london to dover tricky sections

chazza said:

I'm new to UK and was a bit frightened by the narrow roads in the south
west countryside - are there any tricky narrow sections on the london
to dover route? If so how long are they?

I don't really understand the question, but if you are looking for a
route from London to Dover, I could probably help you out.

The easiest route would be straight down the A2. Parts of it would be
fine - the Meopham to Faversham stretch, where the bulk of the traffic
takes the M2, is tolerable. The London-Meopham and Faversham-Dover
stretches of the A2 are busy dual carriageway, heavily populated with
thundering HGVs. The the long, straight descent down Jubilee Way into
Dover itself is thrillingly fast - it should be easy to top 50mph down
there.

But at least the roads aren't narrow!

My alternative route would include some narrow country lanes, but would
be my idea of a very pleasant ride. Take your pick...

d.

thanks davek! Yes, by narrow sections I mean those winding country
roads with no verges/shoulders that mean instant death! You seem to be
more relaxed with them than I am!

I am new to the UK (my bike and me are from Australia) but I'm getting
the idea that we cant go on the M roads here..ie M40, M3..I see what
you mean, that the A2 is wide and safe but the narrow country roads
picturesque...which was why i was asking if anyone had done the london
to dover journey...and if there were sections of this narrow road
without shoulders along the way...and if so how long they were - ie 1
mile, 2 miles or more. I'm feeling I could risk a short section of
narrow road in return for the view and doing the whole trip - but i
dont want to be stuck on 10 miles of narrow road without any verge or
shoulder to escape from cars!

There is a map waiting for me post restante at a post office of the
route, put out by the tourist bureau - but it doesnt tell you which
roads have no room on their sides...

sorry to be tedious here but wanted to ensure I explained myself
clearly!

i dont know where you are, but any who could look over the map with me
over coffee or something I could travel a fair way to discuss it.

thanks !

Chaz

davek said:

chazza said:

I'm new to UK and was a bit frightened by the narrow roads in the south
west countryside - are there any tricky narrow sections on the london
to dover route? If so how long are they?

I don't really understand the question, but if you are looking for a
route from London to Dover, I could probably help you out.

The easiest route would be straight down the A2. Parts of it would be
fine - the Meopham to Faversham stretch, where the bulk of the traffic
takes the M2, is tolerable. The London-Meopham and Faversham-Dover
stretches of the A2 are busy dual carriageway, heavily populated with
thundering HGVs. The the long, straight descent down Jubilee Way into
Dover itself is thrillingly fast - it should be easy to top 50mph down
there.

But at least the roads aren't narrow!

My alternative route would include some narrow country lanes, but would
be my idea of a very pleasant ride. Take your pick...

d.

chazza said:

Yes, by narrow sections I mean those winding country
roads with no verges/shoulders that mean instant death! You seem to be
more relaxed with them than I am!

Well, I cycle on them regularly and I'm still alive, so I think you are
perhaps overstating the element of danger.

Quoted message said:

I am new to the UK (my bike and me are from Australia) but I'm getting
the idea that we cant go on the M roads here..ie M40, M3..

M stands for motorway. They are the only class of road on which
non-motorised vehicles are always banned, though there are also some
stretches of A-road where cycling is prohibited.

I see what

Quoted message said:

you mean, that the A2 is wide and safe but the narrow country roads
picturesque...

The A2 is certainly wide enough, but I wouldn't necessarily call it
safe - and parts of it would be /exceedingly/ unpleasant to cycle on,
eg the section from Blackheath to Bexley (I'm not sure you are even
allowed to cycle on that stretch).

Quoted message said:

and if there were sections of this narrow road
without shoulders along the way...and if so how long they were - ie 1
mile, 2 miles or more.

It's not good practise to ride on the shoulder. It may be different
where you come from, but here they are not designed for that purpose.
Apart from anything else, they tend to be strewn with debris, which
means you are likely to get frequent p+nct+res - or worse...

I'm feeling I could risk a short section of

Quoted message said:

narrow road in return for the view and doing the whole trip - but i
dont want to be stuck on 10 miles of narrow road without any verge or
shoulder to escape from cars!

