The best way to cycle from Wembley to Westminster
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- You can cycle from Wembley to Westminster on all quiet streets and protected cycle lanes, with a long stretch along the quieter bit of the canal tow path.
The ride takes about half an hour and takes in Brent's Wembley Central low traffic neighbourhood, Cycleway 6, Park Lane, and the Grand Union canal, as well as a new cycleway and bridge over the North Circular.
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You can find a map of the route here and download GPS files: www.komoot.com...
And thank you to viewer John Levermore for compiling a single map of all the London Cycle Routes videos, which you can find here: www.google.com...
you are the london cycling boss
thank you sir 🙏
I always slightly feel like I’m going to tip into the canal when I’m on the narrowest paths, even though my rational brain knows how unlikely it is… loved the bridge facts on the canal - worth the research!
Yeah I try to avoid it where possible for routes, for Wembley I think there’s just such a lack of other options it’s the way to go!
Went to London yesterday and your videos inspired me to hire a bike and cycle through Hyde park to the city of London, it was fantastic!
That’s brilliant and lovely to hear, glad you had a good time!
I really appreciate this as someone who is planning to explore this exact same route! this format + content is great
Thanks very much for watching, really appreciate it and glad it’s coming in handy!
The works blocking the towpath is National Grid ripping out the old 275 kV circuits that run under the towpath linking a string of substations from Willesden to Hackney, and which are now redundant with the new 400 kV London Power Tunnels -- hence the big cables on show. It's the same reason Royal College Street's northbound track was (still is?) blocked for about a decade for works on the substation site there. Nice to see how my old commute has changed in a little over a year.
Interesting, good knowledge - I always wondered about the RCS stuff too, it’s still there and has indeed been a decade
A ride I did way back in 2017 when I lived in Hertford was from Sidcup all the way to Hertford. Started off on roads all the way to Greenwich, through the foot tunnel, along the Thames Path up to Limehouse Cut which is also the start of Regents Canal. Along Limehouse Cut until it joins the River Lee Navigation, and then along the Lee Navigation/River Lee all the way to Hertford. All in all about 40 miles. Basically once you come out of the Greenwich foot tunnel you can follow canal paths all the way to Hertford. I love canal path rides, but better with a gravel bike or similar as some parts are just too rough for a road bike.
Ah wow I didn’t know it was paths the whole way - in the west I’ve walked to Uxbridge along the canal and thought about going all the way to Birmingham in stages but never got around to it yet
Thanks for posting the GPX tracks - very useful
No problem!
Loved this video! I've taken a similar route multiple times but near the end I took a much more unconventional and worse route so I'll definitely change it up now!
Glad to be of help!
Only just discovered this! I live in North Ealing near Hanger Lane station. Annoyingly on the wrong side of the North Circular to easily access the canal, but I'll give it a go at some point by going under the gyratory and through the industrial estate...
Enjoy! The canal isn’t the best cycle route but it’s a godsend in an area which doesn’t have anything better!
Hi from Steel Road canal access it was closed for many months (summer 2023) due to resurfacing and they added benches up to the Lebanese restaurant. Atfer that its back to broken bumpy pathways.
Useful info thank you for the update!
nice,,, more routes in north west London, please
I will do my best! The infrastructure isn’t great
If only there were a cycle lane on the Harrow Road to avoid having to use the canal. I've done something similar but instead of using Westbourne Terrace I prefer to go via London Street and Sussex Gardens to access CS3.
That looks pretty sensible given the problems with the lights around Westbourne Terrace, might try it out
Great video as always! 🙂
Thank you!
Great video, thank you! I use a similar route to get into central London from Ealing. With the lack of decent cycling infrastructure on this side of London, the canal offers a good route from the west. As CS9 gets built out from Chiswick to Hammersmith (and hopefully one day connected to Hyde Park to provide a through route to central London) it might provide an alternative.
Yes that would be fantastic, the bit that’s already there is excellent
19:27 Now I understand why these cycle lane traffic lights can take so long to turn green, why there is no button and why a full cycle of lights can take place at the junction without these ones turning green.
Supposedly TfL have fixed them, have you had problems recently? I think they should always put in a button override for when the detector doesn’t work!
I did Waterloo to Mayfair this morning for the first time. So I did from parliament square to Buckingham palace the other way. I found the large roundabout in front of Buckingham palace confusing because of the broken lines cutting across the lane.
