Yesterday was a GORGEOUS day here in London – cloudless blue skies, cool autumn air, a mild breeze, PERFECT weather for a bike ride.
London may not seem like a great place for a leisurely bike ride, and for day-to-day practicalities, that’s pretty much true. London roads are riddled with traffic, pollution, potholes and a surprising lack of good views. Fortunately, there are plenty of great parks scattered about, including Hampstead Heath, London’s largest (791 acre) parkland. I decided that “the Heath” seemed like a great destination, but I wanted to to enjoy the journey, too. So I Googled for “Stoke Newington Hampstead Heath Bike Route” and that is how I discovered Bikely.com.
Bikely is basically a place for cyclists to share their bike routes. Anyone can create a route on a Google map, then tag that route with helpful terms like “hills”, “scenic”, “commute”, “offroad”, etc. You can also search for routes near a specific city.
What makes Bikely WORK is that a lot of people from all over the world actually seem to use it so there’s plenty to choose from.
The route I found was the Stoke Newington Hampstead Heath circuit, a 15mi loop tagged as “training”, “steep” and “scenic”. Steep and scenic it was. I had no idea such hills existed in London! But I’ve gotta give props to “happyhenry”, the route’s author – most of the ride was on VERY quiet streets and it took me to places in London I never new existed, such as Queen’s Wood, a 21-hectare patch of ancient oak-hornbeam woodland just a few miles from my house. How could I have missed that?
Hampstead Heath rocked my world – trees everywhere, leaves falling, ducks, ponds, woods, grassland. And glorious sunshine! As it was a Friday afternoon, it was very quiet except for a few rich people and their dogs, a small film crew, and a very happy runner taking a load off in the sun. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice so I couldn’t take any pictures. But by that point I was pretty pooped from the ride, and I still had to cycle back home. The whole trip took about 2.5 hours (an hour more than I estimated, no wonder I was so hungry when I got home).
I love cycling and shouldn’t let London limit my horizons. I’ll definitely be using Bikely again. There were a few longer loops from Stoke Newington that go beyond London and into the country. I can’t think of a cheaper, greener, or higher energy way to escape the big bad city!
I leave you with one of the few photos I took before the camera batteries died. This was taken atop of a hill in Crouch End. Behold the blue sky!
Hi, Monica! It sounds like you had a lovely time…almost like being a tourist in your own city! It’s amazing how we’re so easily lifted with just a small change of scenery. We’re creatures of habit, and, knowing that, it’s GOOD to break out of the ruts however we can. I’m so glad you discovered another way to do that! Happy weekend to you…! ~ Julie
That’s one of the great things about London – there’s so much to see and do that it’s possible to be a tourist without leaving the city I live in! And because it’s so massive, there’s an endless variety of scenery to choose from. The ride was a great reminder that London scenery is not all concrete and storefronts – some of that scenery is green and tranquil. If only I had realized this BEFORE summer had come and gone. Typical! =)