It seems you have some serious misconceptions about road safety -
certainly with respect to riding on British roads.

For a start, your safety will largely be determined by /how/ you ride
more than /where/ you ride.

If you feel the need to get out of the way every time a car approaches,
the motorist will have no qualms about squeezing past you at speed with
inches to spare. If, however, you assert your entitlement to occupy
your fair share of the road, you will effectively force the motorist to
wait for a safe place to overtake. Don't allow yourself to be bullied
by impatient Mr Toads.

I would always stick to the country lanes as much as possible. They may
be narrow but there is far less traffic using them - the
Canterbury-Dover route (~20 miles) I ride with my club is almost
entirely traffic-free until you reach the outskirts of Dover itself.

d.

Yep, I'm new at this; so far I dont like riding with clubs (seems to
defeat purpose of riding: only tried it once for a short ride back in
Oz) and dont like to know exactly where I'm going either most of the
time, so I guess I'll just risk it 😄 i know a bit more about it now
though thanks to your cool advice!

C

davek said:

chazza said:

Yes, by narrow sections I mean those winding country
roads with no verges/shoulders that mean instant death! You seem to be
more relaxed with them than I am!

Well, I cycle on them regularly and I'm still alive, so I think you are
perhaps overstating the element of danger.

Quoted message said:

I am new to the UK (my bike and me are from Australia) but I'm getting
the idea that we cant go on the M roads here..ie M40, M3..

M stands for motorway. They are the only class of road on which
non-motorised vehicles are always banned, though there are also some
stretches of A-road where cycling is prohibited.

I see what

Quoted message said:

you mean, that the A2 is wide and safe but the narrow country roads
picturesque...

The A2 is certainly wide enough, but I wouldn't necessarily call it
safe - and parts of it would be /exceedingly/ unpleasant to cycle on,
eg the section from Blackheath to Bexley (I'm not sure you are even
allowed to cycle on that stretch).

Quoted message said:

and if there were sections of this narrow road
without shoulders along the way...and if so how long they were - ie 1
mile, 2 miles or more.

It's not good practise to ride on the shoulder. It may be different
where you come from, but here they are not designed for that purpose.
Apart from anything else, they tend to be strewn with debris, which
means you are likely to get frequent p+nct+res - or worse...

I'm feeling I could risk a short section of

Quoted message said:

narrow road in return for the view and doing the whole trip - but i
dont want to be stuck on 10 miles of narrow road without any verge or
shoulder to escape from cars!

It seems you have some serious misconceptions about road safety -
certainly with respect to riding on British roads.

For a start, your safety will largely be determined by /how/ you ride
more than /where/ you ride.

If you feel the need to get out of the way every time a car approaches,
the motorist will have no qualms about squeezing past you at speed with
inches to spare. If, however, you assert your entitlement to occupy
your fair share of the road, you will effectively force the motorist to
wait for a safe place to overtake. Don't allow yourself to be bullied
by impatient Mr Toads.

I would always stick to the country lanes as much as possible. They may
be narrow but there is far less traffic using them - the
Canterbury-Dover route (~20 miles) I ride with my club is almost
entirely traffic-free until you reach the outskirts of Dover itself.

d.

"chazza" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yep, I'm new at this; so far I dont like riding with clubs (seems to
defeat purpose of riding: only tried it once for a short ride back in
Oz) and dont like to know exactly where I'm going either most of the
time, so I guess I'll just risk it 😄 i know a bit more about it now
though thanks to your cool advice!

C

Have a think about joining the CTC.

See www.ctc.org.uk
and the joining page is at
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4088

The CTC is *not* about being sporty in the sense a racing club is.

Benefits to joining:-

FREE £5m third party insurance
a bi-monthly cycling magazine and weekly email newsletter
an invitation to over 1000 cycling events each year
route and touring information
technical and product advice
cycle-related legal advice
discounts on many cycling products
access to CTC holidays and tours

The CTC has local groups which you can either join in - or not - as you
wish - there's no onus to 'join in' activities, it's entirely up to you what
you choose to do or not.

