made before the election and in the comments section I noticed that about 90% of people were strongly against Sadiq.] I don't want to marr this excellent channel with political comment, I come here to to indulge my longing for being being back in London, and to see how far London has come for safe and *fascinating* cycling, and to experience parts of London I never had the chance to see both as a child there, and during my work sojourns living in London since ...that being said, I follow UK politics very closely, I'm subscribed to a number of UK publications, one of them the Times, now on a tenterhook for me, and prior, the Torygraph which I dumped some years back, and even as an effectively 'outsider' (I'm Cdn/Brit Dual), both those publications mentioned cater to the persons that would vote against Khan. Even though I'm a Centrist and an avid distance cyclist, and I'm as relieved as anyone that Khan was reelected. Beware the polls! They are often highly selective in whom they petition. Some mistake reality for 'car'-tography. I feel better getting that off my chest. On with more of these incredibly satisfying and enlightening bike tours! The banter is as good as the exercise. I love these vids.

I’ll see what I can do! Potentially tricky in parts

Is C27 a good safe route?

@@ADAMEDWARDS17 I think once you're west of Camden, it turns into just cycle symbols painted on the tarmac. No protected infrastructure, and no attempts to reduce traffic volumes or speeds.

@@ADAMEDWARDS17 not that that point really - it's probably the way I'd suggest someone goes across that stretch of Marylebone etc - if only with wayfinding in mind - but west of the Camden borough boundary it's mostly not great and on not particularly quiet streets. I'm not sure how they managed to designate it a cycleway

@@ADAMEDWARDS17 West of Tottenham Court Road, the route is certainly not up to the standards Jon sets for the channel. I would not be happy to take a 12 year old down there. That said, if -- if -- you are confident in traffic and happy to take the lane, particularly on the narrower stretches, then it can be negotiated. It's a very stop start route -- as you travel east to west, you are constantly having to stop at junctions, so cars generally are not travelling very quickly. I've been cycling that stretch for years and can't recall having serious problems. I do agree with Jon, that I am not too sure how it has been designated a Cycleway. There are some interventions, but they are erractically applied to say the least: a couple of short stretches of ancient, segregated cycle lane which simply stop. There are also some dedicated cycle lights. Some of them give you a head start; some do not. Things improve a wee bit beyond Sussex Gardens (which has good cycle gate and the Western End) and into Notting Hill -- there's a couple of useful cycle-only cut throughs and the roads are quieter.

I’d never spotted that before! Apparently it’s a bike speed checker - if someone is cycling 12mph or slower it lights up a green smiley face (it’s actually a face if you look closely at the last frames) but if you’re going faster it gives you a red angry face and tells you to slow down. Been there since 2017 apparently!

@@Londoncycleroutes Heh, if its been there since 2017 and you've not spotted it before, I don't think its going to be terribly useful in getting speeding cyclists (or scooterists) to slow down.

@@GreenJimll haha yes I was just thinking the same thing!

Yep very good point I wish I’d made more clearly in the video! Broadway is quite easy to go around if you use the streets parallel to the east

It’ll be such a shame - Cycle Superhighway 1 on Pitfield St works for some routes as an alternative but not all

Yes I love that crossing! It’s a pretty non standard design but really works

It's madness people voted for a criminal as mayor

@@miz4535 Yeah, but Boris was a long time ago now.

@@GreenJimll That's the other criminal.

Yeah I think the project name the signs are attached to is the London Cycle Network (LCN) which was a GLC project

Important to obey the road markings!

It’s not officially connected yet, that’ll be done even they sort out Greenwich town centre - but you can go via Norway Street and the college, then old Woolwich Road - will do a video featuring it soon!

Thank you!

Thanks very much!

Cheers!

It’s tricky to do it directly - if you want a quiet but indirect route then Palace Street and Petty France to Cycleway 3, through Parliament square and embankment, up savoy street, endell street then through seven dials and old Compton street… slightly more direct but less quiet/pretty annoying go C3 but then up Horseguards rd… then it’s honestly easiest to dismount across traflagar square to Whitcomb st, wardour st, old Compton street… it’s a pain, should be way easier. I sometimes have to commute along this axis and there’s lots that needs sorting out

@@Londoncycleroutes Great thank you, I'll have a look at your suggestions and give it a try next time. I was having a look on the maps myself and thought about trying this route (similar to your 2nd suggestion) - onto Birdcage Walk, up Hourse Guards Rd, dismount up the steps to access Waterloo Place, right onto Pall Mall and left onto Whitecomb Street which then looks quietish road straight up to Wardour Street into Soho Obviously my suggest involving carrying the bike up some steps, where do you suggest walking to acess Whitecomb st as an alternative? Thanks so much

Brilliant! Worth watching out for the taxi rank around there, some ‘interesting’ pick up and drop off going on! Didn’t know you had a tandem btw, very cool!

