Oxford - London - Cambridge, any routes/pubs/place to stay?

Hi all,

Ive got a week off at the end of the month and planning a few days on the bike. I'm riding to London with a friend who's fairly new to 'touring' so it'll be her first proper ride with panniers etc. I've done this ride a load of times so thats the easy part.

The second day I'm heading up to Cambridge - a city I've never been to before in my life! - the route is pretty easy according to the sustrans site. The plan is to hang out in Cambridge for a day and then ride the 'Varsity Way' cycle route back to Oxford solo (I've done loads of touring so I'm not worried about milage on a loaded bike)

I'm looking for recommendations for places to stay in London & Cambridge that are bike friendly if anyones got any, and also any places/pubs I should visit along the way.

Thanks in advance!

There's a Cambridge subforum on here where someone recently asked for recomms for places to eat/drink, most of those are still valid,
Reccoms thread https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/354154/#comment15544938

if you want more specific recommendations on things to visit I'm happy to help.

Sadly can't help much with the accommodation.

Bit late on this but the Something Lovely tearooms in Puckeridge are a very good midway stop in a London - Cambridge.

In case the route was at all up for debate, I'd suggest getting out of London via Hertfordshire rather than the Lea valley. The latter is quicker but far uglier on long straight A and B roads with no great views and a fair bit of traffic. Even then, I'd avoid the B road kind of parallel to the A11 and keep to the small and slightly more meandering lanes to the east of it (via Cold Christmas, Barwick Ford, Anstey and up to Great Chishill with great views of the windmill) - some amazing lanes to be found there!

If leaving London from the east side following the route 1 and 11 from the Sustrans maps looks to potentially be a nice route too, as it follows many smaller lanes which tend to be very nice and rolling with some lovely views in that area.

A bit of necromancy here but would like to do a London-Oxford daytrip; have done it once before and recall quite a nice route through the Chilterns but would prefer to stay off the towpaths out of London (followed the one going through Maida Vale); @NopePrint might you happen to have a route you could recommend?

There’s a route on here that goes from Richmond and round the back of Heathrow, out through pinewood and iver Heath and drops down to Marlow before crossing the chilterns. It’s called ride to the dreaming spires or something and I can’t find it! I’m sure someone can. Nice route

London-Oxford daytrip

I rode to Oxford recently, few tips :

1 - Barefoot bakers near Jericho make exceptional Cinnamon Buns.
2 - the Up in Arms near Marston do some lovely beers and Pizzas.
3 - Just past University Parks in the meadows you can go for a dip in the Cherwell which is gorgeous.

I can share a couple of nice routes from reading out to oxford, local stomping ground!

In Oxford, if you want ice cream then G&Ds is the place to go. Either in Jericho (North/central), St Aldates Street (Central) or Cowely (south) depending

And coffee: missing been on Turl street is good. Or Handlebar Cafe for brunch (had an advantage of having a bike shop linked if you need anything!)

Thanks very much all - super helpful and will try to remember to update when I've done the ride! @T_Unit think it's this one you're looking for, but the bikely link doesn't seem to exist anymore and most of those I can find now go south of Slough through Maidenhead.. e.g. https://www.komoot.com/tour/211908029#previewMap. This looks promising though!

How did it go (if it's happened yet)?

Was great, would strongly recommend the PedalNorth route, although we skipped the bit going through Slough so can't speak to that. And the bit going out of London was pretty grim until Uxbridge but don't think you can really escape that.

Thanks; good to know. I hope to give it a go