I know the simple answer is to ride.

But with the time schedule I'm on I will probably arrive at the outskirts of the M25 in the evening so plan to camp somewhere and move on in the morning.

I'm heading to sussex, horsham area ish. from east anglia.

I would ideally like to avoid the massive headache of navigating accross the entirity of London ( I would defo get lost!) and battling the traffic.

Is there another way with a loaded up touring bike?

Ta

anybody?

(dust, anybody?)

Crossing the Thames will be your biggest worry

I cant see the Dartford crossing being that great and the next nearest inland is Blackwell

Id prob go with the Woolwich ferry then head south to take in Biggin Hill (if you havent already seen it)

You can go across the Dartford Bridge/Tunnel – they'll carry you and your bike free of charge.

http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/4075.aspx#WhatprovisionisthereforcycliststousetheCrossing?

Else head for the Woolwich Ferry – as a cyclist you just go to the front of the queue and over on the next one, won't be waiting more than a couple of minutes. Also free.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=woolwich+ferry&sll=51.495492,0.061111&sspn=0.010741,0.024891&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&hq=woolwich+ferry&hnear=&ll=51.496133,0.061626&spn=0.010073,0.024891&z=15

Any tube station (and most cycle shops inside the M25) should have the free TFL cycling maps which are handy for showing which of the major routes have cycle paths alongside. The TFL website journey planner also does cycle-centric route planning which may be a help too.

Depending on where you're crossing the M25, you can get your bike onto a train into London after about 10am. If you come into Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street it's not too much of a horror to get across to Waterloo to get you out the other side by train.

I wonder how far down the Thames the river boats go? They're OK about bikes generally I think. There are definitely ferries as far up as Putney, and once you're there you can put a decent ride in to get to Horsham.

Why not try using Thameslink and getting the train from, say, West Hampstead/Finchley Road/Kentish Town and getting off at East Croydon?

cheers all, i'll look into these

Train into liverpool street then cycle across centre to get to waterloo, not far and an easy ride, the train to Clapham, the get on train to east sussex, just need to time your run into liverpool street so you miss morning rush

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Apols for the triple post!