@@Londoncycleroutes Yes, other half has a sight condidtion so rides a trike or on the back of the tandem. It makes me very millitant about barriers to cycling (anti-Dalek A frame today on NCN61 in Watford for example) and those train companies who won't let us on (South Eastern won't let us get to Kent for example) and the only long distance trains we can use are Avanti from Euston. There's probably a campaigning journalism piece in the complete lack of consistency between the train companies.

@@ADAMEDWARDS17 yeah the lack of consistency is absurd, and if anything the options have got worse with newer trains compared to older ones where you sometimes used to have a driving van trailer or baggage area or whatever

Glad to bring back some nice memories! It’s definitely become an easier ride, nice part of town to live in as well

@@LondoncycleroutesWill be back certainly to give it a go. btw I was just wondering how the maker of the wonderful map manages to put all your many routes on the same map with Google Maps? Tried googling the skill over and over again with no luck.

@@c.h.benwan3793 I'm not 100% sure but I think he uses the 'my maps' feature and the gpx files from komoot

@@Londoncycleroutes Thanks a lot :)

Thanks good info!

That’s great to hear! Thanks for the heads up

Was probably me shouting at them! :) I raised a ticket to Tfl streetcare.tfl.gov.uk/report/5996478 on 20th May and one to Redbridge on 20th too. TfL came back pretty quick saying work was scheduled and Redbridge came back no action was needed. Initially I thought it was Redbridge being crap, but it was clear on 26th May when I was on it. They cleared the narrow passage at 2:10 and 2:30 onwards. So kudos to TfL for actioning it so quickly! If I'm being picky they could have done with pressure washing it afterwards, but baby steps... I'm going to raise a ticket to have some path markings (bicycles and pedestrians) through the Greenman Roundabout as they've mostly faded and lots of people walking everywhere.

That’s a great commute! I can see why you’d miss it

Yeah, unfortunately I think it is the best way - and you’re right, it’s not very good! There isn’t really a decent backstreet route and the local council really needs to sort it out

I’ve always been a little curious about ‘motorway forests’ - little bits of no man’s land you only glimpse from a big road!

Thanks for watching!

These lanes are very Dutch!

If you look at a map of the stations there’s basically just a big gap around Greenwich etc - they were rolled out by borough and I don’t think it was included! Have done a similar route with a friend on a Boris bike and we walked through the tunnel and used the dock and island gardens and walked back to Greenwich

Oh amazing, I didn’t realise there was something on the cards for that junction. That would be amazing

@@Londoncycleroutes enjoywalthamforest.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/260623-FR_GDMA_GENERAL-ARRANGEMENT-1-6_Final.pdf

@@Londoncycleroutes Details of the plans can be found here enjoywalthamforest.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/260623-FR_GDMA_GENERAL-ARRANGEMENT-1-6_Final.pdf

@@Londoncycleroutes Full details can be found on the Waltham Forest website: www.walthamforest.gov.uk/parking-roads-and-travel/active-and-sustainable-transport-schemes/current-schemes/forest-road-corridor-scheme

Yeah the waterworks corner is confusing! I should have made a bigger thing of that. You can see me pausing to check which way to go haha (although I did manage to do it without any wrong turns the first time)

Nice to have a bit of variety haha!

Thanks for watching as always!

@@Londoncycleroutes Thank you.

Yes I think you’re right that’s a better way of doing it - I actually ended up doing that on the way back. If they don’t have the money to rebuild the junction it would be good to have some better wayfinding there to show you can cycle on the pavement

They’ll pull straight into that and then check left and right for traffic 😅

Yes there are some details there that could be improved actually, good spot!

It's a private road, not owned by the council, so that may limit the level of treatment WF are able to install there. Fortunately it is a relatively small cul-de-sac and has a 3mph speed limit.

Just what I was about to say. Glad I read your comment first.

Yes was going to add as well. Quite why you would try and cross the new road anywhere but at the lights is totally bananas

Yep very good point!

@@Londoncycleroutes in fairness, I know the area so was surprised that you did this. But on reflection, what it shows is how poorly designed and signposted a lot of the cycling infrastructure is in london.

Good to hear. I was wondering that, watching the video. Waltham Forest are normally good at details like that.

This is a very good point that I wish I’d considered when I made the video - as far as I can tell that best way to do it northbound is actually to dismount at the junction of Westbourne terrace and bishop’s bridge road and use the pavement on the right hand side over the bridge etc. alternatively to Maida Vale depending on exactly where you’re going from it might be easier to cross the canal and A40 east of Paddington - eg Harewood Ave near Marylebone, Broadley St, Penfold st, Lyons Place to Hamilton Terrace etc

I’d not considered it I must admit!

Haha yes probably