Tour de Londres - South Circular and North Circular, anybody done it?

Gmap pedometer says its a tidy 48 miles or so all the way around with a 1 mile each way to the nearest point from my house.

Anything nasty to look out for?

cars

rollerbladers

I suggested something like it ages ago, but it's the shittest, busiest road(s) out there..

still, I know my way around most of the SC and most of the west side of the northern bit..

it's fuckin grim, really

Rabbits

its pretty hairy around the North Circular. Not something I would want to do for fun

Wicked, if I survive i have the added bonus of watching the worst FA Cup Final ever courtesy of my Pompey mad wife.

The bits of the South Circular I've been on are just cramped single lanes, does NC go all dual carrriageway and speedway?

Why on EARTH would you want to ride this shitty road when there's beautiful English lanes within an hour's ride of London??

Maybe at 4am for something 'different' but it's just shitful multiple lanes of angry cunts in cars, angry cunts in trucks, angry cunts in cabs, angry cunts... you get the idea/

yeah theres about 5 lanes at Henleys corner where it joins the A1. Then you go though Palmers Green , Tottenham and Edmonton and its just shite really. Half-hearted cycle lanes loads of glass, pollution. Serioulsy not worth it

I tool around Bromley and the Kent margins all the time but its time to HTFU !

Why on EARTH would you want to ride this shitty road when there's beautiful English lanes within an hour's ride of London??

Maybe at 4am for something 'different' but it's just shitful multiple lanes of angry cunts in cars, angry cunts in trucks, angry cunts in cabs, angry cunts... you get the idea/

cos not all of us are roadies, buddy.

Yeah, what lpg said... The countryside's bo-ring... ;p

I commute 40k across London daily. I don't need to see more traffic. I've ridden parts of N and S circular roads and they are shit. I'm not telling you what to do I'm suggesting alternatives to what I think is a shit idea. If you don't like other people's opinions don't ask questions.

cos not all of us are roadies, buddy.

What's that got to do with anything? I'm also a commuter and an office worker. Big deal.

What's that got to do with anything? I'm also a commuter and an office worker. Big deal.

and an alcoholic ;-)

and...

South circular would be boring but doable. North circular would be idiotic in many places. There are some high flyovers, some long tunnels and cut through, many parts are 50 mph speed limit which means many people will do 60 mph, parts where you need to change lanes to stay on the correct road, slip ways coming on and off. I don't think bike are allowed on some parts of the North circular anyway.

Just use google maps. Start in the East and follow your way round the north circular (A406) using the hybrid map for an idea.

Pretty

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=51.595871,0.030727&spn=0.002243,0.004978&t=h&z=18

The north circular scares the shit out of me when i'm in a car. To take a bike on it would be suicide. In fact I think cycling on a motorway would be safer than the north circ' because at least the lanes on a motorway are wide.

I don't think you will have fun.

This part here is particularly good fun. http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=51.616138,-0.085627&spn=0.002911,0.008218&z=17
In fact, the more I think about it the worse an idea it becomes. I seriously would not bother

Went anticlockwise and bailed the North Circular at Romford Road. Motorbikes overtaking at 100mph and mental flyovers. It is basically a motorway.

Still did a nice 40 mile loop around over to Tottenham, down to Old St out to Paddington Hammersmith Putney Vauxhall Camberwell and home.

Yeah DIY your own north circular route much better.

+1 for avoiding the North Circular at all costs... even in a car.
I have ridden some short stretches of it and it is one of the nastiest glass covered pieces of shit ever, with some of the worst driving to be found on the planet.

North circular = no fun at all. South Circular is OK for getting places....like Herne Hill!