Cycling from London to Cambridge

This is a rough cut of a route.

  1. Start somewhere in London
  2. Get onto the River Lea towpath (from Holloway, get over to Highbury, then to Stoke Newington, then Clapton, and get on there)
  3. Ride north on the towpath to St Margarets.
  4. Here's where it gets tricky.
  5. Leave the towpath, getting onto Station Road / High Street
  6. Ride east; at the roundabout in Stanstead Abbotts, follow the road round to the right (it becomes Roydon Road), then to the left; when the road forks, take the left fork, Hunsdon Road, which is the B180.
  7. Follow the B180 to Widford; it's called Hunsdon High Street, then Widford Road, then Hunsdon Road again along the way.
  8. In Widford, the road runs into Widford High Street, which is the B1004
  9. Follow the B1004 north to Much Hadham; it's Widford Road, Tower Hill and Much Hadham High Street along the way.
  10. At the north end of Hadham, the road continues, but the B1004 classification veers east, onto Winding Hill; carry on straight, onto the C road.
  11. Follow the road to Hadham Ford, and then to Little Hadham.
  12. At Little Hadham, cross the A120; on the north side, the road is Albury Road.
  13. Carry on more or less straight to Gravesend (shown as Patmore Heath on the OS map).
  14. Carry on through Patmore Heath; at the fork, take the left-hand road.
  15. The road bends to the left; immediately after, there's a right onto Brookside, which then becomes the Old Common.
  16. The road comes into Furneaux Pelham; carry on straight over onto Violets Lane.
  17. Carry on up Violets Lane; it becomes a bit of a farm track, involving a ford and things. However, my correspondent Mr Spivakov reports that it "can be bypassed by a track that followed the edge of a field to the right of the road. It's slightly above the road and was completely dry (if a little rough)."
  18. Whitebarns Lane joins from the left, then the road forks; take the left fork, which is called the Causeway.
  19. Carry on into Brent Pelham.
  20. The road makes a T-junction with Pump Hill (the B1038); turn left.
  21. The B1038 classification turns left; carry on straight, towards Cole Green.
  22. At Cole Green, turn right, towards Blackhall.
  23. Through Blackhall, not into Meesden but right, past the turn into Meesden Bury, into Langley at the Lower Green end, up to the Upper Green, through Duddenhoe Grange to Duddenhoe End, up through Pond Street or whatever to the B1039, into Elmdon, turn right at the church, on along the road, over the hill, over the M11 into Ickleton, and into Hinxton.
  24. From Hinxton, there's a cycle path along the A1301 into Cambridge.

From St Margarets to the inner ring road in Cambridge (where Trumpington Road meets the Fen Causeway) is 34 miles, if measuring in ~1 km bounds. Probably about 40 miles.

If you have a better route, do let me know! Don't mess with the southern end, though - from London to Broxbourneish is a route i know and like, so it's quicker and easier than any clever direct routes you might know.

Matthew Belmonte has a different idea. His route goes in the other direction.