Festive 500, London Waterways - Day 4: Regent's Canal

Featured waterways: Wapping Ornamental Canal, Shadwell Basin, Thames Path, Limehouse Basin, Regent's Canal 

Distance ridden: 53km 

Cumulative distance: 277km

Distance left: 223km

Terrain: Tarmac

Weather: Sunny and breezy (after earlier torrential rain), 3 degC

Nutrition: Water

Route on Strava:

The weather had been pretty scary in the morning, with torrential rain and very low temperatures. So I decided to defer my ride to later on, as the forecast was for an improvement in conditions during the afternoon.

Due to the late start, this was going to have to be a short ride, and also a day to avoid riding off-road given that the trails would be very muddy. So today's ride was urban, going through the middle of London. The cycleway along the Thames is a well-used route, but I decided to cycle along another cycleway through London - the Regent's Canal. 

This is one route where you see real London life, as opposed to the Thames cycleway which goes past lots of tourist attractions. 

Shadwell Basin

Before reaching the Regent's Canal I rode along the Wapping Ornamental Canal, which until a couple of days ago, I had never heard of. It was actually suggested to me by a cycling friend, Abi Armstrong. So I headed down past St Katharine's Dock and took that route. It was quite a find. There was nothing particularly ornamental about it, but it looked pretty and the buildings reminded me of posh dockers' houses from the time when that was a big thing in London. Eventually I reached Shadwell Basin. The first thing that came to my mind about that place was how this would be a great place for open water swimming - another activity that has become popular of late. Sadly, there are lots of signs up forbidding people to jump in. Apparently the water's not lovely. 

From here I followed a few signs to get to Mile End Park, via the Thames Path and Limehouse Basin, to reach the start of the Regent's Canal.

Initially, the path wasn't so busy. But from Victoria Park onwards there was a much greater flow of people along this waterway. Along the Regent's Canal you see ordinary London life - both in terms of those based on the water, and those along the path and adjoining parks.

You pass offices, the backs of people's flats, as well as various sections of artistic facades, also known as graffiti. In some areas, notably around Islington and St Pancras, people had set up little makeshift bars where folks had gathered to enjoy a few Christmas beers. Some were also lounging on benches, or on grassy stretches. Quite a lot of barges are moored along here, with people getting on with their everyday life. One person's barge had so much smoke emerging from it, it made me wonder if the occupant had burnt their dinner as well as a few logs.

Regent's Canal

Along the stretch near Haggerston, I noted a lone canoeist who appeared to be enjoying an afternoon "stroll" with his dog trotting alongside on the towpath! That was quite a sight, though I think I was the only person to find it amusing. I think it was just normal life for folks in East London!

This canal was quite technical to ride as it was twisted around blind corners and dipped under various low bridges. A bell would definitely be useful on this stretch. There were also a couple of steep inclines at the different locks. At Islington, where the path reaches the Islington tunnel I was forced to leave the canal to get onto street level. At that point I crossed Upper Street, the main road through Angel, to reach the back end of King's Cross and rejoin the canal. 

Camden Lock

I had originally planned on riding as far as Regent's Park, but the canal path was becoming hard work to negotiate at this time of the afternoon, with many people walking along it, and the pace was slow-going. So when the path made a natural pause in the trendy Camden Lock, I saw it as my cue to leave the canal completely and head home via the traffic-light C6 quiet cycle route, and the segregated CS6 Cycleway.

I had enjoyed my stint along the Regent's Canal, though I think it is best appreciated first thing in the morning by bike, rather than on a sunny afternoon during the Christmas holidays.

Related posts

Festive 500, London Waterways - Day 1

Festive 500, London Waterways - Day 2

Festive 500, London Waterways - Day 3

Festive 500: Rail trails in England - Day 2

London

Stats
Kms ridden: 64
Running total: 132
Kms left: 368
Refreshments: 250ml water
Weather: dry, very cold (frosty start), weak sunshine 5 degC

Highlights: Waterlink Way; Regents Canal; Highgate Hill; Primrose Hill 


Ride on Strava
London Tour -Greenwich - Hackney - Islington - Highgate and Hampstead - Primrose Hill - Westminster - Battersea - Crystal Palace


Whenever I'm in London on Christmas day I always do a bike ride around the city. It's probably my favourite day to ride a bike.

I love travelling through this great city with hardly any traffic around, and seeing the sights and the architecture in their full glory, without needing to have too much added focus on the crazy traffic!

Also, the Christmas lights and many folks out walking with their families just adds a feelgood factor to the atmosphere.

For today, rail trails had to be put on hold as there are hardly any in London. There are disused underground stations, but that'll be for another day, and I think cycling underground might present some problems!