Oh yeah if you went today it would have been confusing - they close the mall to traffic on weekends so it’s a pedestrian zone and everyone’s walking in the road and it’s not always clear where to cycle
@@Londoncycleroutes It was 7 am so nobody but me. I didn’t realise it was Buckingham Palace until I googled it later! It’s a real pleasure at the moment to be Boris Biking to different job sites in London.
I’ve been making use of them a bit as well when out on walks, they’re great and surprisingly reliable especially if you’re used to the Jump bikes that always seem to be broken
@@thecuttingsark5094 haha it's not a very impressive building is it! a bit dour
Watch out for the surface on the canal by meanwhile gardens- really bad stretch of tarmac which has thrown me off in the past
Good tip thank you!
Fantastic video, keep up the good work! Where would the route start to change if I was going from Wembley to Euston? Also, where do you get your information on where the best routes in London are? Is it through your own experience, or via an app?
It’s not perfect but for Euston I’d leave the route at Sussex gardens and follow the signs for Cycleway 27 - then leave C27 at Gordon Square and take Gordon Street up to Euston Road (then dismount to cross the road at the pedestrian crossing). I don’t tend to use C27 in videos as some bits aren’t all that great but it’s the best way of making that link I think
Re information it’s basically a lot of research and testing out routes! I go on scouting expeditions etc and keep on top of what new stuff is being built
@@Londoncycleroutes Appreciate it, thank you so much
Thanks so much for all of your work, it’s completely invaluable! I’m trying to work out if this route is reversible, but I can’t see a way back onto Bloomfield Villas from Westbourne Bridge going northbound. Did I miss something in the video, or can you advise of a way around this? It’s such a pain trying to cross the Harrow Road/ Westway!
Edit: I should add that I’m trying to get to Maida Vale… Any tips greatly appreciated!
This is a very good point that I wish I’d considered when I made the video - as far as I can tell that best way to do it northbound is actually to dismount at the junction of Westbourne terrace and bishop’s bridge road and use the pavement on the right hand side over the bridge etc. alternatively to Maida Vale depending on exactly where you’re going from it might be easier to cross the canal and A40 east of Paddington - eg Harewood Ave near Marylebone, Broadley St, Penfold st, Lyons Place to Hamilton Terrace etc
Excellent! Staying in Wanstead next week so will give the later parts of this route a try. Assuming it would get me to the Olympic Park? Thank you!
Did you mean to comment on a diff video? Wanstead to Stockwell one would!
Yes, sorry - should have been on the Stockwell Wanstead one - this must have started automatically after. Thanks for replying.
Fantastic video!
Thank you very much!
Thank you for great video. I tried to bike this route, but then to Euston. I find the canal quite daunting in terms of suboptimal road conditions and narrowness. There are still no better options than your route?
Yes unfortunately I don’t think there’s been any improvements on alternative yet. There are some proposals for bits but they’re still a while off. I totally agree that the canal is suboptimal especially at night
Thank you so much for these videos. They are so helpful for me as I'm just getting into cycling around London as a commuter! What kind of route would you recommend for a beginner cyclist looking to go from Wembley Park to Bloomsbury?
Thank you! I haven’t ridden the whole of this on one go but id probably go North End Road, Fourth Way, river Brent path to the North Circular, using the crossings to get to Stonebridge Park, then go up Beresford Ave to join the canal, and go down the canal basically all the way to Kings Cross, then Judd Street into Bloomsbury… not a brilliant route but should be relatively quiet
Awesome content for cyclists man !
I´m going to visit London the next week,
I wanna know if the routes are bidirectional. can I go and back using the same road ?
Thanks a lot for the content I´m watching it all
thank you, and yes I always make them bidirectional where possible (so like 95% of the time) - very occasionally there may be some limited variation in the opposite direction, but if that's the case I mention the alternative in the video (and it'll always be a very small change like a parallel street)
@@Londoncycleroutes great, I´ll take care with that !
Excellent work here! Didn't know the cycle lane in Hyde Park was closed to..... bicycles! And you are tight: Royal Parks absolutely hates cyclists.
I didn’t have time because I was babbling about something else but I meant to go into The Royal Parks’ escapades in more detail!
