A few of us are looking at doing the above around July time,does anyone have any idea of routes ect,or even better has anyone done this before and is willing to share there info with us..?

Is this a thing or are you planning on making it a thing?

Follow the off road London to Brighton in reverse, pick up The Smoke Ring in reverse to get you north of the Thames? Cant help thinking heading eat and then north up through Kent might be moe interesting though?

Not the best bit of countryside between them. Are those two points chosen for a reason?

Ah good, not just me then. I did wonder.

Maybe Brighton to Bournemouth pier would be better, lots of South Downs way and down through the New Forest??

cyclistm…A friend wants to do it for “teenage cancer trust” due to issues he’s dealing with at the moment,i’m 99% sure it will happen but it’s only going to be a one off at the moment

nickjb ….we all live in the southend area so it’s easier that way…not sure if there is any other route about the same distance (100ish miles off road)

We were thinking of getting the ferry from gravesend to tilbury so up through Kent may be a possibility

London to Brighton in reverse then east following Pilgrim way through Otford, Wrotham and Cuxton . Gravesend is near by .
no idea on the other side .

Maybe Brighton to Bournemouth pier would be better, lots of South Downs way and down through the New Forest??

Nice idea 8) Reckon around 100+ too

[quoute]We were thinking of getting the ferry from gravesend to tilbury so up through Kent may be a possibility [/quote]
You could head for the the isle of grain and swim across to Southend.

My favourite bit would be around the Grays area. Perhaps you could include both Lakeside and Bluewater?

I live in Brighton and spent 7 years working away from home in Shoeburyness next to Southend. I never once thought about moving up there. The only direction you want to take regarding Southend is away from it! 🙂

cyclistm is right Bournemouth would definitely be a better idea, though you might want to do Bournemouth to Brighton to take advantage of the prevailing wind.

Eastbourne (pier) to London via the BHF route in reverse, then to Greenwich via sustrans route along Ravensbourne river. Head (east) along the southern side of the Thames and get a lift across Dartford bridge (I think they do this still), then pick up the BHF London 2 Southend route (for novices). Lap of Hadleigh, then on to the pier.

Not a great part of Essex to ride though tbh. Much easier to navigate and be quite nice, would be to just follow the Kent coastline?

Another ‘local’ here – Live in Bromley, work in Basildon and have previously lived in both Gravesend and Southend/Shoebury.

There isn’t a great deal of good off-road riding in the South Essex/Thames corridor area, you’d be much better off with the Brighton to Bournemouth idea…

I planned a route from Bournemouth to Brighton a while back I seem to remember, via part of the SDW then the Isle of Wight. From what I remember it looked like it’d be good. I must get around to riding it…

Part (or all tbh) of the Southern Way
Lands End to Dover, via Brighton

GPS

Brighton-Bournemouth via IOW is a great call.

SDW to QE Park, drop down to Portsmouth, ferry, causeway to the spine & then along the Tennyson trail to Freshwater, causeway to Yarmouth, ferry to Lymington & then I’d get a bit lost. Must be a nice route via the New Forest though.

why are people caught up with the idea of Brighton to Bournemouth? the guy is from Sarfend…

martinhutch – Member

My favourite bit would be around the Grays area.

i grew up there….. it’s certainly not my favourite “bit”

however, there used to be some fun bits down the pits where the Chafford Hundred housing estate now sits.

assuming you cross at Dartford, you would have trouble following the river all the way to Sarfend due to all the ports and refineries, although some of the marsh land is nice to ride through.

perhaps along the Mar Dyke, following it through to Orsett, crossing the A128, Horndon, onto Langdon Hills, following/skimming the A13 to Sadler’s Farm roundabout (went through there in Dec and was amazed it is no longer a roundabout!) and then along the marsh towards Hadleigh/ Two Tree Island. off-raod from there would be a bit of an issue, i think…

what about from Harwich/Clacton down to Sarfend…? following the coastal paths would probably mean your mileage is similar to Brighton-S’end, although the elevation gain would be significanty less.
some of the Essex coast is surprisingly beautiful. more so considering the reputation Essex has.

#essexboy

DrP to the Forum
Paging DrP.

I was going to suggest following one of DrPs routes to London then head across somehow, no idea how though.

Eastbourne start also sounds like it might be possible.

I did have a look at a map to go across Kent way but it would be mighty complex, without really knowing how well bridle ways fit together etc it could be messy.

I reckon you could piece together a relatively quiet road route easy enough.

Cheers for all your replies sensible and sarcastic alike …..seems like we’re waiting for DrP to come up with a definitive route…….fingers crossed

I’ve done a route from Canary Wharf all the way down the Thames taking in Grays and Tilbury then pick up the NCN along the Thames path past the Reynham Marshes Wetlands Bird Sanctuay then down past the Oil Refinery near the Lobster Smack Pub then up to Hadleigh to pick up the NCN into Southend and onto Shoeburyness…

Whilst most would think the route on the Southern Thames path a bit grim, it’s actually a nice ride along some heavy industry and its nice following the river.

i could work out some directions in north kent . Sevenoaks to gravesend for example .

Don’t turn up for the Tilbury ferry on a Sunday as it doesn’t run! I’ve always fancied riding from home (Eastbourne) to my folks in Essex, just to take the ferry. On the road mind. There are enough quiet roads just that bit further north of the river. Probably the way I’d look at doing it. Know there’s bike path from Hadleigh to SOS, not sure what’s further up river though.

🙂 just got back from a trip to the big smoke with the missus…

So what do you want…? Brighton to Southend (which I’m less familiar with the final east section..) or bournemouth to Brighton (a few routes I knew of)..
All off road I Assume?

Dr P

It would be great if you could help us with Brighton to Southend and yes as much off road as possible please,we have someone who vaguely knows tilbury to southend off road but any other routes/ideas would be wonderful

There’s a BHF London to Southend event. I’ve done it, the route isn’t brilliant but some bits of it are quite fun. That would get you close to London, then you could do Brighton to London

Or as someone said above, piece together the the Eastern to Southern sections of The Smoke Ring