Route London to Southend on Sea

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LondonBikeCommuter
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Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by LondonBikeCommuter »

Anyone care to offer any thoughts on a nice New Years day cycle route from north London to Southend on sea coming back a different way?

Google offers the A13!
Thanks
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gaz
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by gaz »

London's not my strong point, neither's Essex.

Have a play on cycle.travel, usually comes up with something sensible.
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SteveHunter
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by SteveHunter »

In Essex I would stay just north of the A127 all the way to Rochford, it's a bit longer but it's nicer. I don't know where y you are starting in London but Brentwood through to Billericay, Hanningfield, Rettendon, Battlesbridge, Hockley, Rochford, Southend.

The area south of the A127 is not the best for cycling in my opinion, I live just north of it in Wickford.

Personally I'd be tempted to take a nice scenic route out and then get the train back, it's about an hour from Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street.
ANTONISH
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by ANTONISH »

Google will plot a route if you set it to walking and do it in steps between the places you want to visit.
North of the A127 is good advice.
You could try riding back south of the river via cycle routes to Woolwich ferry or Greenwich Foot tunnel ( I'm assuming your start point is north of the river.) - I don't think the Tilbury ferry will be running but I should think the Dartford river crossing will still be running a free bike shuttle service.
either way you are unlikely to be far from a station.
Last edited by ANTONISH on 31 Dec 2014, 9:13am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by Vorpal »

SteveHunter's suggestion is good. I might do Battlesbridge, Hullbridge, Ashingdon, Rochford, Southend, instead of going through Hockley.
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JamesE
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by JamesE »

Here's a route I've used a few times. Depending on where you are in north London you might be able to skip the trafficky bit through Epping Forest. After that it's pretty good going though could do with a few tweaks - there's a nasty enormous double roundabout just north of Battlesbridge, for instance. It goes right round the houses at the end but that's worth it for some quiet country lanes which feel much more remote than they actually are.
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gaz
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by gaz »

ANTONISH wrote:..I don't think the Tilbury ferry will be running but I should think the Dartford river crossing will still be running a free bike shuttle service.

Tilbury - Gravesend Ferry does not run on public holidays (nor on Sundays).

Dartford Crossing shuttle is no longer 24/7. There is no cycle/pedestrian service on any day at the following times:- 09:00 - 10:30, 14:00 - 15:00, 21:00 - 22:30, 02:00 - 03:00.
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SteveHunter
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by SteveHunter »

Vorpal wrote:SteveHunter's suggestion is good. I might do Battlesbridge, Hullbridge, Ashingdon, Rochford, Southend, instead of going through Hockley.


I would agree with that, better than going through Hockley.
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StellaLdn.
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by StellaLdn. »

I'm picking up this old thread as I was looking to cycle to Shoeburyness, spend the day in Southend-on-sea and then take the train back from Grays or so. Maybe some others have taken the route Google Maps suggests? https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Stratford+Centre,+54A+Broadway,+London+E15+1NG,+United+Kingdom/Shoeburyness,+Southend-on-Sea,+UK/@51.5391932,0.0189543,15z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8a7898eb433cf:0x65440afadeba9605!2m2!1d0.001984!2d51.542184!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8d83fa5f72033:0x8e098255675351c0!2m2!1d0.797853!2d51.531522!3e1

The route looks somewhat straight forward to me, but experience has taught me that it often ain't.
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gaz
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by gaz »

Ye gods! Google's route finder really does come up with some rubbish at times. It's many a year since I ventured north of the Thames but cycling on the A12/A127 is something I'd only suggest for the suicidal.

