M25 route

Bump.

^ Traffic calming.

I bet dropout looks at this thread and chuckles to himself quietly whilst swilling an amaretto. This is how I imagine it anyway.

Read Iain Sinclair's 'London Orbital' in which he walks round the M25 - having the same problem at Dartford of course. Fascinating book, and would help enormously in planning a route.

Saw this thread, immediately thought of this book. I need to buy a copy. Thanks for the reminder.

Provisionally in for the ride, too, but not actually sure of the scope of it as I haven't finished reading all the posts.

Looking back at this thread is strange. Two years since the idea was first tossed around.

Since I have time off and am (seemingly...) steadfastly avoiding anything resembling proper employment, I might get out and see if I can do a few recce's.

I was thinking of cutting it down into 4 chunks, just for manageability. I've plotted a route for the SE section that I am thinking of riding this week. If people are available and would like to come, let me know. Otherwise I'm happy to do it myself and use it as a bit of a leisure ride - I'll probably ride out from Nunhead, and join the route around Titsey Hill, and work my way (anti-clockwise) towards Dartford. I know this goes against what was suggested upthread, but I figure it will be a good way of getting to know the route regardless. Having written that, I guess I could do it the 'proper' way too, if I just re-plot my route...

The SE section would cover Junctions 1-8, and the SW section (which I have yet to look at, but would also like to cover) junctions 8-15. Which is the southern half. Obviously...

I have made extensive use (read: copied) Oliver's route here. I may explore a couple of alternatives but will most likely stick to it, and not let that good work go to waste! Which reminds me...

Bump. I've resolved to do something about this this winter, so that we can go on it next summer.

All these bumps come to nothing, for one reason or another. :(

So, is anyone up for one of these this weekend?

Most likely the SW bit as I might do the SE bit myself during the week. Which would probably mean either riding out to Caterham, or getting the train, and then getting the train back into central from Iver or somewhere around there.

Good initiative, Oli. Yes, sorry, I've barely done any long/ish/er rides recently. I'd probably be up for joining a recce sometime.

Oli, how long is that SE section? might have been up for that if you were doing it at the weekend. dont think i can justify getting my bum round to caterham this weekend though.

The way I'd plotted it from nunhead to dartford was about 45 miles I think, so not too far. You up for it? I'll be doing one bit regardless of company so not too fussed about which bit I do when...

NO im now booked up this weekend. parents are downsizing into a bungalow next week and so i am helping them move and get rid of some of their stuff. thought it would be the week after. maybe if you havent got round to finishing all four sections by the weekend after ill be up for doing one of the remaining sections probably.

Four sections by next week...that's very unlikely, I assure you...I'm looking at the finer points of some parts of the SW bit as we speak, it's proving rather time consuming, but fun, in a strange way. Going to do the SE bit tomorrow, hopefully SW at the weekend.

Will also need to compare crib notes with dropout at some stage...

Ok, so did a small section of this today with Fox. Mostly as a leisure ride, but killing two birds with one stone, sort of. Rode out from nunhead. Route we took is here.

Mostly used Oliver's route (see it in post 80...), but made a couple of changes. I used a shortcut to cut out a bit of Polhill, which is a bit pointless really, and I'll edit it out of other routes. It also uses a rather strange bit of offroad which is not particularly friendly to tyres, and requires you to dismount. We stopped in Otford for lunch so deviated there, but also took a hillier route through Shoreham to rejoin Oliver's route by Well Hill, thus avoiding a stretch on London Road/A224. Those roads are very pretty though. Cockerhurst is a bit tough though and is probably best avoided. ;) If I do this clockwise next time I'll use London Road.

The section leading into Dartford through 'Questor' is a bit dull but mercifully short. I say 'Questor' as it's an industrial estate which is private and full of rather large delivery vehicles. Google maps not terribly helpful here as many of the roads are closed, so the kink by warwick way is necessary I assure you...

We also diverted slightly in Datrford to use the path that hugs the M25 - it's signed for cyclists who are using the tunnel anyway. We didn't have to dismount and the path is fairly wide and well paved (smooth tarmac) - it also puts you closely alongside the M25 for the first time and is rather exciting. It curves around and takes you under a roundabout and plonks you where you need to be for the crossing. Which Fox and I did there and back...you have to use a little telephone to call the blokes, it's all rather quaint...

The route is lovely. Some awesome little lanes around there and it's easy to forget you are roughly following the behemoth that is the M25. The bridges/tunnels when you do cross it are strangely rewarding though.

I'll be doing the SW bit on saturday or sunday...and will turn that into a slightly longer ride. We left quite late today but made fairly good progress as the route is relatively simple. The SW bit might be a bit trickier.

great work oli!

brilliant work! nice route

Well done, both. Interesting observations. Looking back at the route, I still shake my head at how messy the M25 makes it by occupying this alignment. There are so many severed connections.

Oh dear. I wrote a long, boring, but informative post about the ride dropout and I did for this yesterday, only for it to disappear into the forum ether as I looked at a PM...from dropout, of all people. bah!

