I’ve got the ball rolling with my comment below which took me about 30 seconds to put together. Plus 10 seconds think time (yes my brain ticks over at a slow pace) and 10 seconds staring idle out the window.

Now I realise London Cyclist gets a lot of readers from all over the UK and world so I want to hear from everyone.

What would be helpful is if you could say roughly what the route would be and why you think Mary would enjoy it. If this is a route you have done before then feel free to link to it.

I’ll pick some of the best entries and write about them next week. Don’t be shy, go ahead and contribute any route you want!

See also:

• 25 London Cycle Routes
• Quirky London Cycle Route

“From stone faced guards outside the Queen’s residence at Buckingham Palace to cherry red double-decker buses meandering past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, London is filled with trademark images.

Seeing London on a bike may seem intimidating at first, but there is no better introduction to her sights, sounds and smells than from the saddle of your titanium horse. Get off the clogged main arteries and explore the narrow side streets, where the air reeks of pigeon poop and curry and the chic martini bar sits just around the corner from the city’s red light sleaze, and you’ll get a picture for what makes this multi-cultural metropolis really tick”

This is exactly what I love about the Lonely Planet travel guides. The way they describe places makes me want to be there now. In this latest book, Lonely Planet is transferring their trademark formula for travel books to UK cycling routes. Does it work well or should the company stick to what it knows best?

It’s called Cycling Britain and it covers 29 routes in the UK. Whilst it has an outrageous recommended retail price of £15.99 you can pickup a copy on Amazon for under £8.

The routes included

The routes cover all of Great Britain. Here are some of the highlights:

London: Richmond Park route which I described yesterday. You also have a route through central London which it recommends you do on a Sunday to avoid the chaos. Finally the Thames East route which basically takes you from Tower Bridge to Greenwich park and back. A great route that I’ve done a while back.

Southern England: White cliffs of Dover. Around isle of Wight. Mountain biking in New Forest. Bristol to London route via bath. Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall route.

Eastern England: Suffolk and Norfolk coast for a bit of coastal cruising.

Central England: A decent 8 day ride from South to North. Plenty of countryside and small villages. A route that follows the rail tracks.

Wales: Taking in the best of Wales and some good mountain challenges.

Northern England: Exploring the national parks including the Lake District. Also taking in the Northumbria coast and castles.

Scotland: Around Edinburgh. The Tweet Valley on the Scottish border and a decent highland circuit including some of the lochs.

Land’s End to John O’Groats: The only route listed as “Demanding” gets an entire section dedicated to it.

Overall the routes vary between less than a day to 20 days cycling (Lands end to John O’Groats.

Review

With each route you can see what kind of distance it is, the difficulty and the time it will take. Then there is a brief summary that tempts you into trying out the route.

Cycling Britain however fails in the most crucial part of a cycling route book. They even admit to this failure in the book. The directions are not detailed enough. When doing a short route there is not really a problem as the map provided is detailed enough. However, for much longer routes this quickly becomes an issue. The authors try to get around this by providing a cue sheet with mileage listed along the side. Take one wrong turn or cycle slightly off route and you’ll be in trouble.

In short, you need to do your own research and bring your own maps. I personally would have preferred it if they had dedicated more space in the book to directions and less to providing accommodation recommendations and talking about the history of cycling! After all if I want to find out about either of these two topics I can easily look online or buy a different book.

On the Richmond route I completed the lack of clear directions was not a major issue due to the short length. The full page map was largely sufficient. However, when hitting some of the smaller roads it did take some guessing. I also ended up putting in the route into my iPhone to work out where I was going.

Aside from this issue I was impressed by the range of routes and I like the way they are described to encourage you to go out there and try them out.

Upside to Cycling Britain

• Good variety of routes both in length and the variety of experiences provided
• Each route is described in an enticing way
• Will definitely encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and do some cycling
• Good background to each location along with some interesting facts
• Accommodation recommendations useful to those outside the UK but likely unnecessary to UK cyclists

Downside to Cycling Britain

• Heavy reliance on you doing your own research
• Directions are simply not clear enough

Overall

If you can get over the issue of unclear directions by doing your own research then Cycling Britain is a great book for a cyclists bookshelf. I already plan on doing a couple of the longer routes listed when the weather improves. The book has helped me discover these routes that I would not previously have known about and whilst it struggles with directions I’ll put in some time myself to map out the route on my GPS device. There is plenty here for any skill level and if you fancy doing some exploring on your bike then pickup a copy.

Cycling Britain is available on Amazon.co.uk

See also:

• 25 London Cycle Routes

I posted it because I wanted to see if everyone could guess correctly where it is. The picture is from Richmond Park and not a single person guessed incorrectly. I shouldn’t really have been surprised because Richmond Park is a firm favourite amongst London cyclists. If you haven’t discovered it yet then make a plan to go see it next weekend.

It doesn’t take someone long to work out why Richmond Park is a huge hit. Big open spaces, fantastic views, enough hills to make it interesting but at the same time not too challenging. You even get to see Rudolf running around with all his buddies. The park is definitely a rare treat in London where you are more likely to find yourself behind a white van chugging fumes than next to a deer.

My reason for going there today, aside from pure cycling enjoyment, is that it is one of the routes featured in Cycling Britain. A book I will be reviewing fully tomorrow.