Cycle.travel looks a better choice but may well benefit from some tweaks by those with up to date local knowledge.
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by Vorpal »

StellaLdn. wrote:I'm picking up this old thread as I was looking to cycle to Shoeburyness, spend the day in Southend-on-sea and then take the train back from Grays or so. Maybe some others have taken the route Google Maps suggests? https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Stratford+Centre,+54A+Broadway,+London+E15+1NG,+United+Kingdom/Shoeburyness,+Southend-on-Sea,+UK/@51.5391932,0.0189543,15z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8a7898eb433cf:0x65440afadeba9605!2m2!1d0.001984!2d51.542184!1m5!1m1!1s0x47d8d83fa5f72033:0x8e098255675351c0!2m2!1d0.797853!2d51.531522!3e1

The route looks somewhat straight forward to me, but experience has taught me that it often ain't.

I wouldn't ride that route for a million pounds.

The route suggested by gaz looks okay, except for the A130/A13 junction, which is a nightmare in any form of transport. The latest rendition has a side path, which I haven't tried, but I would still avoid it. The route north of the A127 suggested above is much more pleasant. If you don't want to go as far north as Brentwood, you can do:
Upminster
Little Warley
Ingrave
Little Burstead

The A128 and A129 are busy, but okay for short stretches at least, especially in built up areas.

Similarly, the junction at Rettendon (A1245, A132, etc.) isn't nice, but it's hard to avoid because you have to get across the River Crouch (and it's much better than the A130/A13 junction). The only way to avoid big A road junctions is:
Upminster
Little Warley
Ingrave
Little Burstead
Billericay
Ramsden Heath
Wickford
Shotgate
under the A 130 on the Old London Road (now shared use path)
Rawreth
then one of the two routes suggested by SteveHunter or me above (via Hullbridge or Hockley)

I used to take the Rettendon junction commuting, and the Hanningfield route is nicer than going through Wickford, but I would call it even, whether to take the slight shorter distance and go under the A130, or the Hanningfield route and across the Rettendon junction.

I would use Sutton Road to Shopland Road out of Rochford and over to Great Wakering, then south to Shoeburyness.

The route I suggest adds about 10 miles over the Cycletravel route gaz linked to, but IMO worth it for more pleasant scenery and missing out Saddler's Farm.
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by Vorpal »

p.s. unless Basildon council have taken to better maintenance practices, the shared use path under the A130 is exactly the sort of overgrown, glass strewn thing that we are always complaining about on here https://www.google.no/maps/@51.608309,0 ... 56!6m1!1e1 but it's only for 100 metres or so.
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AndyBSG
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by AndyBSG »

I did the London to Southend Bike ride last year and the route they used was quite a good one, though probably not the most direct.

Started in Victoria Park and went via Stapleford Abbot, Mountnessing, Hanningfield, Hullbridge and Rochford.

I would say going South of the A127, as others have suggested, is going to be a pain because the A127 and A130 are pretty much cycling no go areas and all the other areas south of the A127 are fairly built up residential area's.

That said you could cycle all the way along the sea front through Leigh On Sea, Benfleet, Pitsea, Basildon, Laindon, Horndon and into Upminster. Basically staying just North of the A130. Leigh On Sea to Benfleet should be particularly'fun' as you can go down Essex Way which is a pretty long steep hill(wouldn't fancy cycling it in reverse though as it's a tough climb!)
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by Vorpal »

The sea front route is okay, but it does tend to be a bit busy. There is shared use facility part of the way, but on weekends, it is busy with pedestrians and hard to use. The road is busy with cars, and, in my experience (not recent admittedly) some aggressive drivers. On a weekdays, outside of peak times, it's a fine route. On a weekend, it's a route fit only for a day out with the kids.
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StellaLdn.
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Re: Route London to Southend on Sea

Post by StellaLdn. »

Thank you so much, guys. After looking a bit deeper into the route Google suggested, I decided to just ditch the bike ride and take the bike on a train, go for a nice ride along the sea side and take the train back. I'm not particularly scared, but I really don't want to deal with cars pushing past me for an hour or longer. That's just ridiculous.

Will look into the routes you suggested, but it's probably not useful for me unless I have a GPS, because I have no sense of direction and by that I mean: none at all.
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