The CTC local members can be an absolute fount of information on local
routes, and the third party insurance + legal advice make the membership fee
exceedingly good value.

If you'd rather do the necessary by phone... contact details are:-

Membership
Address: CTC, PO Box 510, Unit 8, Isleworth, TW7 6WP
Tel: 0870 873 0061
Fax: 0870 873 0065
Email: [email hidden]

I'm in the Norfolk group and I often pootle about on various CTC runs, and
have met all sorts of people, all sorts of ages, on all sorts of bikes,
trikes... and generally have fun :-)

Cheers, helen s

thanks helen - route advice sounds great!

wafflycat said:

"chazza" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Yep, I'm new at this; so far I dont like riding with clubs (seems to
defeat purpose of riding: only tried it once for a short ride back in
Oz) and dont like to know exactly where I'm going either most of the
time, so I guess I'll just risk it 😄 i know a bit more about it now
though thanks to your cool advice!

C

Have a think about joining the CTC.

See www.ctc.org.uk
and the joining page is at
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=4088

The CTC is *not* about being sporty in the sense a racing club is.

Benefits to joining:-

FREE £5m third party insurance
a bi-monthly cycling magazine and weekly email newsletter
an invitation to over 1000 cycling events each year
route and touring information
technical and product advice
cycle-related legal advice
discounts on many cycling products
access to CTC holidays and tours

The CTC has local groups which you can either join in - or not - as you
wish - there's no onus to 'join in' activities, it's entirely up to you what
you choose to do or not.

The CTC local members can be an absolute fount of information on local
routes, and the third party insurance + legal advice make the membership fee
exceedingly good value.

If you'd rather do the necessary by phone... contact details are:-

Membership
Address: CTC, PO Box 510, Unit 8, Isleworth, TW7 6WP
Tel: 0870 873 0061
Fax: 0870 873 0065
Email: [email hidden]

I'm in the Norfolk group and I often pootle about on various CTC runs, and
have met all sorts of people, all sorts of ages, on all sorts of bikes,
trikes... and generally have fun :-)

Cheers, helen s

chazza said:

Yep, I'm new at this; so far I dont like riding with clubs (seems to
defeat purpose of riding: only tried it once for a short ride back in
Oz) and dont like to know exactly where I'm going either most of the
time, so I guess I'll just risk it 😄 i know a bit more about it now
though thanks to your cool advice!

It sounds like you lack a bit of confidence when it comes to riding in
traffic. Can I suggest that you part with some pennies and purchase the
book "Cyclecraft" from the TSO?

http://www.tsoshop.co.uk/bookstore.asp?FO=1159966&Action=Book&ProductID=0117020516&From=SearchResults

It's full of excellent life-preserving advice that will greatly increase the
pleasure that you get out of cycling.

Tim

in message <[email hidden]>, chazza

(') said:

thanks davek! Yes, by narrow sections I mean those winding country
roads with no verges/shoulders that mean instant death! You seem to be
more relaxed with them than I am!

I am new to the UK (my bike and me are from Australia) but I'm getting
the idea that we cant go on the M roads here..ie M40, M3..I see what
you mean, that the A2 is wide and safe but the narrow country roads
picturesque...which was why i was asking if anyone had done the london
to dover journey...and if there were sections of this narrow road
without shoulders along the way...and if so how long they were - ie 1
mile, 2 miles or more. I'm feeling I could risk a short section of
narrow road in return for the view and doing the whole trip - but i
dont want to be stuck on 10 miles of narrow road without any verge or
shoulder to escape from cars!

I've kept out of this discussion so far because I don't know Kent - I've
been there very rarely - and it's much busier than parts of the island
with which I'm familiar. But unless Kent is very different from the rest
of Britain, you've got diametrically the wrong idea about what's safe to
cycle on. Around here, anyway, stick to the little lanes. They're much
more pleasant. If something comes up behind you, he can wait until /you/
think it's safe to pass. Don't try and ride along the margin of the road
- that's really unsafe. Ride out in the middle of the lane where you
control the traffic coming up behind you.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

I shall continue to be an impossible person so long as those
who are now possible remain possible -- Michael Bakunin