I started in Swiss Cottage and did the long journey to Hammersmith Bridge and took the Thames Path. The Thames Path itself is a fantastic cycling route. At least if you don’t mind getting muddy.

From there I made my way down to Richmond Park. There are plenty of different cycling routes to do in Richmond Park but as I was testing out the Cycling Britain book I followed their instructions.

Map your trip with EveryTrail

The route is good for both road bike cyclists and for mountain bikers. Mountain bikers will probably enjoy taking a slightly more off road route. As I did with my Hybrid bike.

If you get bored of cycling around Richmond Park then you can also head towards Twickenham and then down towards Bushy Park. This route follows the Thames and is also very pleasant.

The full route is a decent challenge, especially if you have already cycled a long way to reach the starting point. At 22.5 miles it should take around 3 – 4 hours according to Cycling Britain.

Keep an eye out for my review of Cycling Britain tomorrow and hope some of you enjoy trying out this route as much as I did today. Now just have to clean the bike and repair the puncture!

Equally interesting (if not more):

• Find London Cycle Routes
• Cycling from Birmingham to London
• Free bicycle maintenance eBook available to download now

Of course our optimistic slightly inebriated minds did not consider the possibility of rough terrain mixed with frequent stopping. Also we were both out of shape. I had just finished a long delicious summer in Greece and Mat was.. well.. Mat.

Anyway, the plan was made and a suitable date was found. On that date we set off early, at 7am and in no time found ourselves in Warwick. The canal path was well maintained, we basically had it to ourselves and we were making great progress.

Things started to go wrong after Napton Junction. Before this junction we had been cycling on grass for a while. This is tiring and slow to say the least but not a problem. However once you get past Napton Junction the path gets very basic and is badly maintained. This is where I got my puncture. “No problem” I thought, “I’ll grab the pump”.  A quick rummage around my bag revealed that the pump was not in-fact here with me but instead was around 40 miles away in Birmingham.

This meant my next 2 hours involved a slow uphill climb to Daventry with my friends bike while he pushed my bike along the canal path. There I purchased a pump and I rejoined my friend after the Braunston Tunnel.

The rest of the journey was without mishaps and I thoroughly enjoyed it but this delay did slow us down a lot. Below are some pictures from the trip:

How to: Birmingham to London along the Grand Union Canal

Right, so you have heard from my experience and you want to give it a go. I don’t blame you – there is plenty of picturesque British scenery, beautifully decorated canal boats and empty flat land to tempt me back any day.

The Birmingham to London canal route map

Birmingham to Milton Keynes

The first thing you need to do is work out a route. I found a good route from Birmingham to Milton Keynes on Bikely which I have also uploaded to EveryTrail.

Birmingham to Milton Keynes Via Grand Union Canal at EveryTrail

This gave me the coordinates I needed to input onto my iPhone using the Trails App which I have discussed previously on the iPhone bike apps post.

If there is one part of the route I would alter its from Napton on Hill to after Braunston Tunnel. Here the towpath is of a bad quality and you will struggle.

Milton Keynes to London

I couldn’t find any routes from Milton Keynes to London so I put together the below one:

Milton Keynes to London via Grand Union Canal at EveryTrail

The second half of the Grand Union takes you past Watford and via the west end of London to Paddington. It’s up to you to decide what you consider the “centre of London” I would say it was Trafalgar Square others would say it is Charing Cross, Westminster. Chances are you won’t care very much by the time you have cycled all that way.

What to take with you?

• Inner tube spare x2 that fit your bike. If you have a bit of spare cash then splash out on the slime tube ones as they self heal and only cost a few pounds more – the best price I found was on Amazon.
• Allen Key
• Puncture repair kit
• Pump
• Waterproofs
• Map – there are two ways to go about it. If you have a GPS device then that’s great you can download the direction I have listed above. Alternatively if you prefer you could buy an Ordnance Survey map.
• Water – you can on occasions fill up using the narrowboat facilities by the side of the canal.
• Bike lock
• Snack food – there are large stretches of the canal where there is nowhere nearby to get food.
• Cycle permit – no one will ask you but it can’t hurt.

Where to stay?

Halfway and at the end your going to need somewhere to stay. The cheapest option is Hostels. I always book through Hostel World. Alternatively if you fancy a bit more comfort go for a hotel. The best choice of course is if you have a friends house somewhere along the route and they will let you stay.

When to go on the Grand Union Canal?

I would recommend cycling during the summer as obviously you have more daylight and better weather. When it rains the trail can get muddy and you risk taking a dip.

Who is it for?

I cycled there with a Hybrid bike and had not cycled for over a month before setting off. I would recommend a bit more cycling than that before hand and also if you have a mountain bike it is better suited. Other than that if you cycle daily then this is a challenge you can do. If you don’t want to push yourself just plan for three days instead of two.

How long will it take to get to London?

This will largely depend on the person but it took me two days, setting off at 7am. Cycling about 12 hours a day.

Anything else I need to know?

As long as you know how to repair a puncture you will be fine. If I missed out any useful information please leave a comment below.

Part of the Breaking out of London series – This is the first post is a new London Cyclist monthly series that inspires London’s cyclists to break out of their city and explore the many gorgeous destinations available in the UK. The series provides all the information you will need to make such a trip.