Not sure I can be bothered to write it all out again. It was a good ride. Some good offroad sections (mogador, wraysbury resevoir) which are perfectly feasible, and once again some good lanes, especially north of Iver. Apart from that it's like a guided tour of outer London surburbia when you encounter civilisation, and an interesting heathrow section thrown in for good measure.

Some small sections could be tweaked north of Shredding Green but we were navigating on the fly by then...it worked out pretty well though and it was a lovely evening to ride on some shady, some sunny lanes.

About 75 miles all in, there is a rumour dropout may be available for another ride on Monday if anyone is available...

Route [ame="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/422055"]here[/ame
%22%5Dhere%5B/ame]

...I wrote a long, boring, but informative post ...only for it to disappear into the forum ether as I looked at a PM...from dropout,

Ha! Well the ride was very enjoyable thanks, Ollie.
Pleased that your web skils resolved the Mogador impasse and happy to have introduced the 'secret' Stanwell Moor corridor to you.

Although I'm about to post the mandatory rumbling carriageway pic, as a reminder of the huge traffic infastructure that cross-cuts this western sector of the orbital, the route we followed was nevertheless marked by some short sections of charming counrty lanes, quiet woodland and several good viewpoints.

When I find-out how to, I'll tweak Spybot's excellant Ride with GPS map/cribsheet. and maybe manage a Bikeroutetoaster Garmin-compatible download.
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Oh yes, if anybody wants to join me for tomorrow I intend to do four or five hours of riding, most likely the North-West section, clockwise (because winds forecast from SW).

So... The South East section was really nice, I was very surprised (having not really looked at the route, sorry Oli!) how rural, pretty and quiet it was. Some nice lumpy bits as well.

The seemingly ubiquitous kennels, horses and white van men which seem to be littered all around that strange circular motorway, but also big stretches which were incredibly rural, with few farms or houses. We could only conclude this is because of the green belt preventing development, but it gives an impression of quite a big area where time has stood still slightly which I really liked.

This slowly turned into fly tipping and a general smell of undesirability as we got close to Dartford, although there were still lots of nice bits. I read an article in the Observer today which said fly tipping is a fast growing problem as councils increase waste disposal charges due to the cuts :(

I was amazed by the Dartford crossing. So much traffic, so many lorries. The QEII bridge looks like a giant rolling traffic jam. Impressive in a slightly depressing way, but the crossing (and the surrounding area) really makes you realise the cost of the convenience us 21st Century types demand, and how it works practically. The crossing in a Highways Agency 4x4 was a real novelty, I took some pictures but unfortunately Little Photo for Android doesn't save your pics unless you tell it too (#fail).

It was interesting to see Clegg and Hague's shared country pile, or see the gates anyway. Not a bad perk of the job. The estate isn't actually Government owned, it's held in a trust. Which is basically a fiddle... Chevening is a lovely little village though.

I liked Cockerhurst, if it's the one I'm thinking of (steep but a nice little lane?) although I would have liked it more if I hadn't still been getting over that cold I had and struggling more than I should have been up the hills ;)

John - you should be able to export the route from ridewithgps as a .gpx file and import it into bikeroutegarmintoaster or whatever I think. I'd be up for that ride normally as Monday is the one weekday I don't work at the moment, but I'm away this weekend. The Met Office are saying the winds are going to be strong tomorrow - they are talking about trees coming down up north and issuing severe weather warnings...

I like the sound of this overall concept and also the idea of several people completing different sections each. It's almost like a charity ride that my brother took part in recently where there were several teams of riders covering different sections of a route that went up and down most of England and they would carry a mascot that would have to be passed on from one group to the next so that it travelled the whole way.
I'm living at Potters Bar so would love to get involved and do a section (if people fancy doing something like this), if not then I'll just steal map out a section the M25 route and give it a go.

*If nothing else, this thread deserves a bump.

Heh. I've been thinking of bumping this thread but haven't gotten round to it. Fox, dropout, and I have been working our way around over the last couple of weeks. We did the last bit last week, see here... For me that means I've basically done the whole circle, albeit in 3 'recce' sections.

I've planned a route which needs some ironing out but I've had a lot of fun doing it and seen some great bits of outer London. Many parts of the route are very scenic. Some parts are rather miserable too, but are redeemed by the passage of the M25 which tends to sneak up on you and remind you why you are doing the ride in the first place.

All the bits of the route we've done have been posted here or here abouts so feel free to steal them, but I take no responsibility if you get lost! There are quite a few sneaky cut-throughs I worked into the routes which aren't always that easy to navigate.

I'd like to do a couple more recces to finesse the route, but I have tentatively pencilled in the end of August (27th/28th - or maybe the end of this month if I'm not bored to death by it) to try and have a crack at the whole thing in a day. I have a couple of dates set aside for the recces so I'll try to remember to let you know when/if I do the northern one.

If people would like to have a crack in a small group they should express an interest or PM me.

In any case the dorks over at yacf have already done this, last year, I think...

(Our route is better, though.)

tl;dr

Count me in for the second round of recces.

Needs a bump?
M25 route audax would be awesome

Vesalius - this ride's actually been done, see here. But good excuse to maybe do it again...! https://www.lfgss.com/thread70039.html

Cheers fella^