Cycling North London… traffic-free

Route: Finsbury Park to Brentford

Distance: 42km

Grading: Beginner/Intermediate

Highlights:

• Finsbury Park to Highgate rail trail amidst North London’s urban sprawl

• Exploring the bike trails through Hampsted Heath - London’s biggest heath and largest single area of common land

• Traffic-free cycling along the Grand Union Canal

• Cycle around Brent Reservoir and surrounding nature reserve

• Ride 75% of off-road greenways connecting the nature reserves and traffic-free trails of the region.

  Our Ride

  Finding a greenway in a big city can be a little tricky. Connecting multiple greenways together for a whole day’s ride is even trickier. But if you can manage to do that, the rewards are there by discovering some peace and quiet and immersing yourself in a bit of nature and breathing in the clean air away from traffic. Seven of us tried just that on a blustery wintry Saturday in early February. It’s never proclaimed to be the best time to saddle up on the bike in the UK, and we certainly got some typical February weather. We gathered at Finsbury Park Station, introduced ourselves and went through the usual briefing before setting off for the day. The whole ride was designed to use as many traffic-free greenways in Northwest London as possible, riding in an arc from Finsbury Park Station around to Brentford. Without making this all about the weather, it has to be said that our enjoyment factor was challenged throughout the day with a brisk westerly breeze hitting us head on. Luckily, we were sheltered somewhat along Parkland Walk trail which is a great flat trail in amongst suburbia, high up in the hills of North London between Finsbury Park and Archway. Many riders and walkers utilise its capacity to take them away from city life - as do they with Hampstead Health which was our next stop. It was actually my first time riding through Hampstead Health and I have to say, whilst it’s short, the cycle paths within are really nice to ride. Toward the western entrance there is a nice little climb to test the legs up to Jack Straw’s Castle. At this point we were progressing reasonably well until one of our riders suffered a puncture. With freezing cold hands there is nothing more arduous than fixing a puncture - especially tyres that seemed to be glued to the rim and obviously have not been changed in a couple of decades! Three of us got on the case and we eventually removed the tyre and completed a patch job of the inner tube and put the tyre back on. Bad decision - that was not the end of the saga, far from it in fact! Whilst pumping the tyre back up again, I could feel the pump coming loose and then ‘snap’! The inner tube value had snapped off inside the pump and despite our collective best efforts, we just couldn't get it out again. With pump ruined and Inner tube ruined, we weren’t doing too well. Take two and thankfully this time the tyre was easy to release from the rim, so we removed the wheel, replaced and inflated the inner tube with a spare pump.

Back on the road after a 30 mins delay, we encountered a steep descent before reaching a small park near Cricklewood. In the park is a fantastic cafe called Our Yard at Clitterhouse Farm - a community run cafe with a beautiful garden to the side with all sorts of plants, and of course there is great coffee and simply the best homemade cheesecake! So, of course we had to just give it a try and we weren’t disappointed!

A lot of people think London is just an overpriced urban sprawl with a bustling nightlife, smoggy black cabs and red buses (most are electric these days!) - and to a large degree that is true, but if you search between the cracks there is so much more depth to London than that from a cycling perspective. Around central London you have the canal towpaths left behind from the latter part of the 18th century and early 19th century. Venturing slightly further afield there are numerous options on riverside paths and disused rail lines to explore on the bike where you can breathe some fresh air away from traffic. Cycling UK are promoting off-road trails around London with its hallmark route being the King Alfred’s Way; the start of which is at Reading, merely 30mins by train from Paddington station.

How many men does it take to replace an inner tube?

As our ride continued, we circumnavigated Brent Reservoir then rode through Wembley Park alongside the national football stadium before reaching the famous Grand Union canal where we stopped for lunch. I actually wouldn't recommend riding through Wembley Park because it’s busy with traffic and quite convoluted and…. how can I say, a little rough around the edges in parts.
Lunch was a delicious lunch pack with a sandwich, flapjack and apple made by our team chef which went down very well! The ride continued but it wasn’t long before we struck our second piece of misfortune. My phone started to play up and wasn’t taking charge from the battery pack so kept turning itself off and on again with 15% charge still on it. It’s funny how these things happen when you really can’t afford it to… and it hasn’t happened since. Again, I blame the weather! Luckily I knew the route well so we ditched the technology and powered on! The breeze was really felt as we headed due west along the canal. This section of the canal towpath is called the ‘Paddington arm’ and it has always been a favourite mine for its smooth gravel surface and lack of pedestrians compared to other towpaths. It really is a delight as you cycle further out of London with a mostly tranquil setting in amongst suburbia. We had some time to make up, so all riders gathered up a full head of steam and pedalled briskly to the Grand Union Canal Junction. This was a great strategy as everyone got to ride at their own desired fast pace and started to warm up again and with the pub beckoning we had a short break and took a left hand turn down the Thames arm of the canal towards our finish point at Brentford. The thames arm of the Grand Union canal has a varied surface and is pretty rough around Southall but as you go further down towards Hanwell locks it’s superb.
Rolling into Brentford we felt a beer to finish the ride was in order, so on the look out for a pub we stumbled across The Gunnersbury, right outside Gunnersbury station with an excellent choice of brews.
All in all I’d give this ride a 7/10 for it’s diversity and accessibility. Only the section through
Wembley isn’t so nice and hopefully the council will construct a path along the Brent river to avoid having to go along main roads. If low traffic ridding is something you fancy then I suggest you give this one a try.

Happy cycling :)

It’ll be an adventure!

Check out our up-and-coming day rides around London.
Follow us on Komoot. Here is the full route of our North London ride if you wish to try it yourself.