Regents Canal near Victoria Park

Having said that, I did find lots of traffic-free places to ride, notably on the Regents Canal towpath. It's a lovely thoroughfare where you see the different architecture and degrees of stylishness as you go along.

Industrial ride

I joined the towpath at Mile End, over in East London, and continued past Hackney and Victoria Park (the people's park). These areas were quite industrial-looking with urban graffiti, with some parts looked a little bit run-down. I have to say, I like these scenes though because there is character in these places and there are always interesting stories to find out about the history of these places - something else to do for another day.

Then as I got nearer to Islington the path became more stylish as I went past the backs of design studios, and hip cafes.

I did leave the towpath at Islington to head North to Highgate and Hampstead, but rejoined it later on at Regents Park, where this section of the towpath had a regal feel, particularly as it passed near some of the most affluent parts of London like Primrose Hill and St John's Wood.

I finally left the canal at Little Venice, which must make for one of the most alternative addresses to have, for the folks who live on the boats moored there.

Little Venice

For this London loop I had considered riding all the way up to Alexandra Palace, but given the time constraints I just went as far as Highgate. Once again my ride included another pretty arduous hill - Highgate Hill.

Living in Crystal Palace, I am no stranger to hills in London, and I always thought the that the steepest hills can be found in and around my neighbourhood.

In fact, Highgate can't be discounted as having the steepest hills in London. This hill went on for about a kilometre and was a real grind. This should not have been a surprise to me as this hill runs parallel to Swain's Lane, a road I have competed on in the past for the Urban Hill climb. So therein was the clue that this road wouldn't be flat!

Beautiful Belsize Park

Once the road levelled off I was able to "recover" by doing a stretch across Hampstead Heath. One of the great things about having the Cube Nuroad gravel bike is the freedom to get onto gravel trails at will, which is what I did on the heath.

Even at times I completely off-pisted it by riding across the sodden grass. The tyres aren't specifically adapted for riding on wet or really muddy trails, but the Nuroad still coped over those short stretches - as it had done along the River Avon trail yesterday.

After these capers I then made the homeward run via the sumptuous neighbourhoods of Belsize Park, Primrose Hill, and down through Chelsea to get home and enjoy some Christmas dinner.

One really interesting find for me during this ride was the Waterlink Way - a traffic-free, tarmacked cycle route very close to where I live, that goes through Sydenham, Catford, and Lewisham, all the way to Greenwich. It is a very pleasant ride that basically follows the River Ravensbourne.

I almost feel ashamed that I didn't know about this route earlier. It is a much more pleasant way to get to Lewisham than on the road route, and I would highly recommend it.

I guess that's the thing about a Christmas ride in London - it is the chance to discover new places and new routes that I generally feel too much in a rush to bother looking for during my busy schedule at other times of the year.

Rail trails resume tomorrow.

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Joining the global commute on two wheels

Last Tuesday week I joined the tens of thousands of in 180 countries around the world for the Strava Global Bike to Work Day. I don't normally join these different challenges, but I fancied this one because it was really something that sits firmly within an activity I do a lot, and enjoy doing.

Disappointingly, in typical British style the sun shone on the Monday when I rode in, and it shone on Wednesday too. But on the Tuesday, the day of Global Bike to Work day it was tipping it down!

As it's a 10-mile ride from my house to the office in Clerkenwell I normally give myself a rule that I won't ride in if it's raining, given the distance (although I still ride in if the evening forecast is for rain).

So, really I would have abandoned my bike for the day. However, because it was Global Bike to Work Day and I had even gone to the trouble of signing up for it, I made a special effort to do my bit.

I took the Overground to Shoreditch High Street and then picked up a Santander Cycle (formerly a Boris Bike) for the 3km bike ride through Shoreditch to my office in Clerkenwell. It's handy that there was a docking station right outside my building, and even handier that I had no difficulty picking up a bike or finding space to drop off my bike at the end of my journey!

Because I knew it was going to be a wet ride I was well kitted out - in waterproof trousers, and also a new top from Wiggle - a dhb Aeron rain defence short-sleeved jersey. This was a great little number as the weather was quite mild so I didn't really need a heavy jacket with long sleeves. But the waterproof properties of the top kept me nice and dry.

In fact, I didn't find the rainy weather that bad at all, and ended up making a couple more journeys to enjoy London in all its glory through the dampness! Lunchtime saw me ride along the Regents Canal through Islington, and then in the evening I rode down through the City of London to get to London Bridge.

At the end of the day, my mileage was only 10km - a third of what I would do when cycling to work, but I was glad to have been part of this global phenomenon and to have registered my rides among the almost 80,000 cycle commutes and 1,350,000km made on 10th May. Better still, the UK was the country that garnered the highest level of participation, ahead of USA and Brazil. Look forward to doing another of these days - hopefully with a full commute to work in lovely sunshine.

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