@@Londoncycleroutes they shut down Richmond Park during the first lockdown, result of a knee-jerk reaction to a photo of a group of cyclists. Since reopening, there have been 3 incidents of drivers hitting cyclists. No "knee-jerk reaction" there! They hate us.
Are these routes suitable for mobility scooters or powerchairs? I'd love to do them when I visit London.
Great question - so legally they are fine I think. In terms of accessibility I try to make them so people don’t have to dismount to make them accessible to people using eg adapted cycles and if they’re not try to note that it’s an issue at a specific point in the commentary, but sometimes I might not always get a chance to do so (and sometimes there isn’t a good accessible alternative I could take). There are sometimes chicanes on paths which could prove a problem for example. In terms of traffic levels when they’re running on the main carriageway, I guess it depends what you’re comfortable with - I’ve not ridden a mobility scooter myself so am not certain what level is appropriate, but I try and keep to quiet streets. I would say watch the videos to give you ideas but maybe be a bit cautious about what will work for you. Your comment is a great reminder to me that I should be as proactive as possible in noting where routes are or aren’t accessible though so thank you for commenting! Am a firm believer that when cycle infrastructure is designed it should be accessible for exactly this reason
Hey mate, great work! Dont know if you take requests but could you please try and make a route from ealing broadway to south kensington :)
Thanks!
Hey, yep I very much do take requests! I’ll see what I can do on that one, sounds like a challenge but I’ve been meaning to get back to west London
It has been a while
Sorry last week’s episode slipped to this one is extra long!
Hi I used part of this route the other day and the red light seemed fixed.
Oh that’s great to hear! After I posted this TfL actually got in touch and said they were looking at it. Thanks for letting me know
I think that signal at Sussex Gardens is fixed now, unless I was just lucky when I passed though it last week.
On 16 inch wheels the canal towpath feels very rough, and it's a bit narrower than I would like when passing pedestrians. If I was doing this route I'd skip joining the canal at Abbey Road and continue on, working my way to Q2 at Wormwood Scrubs. Or take the canal to exit at Old Oak Lane or Scrubs Lane and head south to join up with Q2 and follow that in. I realise none of these options are in the spirit of your channel though, and wouldn't suit everyone.
I agree with you on the canal, and yeah I think for me doing it personally there are a few more routes (and Q2 isn’t too bad) but as you say I try to keep is calm on the channel!
That’s very good news on Sussex Gardens - actually after I posted this TfL got in touch and said they were going to have a look at it! I’ll have to go back and check it out
Could you please suggest a route from Stanmore tube station to Wembley
That’s a tricky one, I’ve always struggled to find many great routes that far out in the north west but I’ll have a look and see what I can come back with
Loving the videos but you really need to get a microphone pop filter!! This is an older video and you might have bought one in the meantime. Sorry if that’s the case.
You are right and I did buy one a while ago!
Shame about those lights. Trying to detect cyclists is great (particularly as they approach a junction, so they don't need to stop) but there always ought to be a physical backup button as well.
Yeah agree, a button would fix it. It’s just a bit frustrating as it’s such a short stretch with so much that can go wrong - another more drastic solution would be to close one of the arms to remove the need for signals
@@Londoncycleroutes Have you tried reporting it to streetcare.tfl.gov.uk/
@@dazz285 that's a good idea
I've always been told that cycle infrastructure in West London is bad but it looks fine to me.
It’s a lot more patchy, I try to stay to the good routes on the videos but it’s a bit more limited what routes I can do to that standard if that makes sense - especially problematic in Kensington and Chelsea which has no segregated cycle lanes or LTNs to speak of
Towpaths do not/should not count!
Unfortunately Brent and Harrow councils took out almost all of their LTN's before the elections, trying desperately to appease the car driver lobby. Harrow, Brent and Barnet are so behind the times with cycle infrastructure, in fact i dont think Harrow has a single bit of segregated bike lane anymore, not a single measly wand. Compare that to other outer London boroughs like Enfield and Waltham Forest who have really showed that cycling in outer London is possible.
Yeah Brent in particular is really disappointing - second highest number of tube stations after Westminster so no need for car dependency, and yet… nothing
Unbelievable @ the lights that don't go green! What a joke
I’m told they’re fixed now though they’re still pretty slow!
The only thing is that it’s a bit quiet and lonely, not really safe for women
sure, I guess different people will have different thresholds for what they feel is safe!