Afternoon all,

I will be needing to ride my bike (road bike) from Stratford High Street to Euston station, it’ll be around 10am on a Monday morning. Any ideas which roads or routes to aim for or to avoid?

Google has suggested a couple of options but I have no idea how safe some of the roads (or indeed canal’s) are in that area.

TfL route planner
Start at Stratford, end at Euston, choose cycling as the mode – it won’t allow me to link into the results as the URL is too long.
I rode at to Stratford one morning last week for a meeting, and the Whitechapel Road is pretty unpleasant coming into town as they’re rebuilding the Cycling Superhighway.

Think you can go through the Oly park and pick up a canel path to take you most of the way… if you have a bit of time.

But, Bikebuoy is your man for a definitive answer

I’ll pull a couple together for you no problem..

2 questions:
Full chat “gotta get there” mode?
or
Pootle “don’t mind seeing a few places on the way” mode?
&
Bank Hol Monday?

I you have in mind coming down into canary Wharf through Bow then catching the Highway/Embankment then all th way back up Regent St then down the A4 to Euston forget it.. it’s about an hour on very horrible roads and takes you way away from some good routes that’ll take you over quickly and easily away from mad traffic.

Do it when I get home unless someone else fancies a go.

Hertford union canal on to regents canal – angel tube – sadlers wells theatre – theres a rat run for bikes from old street to UCL/Euston which is very handy sometimes

8.2 miles – 46 mins according to google cycle maps

Cant say I’d rather cycle the streets over that route

Good luck

Thanks Bikebouy, to answer your questions:

Full chat “gotta get there” mode? or Pootle “don’t mind seeing a few places on the way” mode?
Somewhere between. It’s the day after the Rapha Manchester to London ride so I’ll not be going full gas as I suspect I’ll a tad tired but I will be on my fast bike so don’t want to hang around too much. I’m pretty comfortable in city traffic so don’t mind busy roads, equally, if I can avoid pinch points and have a reasonably pleasant ride that’s got to be a good thing.

Bank Hol Monday?
No.

As above you could prob get most of the way there on the canals. The canal starts at the western side of the Olympic Park. Keep your iPhone charged and to hand though, there’s a couple of diddly bits like islington where you have to leave the canal as it goes through a long tunnel. You also have to make sure you’re on the right canal- there’s a few on that area. Have fun! 🙂

Righty ho.

Forget the canals IMO, they are pretty rubbish for riding race bikes on, ok if you want to pootle but from what you’ve said I’d take the most direct route and take it easy, can’t get lost on this one…

Come out of Stratford and onto A118 head West, this is the main A road drag all the way from Stratford to Whitechapel along the CS highway (some parts are major segregation, some are part of the main road) this road is a main A road, takes you through Bow and directly down to Whitechapel where you need to stop at Aldgate and right head up Commercial Road. At this junction you will see Aldgate station just in front of you on the right, turn right at this main junction and head North (look out for an IBIS on your left) this road is the main A road drag past Spitalfields, (stop off here if you like coffee and beards) carry on all the way to Old St where you will see a very large roundabout with some criss/cross arches in the middle. Go directly over and carry on past Look Mum No Hands on the Left (coffee, secure bike locks, cake, great food) then carry on along towards Farringdon and Clerkenwell. Once you cross Farringdon Rd (v busy and near Farringdon Tube) head up the hill to the very top at second set of lights turn right on A5200 Grays Inn Rd and past Condor Cycles on left. You are heading towards Kings Cross/StPanc now.. You need to do a big of a wiggle through the streets here unless you want to end up on the A501 where KingsX/StPanc/Euston are on, if so then head for Sidmouth St and turn left, towards Regents Gdns, you are heading towards KingsX (it’s signposted towards the top of the A5200). After the park on your right take 2nd right to Judd St, head to top where you will join the main A501 drag with Euston on, turn left and Eustons on your right

There are other ways but this route takes you past all the grot at Bow, then past Spitalfields then up Old St past LMNH, up Grays Inn past Condor, then a small wiggle through gentrified London until you get towards the A501 (which is the main A4 in/out of London) where all the main stations are on.

The roads in general will be flowing and reasonably fast until you get to Spitalfields then it all slows down a bit because of the lights and such, then you are in busy small roads until the station.

HTH, if you need more info just pop your question here.

Just to repeat myself:

Whitechapel Road is pretty unpleasant coming into town as they’re rebuilding the Cycling Superhighway.

It looked pretty bloody when I was cycling out the other way one morning last week. The traffic will most likely be effectively stationary from Bow Roundabout to Whitechapel. It will be rideable, but it won’t be super quick as the lane is narrowed and there’s limited room to be able to pass queuing traffic.

I’m with aP on this – I rode the A11 west into town from east of Stratford last week and it was an absolute nightmare, the roadworks mean you can’t overtake the stationary traffic so you get boxed at the lights along with everyone else, on the few bits where there’s nothing to stop you overtaking, you’re going against the flow in the already narrow lane going the other way. I would definitely avoid as quickly as possible, and advise against heading all the way to Aldgate on it…

Better option is to head through the Olympic park and make a beeline for Roman Road, then take it from there…