East London route advice

hello, i am moving to london this weekend, will be living in stratford E15 and travelling to the liverpool street station area. it is only about 4 miles i think. i live just off the A118 and was given a lift into the city, the road looks like it would be busy at peak times, any ideas on a quiter route would be much appreciated.
cheers

Go to the TFL cycling website and get the maps (they're free) that cover your area. There's an online route finder map thing on there too.

There's another route site (developed by Cambridge something-or-another) that (I think) Oliver mentioned that's supposed to be better. Can't remember what the site address is though. Anyone?

hi grotley

i live in stratford, have been making that same commute for about 5 years
currently it is a bit choatic due to the olympic site, loads of roads have been closed, which makes things a bit difficult... but

mile end road for the journey in in the morning as straight as a die mile end aldgate liverpool street
alternatively loads of nice ways to get from stratford to liverpool street via canals parks quieter back roads
check out such delights as
roman road
victoria park
bethnal grren road
hackney road
the greenway
regents canal
old ford road
and any combination of the above
maybe we could team up draft and get there 5% quicker if we work together !!
if you fancy going to any of the drinks / rides give us a shout and i'll try and act as guide

Easts tonight, y'all.

You should check out The Greenway, its a cycle path from Stratford that takes you past the Olympic site and spits you out practically at the bottom of Victoria Park, from there you can cycle through both sides of the park, down bishops way and onto Hackney Road then cut through back of Old Bethnal Green road.

Or you can go more direct via Old Ford Bethnal Green Rd, whichever takes your fancy. Either way is a bit more longwinded, but greener and quieter.

just a note on the Greenway...a large chunk of it's closed due to building for the Olympics... as I found out yesterday :(

The big problem for any one East to West is crossing the River Lea.

I ve not done the Stratford - City commute for awhile, but is the Bow fly over part still unavodiable?

Go to the TFL cycling website and get the maps (they're free) that cover your area. There's an online route finder map thing on there too.

There's another route site (developed by Cambridge something-or-another) that (I think) Oliver mentioned that's supposed to be better. Can't remember what the site address is though. Anyone?

Oops, didn't see this earlier. It's CycleStreets.net. This is developed by Cambridge Cycling Campaign and works quite well even though it is still in beta. However, unfortunately owing to the Olympic zone lying in the way, there are fewer and fewer ways west out of Stratford. The A118 or Leyton High Road/Orient Way or Ruckholt Road/Eastway are pretty much the only ones left. The value of the route planner will kick in with the rest of the route once you've crossed the River Lea. I'd take dicki's offer of bike buddying to get started.

Thanks , I forgot the Eastway, which was a route I used to use to Aldgate from E10

It seems a bit less manic than the Stratford to Bow direct route, but I 'd get some one to show you the route under the A12 flyover. I think there is a cycle path there as well, but I 'm not sure its not been truncated by the Olympics

Oliver- has LCC or CTC ever done any work on the River Lea crossings?

plans are a foot
in the latest newham council magazine they are proposing a great new area in the lower lea valley tarting the whole place up from stratford down to the thames as part of the new olympic park / lea valley renovation
should be some new cycling option there

Oliver- has LCC or CTC ever done any work on the River Lea crossings?

Yes--too much to really say more without answering a specific question.

Going from Stratford to Liverpool Street is very easy. It's practically one straight road, there's a big bus lane for most of it. Even during peak hours the traffic is perfectly manageable, only time I've had issues is sometimes traffic at Whitechapel can make filtering a chore but I do that route regularly and it's no big deal!

what robofoxx said - the only tricky bit is getting from the end of greenway, to the canal path that leads to viccy park. it runs along Roach road, it's very quiet scenic and a nice ride, I use it everyday. can send a detailed map if you want, pm me

A few days before the Olympics I need to cycle from Kings X to Ilford and back. I'm struggling to find much online to tell me what this might be like, apart from that all Londoners will apparently be required to eat only MacDonalds and drink only Coca-cola for the duration.

Will the blue route cycle lane between Mile End and Bow be closed/buggered up? Is there new signage for "VIPs Only" lanes? Will these lanes be in force by the Wednesday before the games? Do I count as a VIP? Will the Bow roundabout/flyover be worse than usual? Have they actually finished building Stratford yet and will that be any worse than usual?

The most relevant-looking pages of the TFL website Cannot Be Found, and living so far from London I've no idea if they’ve been broadcasting Do Not Travel or the air attack warning on local news for weeks. I’ve done the route plenty of times but just don’t know if I need to allow an extra three hours or something this time so I don’t miss my train.

Does anyone know what to expect, or can use the fucking search better than me?

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en
Says no problems and about an hour to cycle, which is about right. Advanced search for date, time and cycle only route

And would you trust that? We don't have anything like TFL up here so I've no idea how often it lies.

TFL road map thingy is working for me now, I dunno what was wrong with it before but it does have road maps of changes which are helpful http://www.getaheadofthegames.com/travelinaffectedareas/city/london-temporary-road-changes.html

Don't understand all the squiggles on the Bow Roundabout but presumably I can just go over the flyover instead.

Hi, I live in Whipps X and commute to either Ilford or Shoreditch. I used to go past Kings X when communiting to W London

From Kings X I suggest you do an arc through Islington - Hackney- to the lea bridge rd and then down via Whipps X, Leytonstone Green Man - Wansted Flats to Ilford- You could go via Homerton, but perhaps not just now. The Eastway seems passable for the moment- and you can go from there via Leyton High Rd to Wansted Flats and then down to the Romford rd, but I am not sure if you can still cross it west to easr. Probably, but its one of the bits of the ORN that's not clear.

Otherwise its the Hell of Stratford- straight but busy.

PM me if you want a guide to the Whipps X bit.

Ah , you are in Yorkshire!

Cheers, yeah it looks like I could go along the canal, across Victoria Park and round the "back" of Stratford via Eastway - I'm not in a massive hurry in that direction and that might be quite a nice scenic ride.

It's on the way back to King's X that I'll have a train to catch and might prefer faster roads, especially if it's sunny and there are millions of peds on the towpath.

I grew up in Manor Park but have lived in Leeds for about 16 years, and Stratford has changed so much. Plus I wasn't a cyclist when I lived there - London is so much better by bike! And when I'm basically a tourist and can take my time - I'm much less annoyed now by all those other stupid tourists who get in my way.

Straight is good though 'cos I'm a hopeless navigator. Does the Whipps X bit involve much potential for wrong turns? And do you know if there's a cycle lane that cuts out the big one-way loop thingy at Stratford? I've always thought there should be but have been too busy hogging my lane on the way in to figure it out. Took me about three goes to pick the right exit for Romford Road first time.

The canal and park bit is probably unrideable due to the Olympics. Just learnt , via work, that there are checkpoints on the Eastway!

Whipps X to Ilford is pretty straight run via the Green Man and then around the edge of Wansted Flats to Manor Park.