Touring from london to the east coast without cars: ADVICE

[luckyskull76]

Hello all,
I am looking to go on a touring holiday next month. I am setting off from London, heading east to Kent, then want to continue along the coast. destination unknown. I would really like to avoid cars and main roads. sticking to canal paths, forests(with paths or dirt track) diss-used railway tracks(that are not totally over grown), quiet-ways and coastal trails......if anyone has a routes they have used in the past it would be great to get your advice.

The aim is to be in nature, by the sea and experience the beauty of the English country side. I am open to all suggestions advice and even going the opposite direction if it will have less cars.



Thank you in advance for your advice.
Luke

[Ben@Forest]

You say heading east and then along the coast and presume you mean heading south/southwest (Kent - East Sussex - West Sussex). But for less traffic I'd have thought the Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk coasts would be better. In which case why start on the wrong side of the Thames?

[TonyR]

+1 for heading for Essex. I'd head out and pick up the North Sea Cycle Route in Wivenhoe. There are then a number of points then where you can get a train back to London when done.

http://www.northsea-cycle.com

[CJ]

Get the train to Canterbury, then ride the 'Crab & Winkle' trail to Whitstable, from where you can stick very close to the sea on a mixture of minor roads, bridlepaths and esplanades, all the way via Reculver and around the Isle of Thanet to Pegwell Bay. From there it's up to you. The coast further south is still good in parts until you get near Dover - which is an irredeemable knot of traffic. And there's a dense network of minor roads filling up the spaces in-between the main roads all over the dip slope of the Downs any way you like. Or if it's only like a weekend tour: simply turn right at Sandwich and follow the chain of minor roads through the Stour valley back to Canterbury. There's a signed route around there called the Viking Coastal Trail, but I wouldn't stick religiously to it as some bits are a bit silly and you can already cycle some extra useful bits of coastal path that they probably want to include in the Viking Trail but haven't got permission to signpost yet.

Better idea: get the train to Harwich, boat to Hoek van Holland and cycle somewhere with REAL cycling routes, rather than hole-in-the-corner grace-and-favour PRETEND cycle routes - for which we must dutifully pretend to be grateful.