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Good rides in the hills around west London

Hi,

I originally posted this a couple of days ago but it seems to have disappeared so forgive me for asking the same question but here goes:

I live in west London in Ealing and I'm tired of cycling around Richmond Park, as lovely as it is. Can anyone recommend so good rides (20-50 miles) that are just a short train ride away. Something I could get up early to do on a Saturday or Sunday.

Many thanks

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12 comments

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a_P | 9 years ago
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From Ealing it's very easy to ride out to the Chilterns or the Surrey Hills. You can cycle out via Greenford to Uxbridge and you're not far from decent riding. Alternatively out through Staines and Egham to Windsor and back in through Weybridge or Hampton Court - Cobham -Ranmore Common and back in through Headley and Epsom.

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ajd | 9 years ago
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Join in one of the Kingston Wheelers clubruns! There are usually 5-10 different rides of varying intensity on Sunday, all over Surrey, Kent and Berks.

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bamilton wackad... | 9 years ago
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I recommend the Lost Lanes book for some good suggestions of rides out of London

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gr3g0ree | 9 years ago
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For a nice quiet ride, but without hills I got a few suggestions:
Get down to the Thames Path, cycle all around to Stains, find a way to the cyclepath running next to, under the M25 (connection from Moor lane) and cycle all the way up passing Heathrow, West Drayton, Uxbridge to Rickmansworth - at Batchwork Lock you can get back onto the main road and do a shortcut through city back home.
You can also jump on the Hayes&Harlington canal and ride all the way up - I did that last year, but from North to South.
Or take an alternative way back on Uxbridge road - all the way on the A412 and some quieter road of your choice.
You will need a map for sure.

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bamilton wackad... | 9 years ago
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Windsor Great Park is a fairly easy ride from West London, and you can head on to Henley-on-Thames which is a nice ride. Not much in the way of hills though - it's fairly flat.

If you're happy to put in some extra miles, it shouldn't take you long to head a bit south and down into Kent where you'll get all the hills and lanes you want. I did the shorter version of this ride a couple of weeks ago and it's good fun. You hit at least one 25%er

http://www.mapmyride.com/gb/brixton-eng/copy-of-ride-of-the-falling-leav...

You can always get the train out part of the way if you'd rather avoid the traffic heading south.

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darrenleroy | 9 years ago
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Olic, what do you ride? I'll look out for you.

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darrenleroy | 9 years ago
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Thanks people. I will look at olic's Strava and get out to Langley and beyond. I'd never even heard of Themes Valley so that should be a good ride.

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olic | 9 years ago
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Darren,

I also live in Ealing - I tend to ride around Surrey for longer rides. Going out via Richmond Park/Surbiton/Esher/Cobham/Leatherhead it's quite quiet, but it is a good 35km until you hit some proper hills. Even so, getting the train means hassle and the train out to Reading is pretty slow (I commuted there for 2 years until recently) so it's not going to get you out that much quicker!

I'm sure there's some good rides out to the chilterns as well but I've not really looked that closely into it

Link to my strava profile if you want some ideas:
http://www.strava.com/athletes/647647

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Metjas | 9 years ago
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the Chilterns are certainly a short train ride away from London, easily accessible from Reading.

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oozaveared | 9 years ago
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Get the train from Broadway to Langley (20 mins ish) £5 or so return. Head North and North west towards Beaconsfield and High Wycombe.

If you want to go further out you can get a train at Greenford straight to Beaconsfield £10 or so and around 40 mins and you can cycle round the Aylesbury Oxford area right out in the sticks (Ealing wise anyway).

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Must be Mad | 9 years ago
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How far on a Train?
If you take the train upto Reading - then you could cycle out along the Themes valley. From Memory, there are some reasonable climbs round Pangborne/Whitchurch hill and Streatley Hill

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sergius | 9 years ago
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I'm not sure about West London, but there's tons of great riding south of London in Surrey. Is Ealing tube or train?

If you can get a train to Clapham Junction relatively easily, then a ~20 minute train ride south gets you to Sutton or Epsom.

I'm in Sutton for example, it's about 5 minutes on the bike to get from the station out into the countryside proper.

(It may be far less hassle in a car mind, Junction 8 on the M25 - basically get off the motorway and park somewhere nearby)

I know Windsors' quite nice, have you headed out that direction on the bike?

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