Brentford > Regents Canal...

Anyone ever ridden down this stretch of canal path? If so is it do-able fixed or a pain in the arse?

I rode up the lee Navigation, fixed 42x16 on 23c's.
Juddery but doable and more importantly, enjoyable!

Chris

It's doable, I've done it.

There's a few places you have to dismount, and a few old boat yards you have to go around. Watch out for the scallywags up near Ladbroke Grove... but it's all fine. Brentford > Camden is possible, takes more than a couple of hours because you have to take it slow.

Yeah, me and the girlie ride Regent's Canal.. out west.. it's cool.
Just watch out where it skinnies up under bridges.

Yes I have done that one too it is fairly doable and nice.
Has anyone been on that other canal I think it is called the lee valley water way or something?
It is the one that goes from the limehouse basin up to Hackney Marshes and on.
I was hoping i could use this to get me out past the M25 on a ride to Cambridge.
Anyone got any ideas?

Canals have tow-paths all the way up em, except where there's tunnels. Isn't the River Lea a river? Think there's no telling whether you'll have a right of way all the way along.

Yep, I've done north as far as Waltham Abbey (outside M25) and its a nice ride (with the right tyres)

Yes I have done that one too it is fairly doable and nice.
Has anyone been on that other canal I think it is called the lee valley water way or something?
It is the one that goes from the limehouse basin up to Hackney Marshes and on.
I was hoping i could use this to get me out past the M25 on a ride to Cambridge.
Anyone got any ideas?

HI,

did this a few weeks ago with a friend, start in east india sock and ride up the Lee Navigation, i took it as far as Broxbourne and then found a pub and turned around. There are some works on it at the mo so it makes for rough terrain past the M25. Nice ride though.

Chris

Sounds great how far do you think it goes? How long did it take?

good info, thanks guys. I'm certainly gonna do the Brentford ride as I can pretty much cycle from my front door in Richmond to the start in Brentford, then on to Camden.

Also very interested in the Lee ride.......surprised it goes all the way up to Ware, thats quite a ride.

I've also been for a couple of rides out beyond Windsor/Eton way, skirting the Thames (staying on road) but reckon I can make a brave effort on the tow-paths on my fixed....just waiting til its not quite so muddy!

Last summer I went to my dads in oxford on the Thames on my fixed. (Well nearly all the way.) It is quite a nice ride and there a quite a few pubs on the way. Took freaking ages though.

yeah a London- Oxford ride would be good.

I've ridden up the Lee Navigation to Roydon Mills many times, there used to be a wakeboarding lake there. Lovely lovely Italian restaurant at Roydon Station too.
Bumpy and muddy in parts, would be tricky on anytihg less than 25mm tires.

Last summer I went to my dads in oxford on the Thames on my fixed. (Well nearly all the way.) It is quite a nice ride and there a quite a few pubs on the way. Took freaking ages though.

Nearly all the way because something stopped you (path ended)? Or you got sick of it?

Sounds great how far do you think it goes? How long did it take?

Not long, about an hour and a half. It was trés bumpy on my 23c's.
maybe something slightly bigger would be better. I suggest a weekend ride up the lee navigation. You can always get the train back from anywhere along it.

Chris

Nearly all the way because something stopped you (path ended)? Or you got sick of it?

....some parts of the Thames riverside simply arent accessible......especially through towns, I think thats what atomic is referring to.

It was indeed.

.....and you have to ride round & round the town trying to figure out where the river disappeared to, what side of the river the path will be on etc, etc, only to discover that the path ends 200m further along and you have to start all over again! Canals are certainly more predicatable apart from the pesky tunnels.

Liverpool to Leeds is a good one. Done it twice now - 135 miles, two days.