Riding the Canals, ever do it?

hi.wey navigation from weybridge to godleming is nice ride about 20miles through leafy surrey,nice pubs along the route,stations either end

dread to think what will happen to the canals when british waterways gets the chop, having said that i dont think they did enough to stop irresponsible cycling anyway

but british waterways is a useful quango
compare that to the promotion of cheese eating in the UK / Sausage Eating Council and the Zebra Crossing Advisroy Board
i'm sure they won't axe that one

Irony? Can't work out whether you know that it's been axed or not.

I dislike riding the canals, you can never get any speed up.

My ride is actually almost twice as fast going by canal rather than roads.
25 mins via canal
25 mins by car
45 mins via road
80 mins by tube

What is a 15 minute cycle from Highbury to Mile End turns out to be 40 minutes along the canal in my experience. Just because of being considerate to the walkers. Still go down the canal though regardless.

the wey ends at weybridge,then into the thames.

there's a very tame Heron lives near the canal near me (near the Coy Carp at Harefield )- it has a barge owner friend, he's known it for 12 years now and feeds it. You can get within 4 feet of it.

The barge owner says he hasn't the courage to get it to feed out of his hand with that razor sharp beak!

nice pub and grub, the coy carp, know it well

so you can pick up the thames easy enough at weighbridge.
From there, you can take the Thames path all the way to Putney which is a surprisingly long route compared to going direct. There is a really impressive bit of topiary along that way that is worth looking out for. Someone has carved a figure riding on a bird flying out across the river. Well, it impresses me anyway.

Alas, you are a bit stuffed for heading up river. There are a few sections you can ride between Walton Bridge and Chertsey but only a few hundred yards each kind of things. There is a one way road that follows the river for a mile or so, so if you are heading down river you are fine! From Chertsey you can get to Windsor only losing the river a couple of times. Although a lot of it from Old Windsor up is footpath only.

Just went up the lee Navigation from Bow to Cheshunt and back again, Fascinating ride, especially out towards the reservoirs (Sheep and donkeys!) and it's pretty idyllic when you get past the m25. Some stretches were empty for miles, whilst others (waltham abbey esp) were full of people on a new years day stroll.

Hi,

If you're going for a ride on the canals, here's our handy new code and map for y'all.

Be nice to each other and enjoy ...

http://www.waterscape.com/media/documents/24976.pdf

i rode the canal yesterday from Brentford up to Harefield, quite a few pubs along the way.
easily do-able on a rigid bike.

it's a shame there are so many walkengers on the canals these days i would love to organise a ride from thames to thames via the grand union but trying to negotiate 30 cyclists along certain sections might be a bit awkward and a bit busy
i've done rickmandsworth down to stratford, the rickmandsworth end is very rural and lovely to cycle

Grand Union in from Rickmansworth is nice for a leisurely cruise into town. Especially if you time it right for a couple of pints on the way and a curry for lunch in Southall.

fancy it in the coming months matt
metro line out ride back sunny day beers curry
like a mini GSAID ?

Used to ride along regents canal often on my old MTB, have been avoiding it since upgrading to my road bike, can imagine it being quite bone shaking.
Is it bad for the bike? riding on those kind's of surfaces?

it's a shame there are so many walkengers on the canals these days.

Is that actually genuinely a shame?

^^^Very tempting. Would be worth doing a bit of research on the restaurants first, lunchtime opening times can be odd.

I'd probably take the MTB for a little extra comfort but perfectly doable on road tyres, perhaps with a few psi taken out.

Is that actually genuinely a shame?

The shame is that that makes it unfair of us to organise huge forum rides along towpaths which would intimidate our walking friends.

How far can you go on the canals- is there a rideable towpath alongside every canal in the uk?

Used to ride along regents canal often on my old MTB, have been avoiding it since upgrading to my road bike, can imagine it being quite bone shaking.
Is it bad for the bike? riding on those kind's of surfaces?

it doesn't really get all that bumpy to be truthful
there are sections of concrete slabs - smooth just watch that front tyre going in between the slabs and tracking
sections of mud - usually tamped down by millions of footengers and numerous bikes pretty smooth really
sections of gravel - around wormwood scrubs area again lovely and flat

the worst sections encountered are on the leevalley north of springfield parks and that really only is bad for a mile or so

so in summary it's fine on a road bike with 700c x 23's MTB's are really required
have done from limehouse basin to the thames in brentford many many times and it's a great ride

Is that actually genuinely a shame?

well no, footengers are human beings too i guess !
if only they wouldn't walk three abreast

^^^Very tempting. Would be worth doing a bit of research on the restaurants first, lunchtime opening times can be odd.

I'd probably take the MTB for a little extra comfort but perfectly doable on road tyres, perhaps with a few psi taken out.

researching restauraunts ..... what are you matt ? a michellin guide writer ?

How far can you go on the canals- is there a rideable towpath alongside every canal in the uk?

most do because as you well know horses used to pull them before steam / diesel came in thus they need a section of bank to walk along
most canals i've seen have at least one bank that is walkable rideable
outside of london it gets a bit " rural " i.e. not tarmac / concrete etc.
but perfectly good grassy surfaces

Interesting....
I could see a plan forming at some point when I have a bit more time.