Roads for a quick blast from Zone 1 London
Discussion
Morning all
I live in Central London, close to Waterloo. Whilst this has plenty of advantages, I can't think of anywhere in the UK that is so poorly positioned for hopping in the car on an evening after work, or on a weekend morning, and going for a short blast along some decent roads. Cruising the Kings Road, or doing endless laps of Shaftesbury Avenue and Picadilly, is not my idea of a good drive
I have seen a number of threads on 'drives out of London' but nothing which specifically tackles routes from the very centre. Clearly a favourite 'quick and easy' route for someone living in Hammersmith isn't so handy for a Dulwich-dweller.
I'm confident that I'm not the only Zone 1 Pistonheader with this 'problem', so I thought it would be helpful to start this thread to allow us Zone 1 dwellers to share our favourite routes.
At the moment, to enjoy some proper driving, I find myself getting up and out in the car at 6am on a Saturday or Sunday morning. This means I can be outside the M25 and heading towards some fun/decent roads with 45 minutes. But as I struggled out of bed yesterday morning, I thought 'wouldn't it be nice if I could do this on an evening after work'. Maybe it's too much to ask - the price I pay for living in the geographical centre of such a large city. But I would love to find out if anyone has any secret escape routes from the centre of town. In particular, I'm wondering if the roads south-east of Croydon are any good, and how quickly/easily they can be accessed from Zone 1 - I'm not a huge fan of the A23. What awaits if I head out on the A2 towards Kent - does this open up any decent drives? Or even heading through the East End and up the M11 for a few junctions? Here are my usual Sunday morning routes:
1. Out along Embankment, A4, M4, A404 up to join the M40 at High Wycombe, off at Junction 5 M40 and then a blast around the Chilterns/up towards Thame, and further north if time allows. This is a great route - but it still takes close to an hour to get to the Junction 5 turn-off from Westminster, and for the fun to begin.
2. Out through Wandsworth, pick up the A3 heading towards Portsmouth. Take the Merrow turn-off just before Guildford, and pick up signs towards the A25 and Dorking. From here, any B road heading south towards Cranleigh. On a good run, I can get down to the A25 in just under an hour - but again, this requires leaving Zone 1 before 6.30am.
Cheers
I live in Central London, close to Waterloo. Whilst this has plenty of advantages, I can't think of anywhere in the UK that is so poorly positioned for hopping in the car on an evening after work, or on a weekend morning, and going for a short blast along some decent roads. Cruising the Kings Road, or doing endless laps of Shaftesbury Avenue and Picadilly, is not my idea of a good drive
I have seen a number of threads on 'drives out of London' but nothing which specifically tackles routes from the very centre. Clearly a favourite 'quick and easy' route for someone living in Hammersmith isn't so handy for a Dulwich-dweller.
I'm confident that I'm not the only Zone 1 Pistonheader with this 'problem', so I thought it would be helpful to start this thread to allow us Zone 1 dwellers to share our favourite routes.
At the moment, to enjoy some proper driving, I find myself getting up and out in the car at 6am on a Saturday or Sunday morning. This means I can be outside the M25 and heading towards some fun/decent roads with 45 minutes. But as I struggled out of bed yesterday morning, I thought 'wouldn't it be nice if I could do this on an evening after work'. Maybe it's too much to ask - the price I pay for living in the geographical centre of such a large city. But I would love to find out if anyone has any secret escape routes from the centre of town. In particular, I'm wondering if the roads south-east of Croydon are any good, and how quickly/easily they can be accessed from Zone 1 - I'm not a huge fan of the A23. What awaits if I head out on the A2 towards Kent - does this open up any decent drives? Or even heading through the East End and up the M11 for a few junctions? Here are my usual Sunday morning routes:
1. Out along Embankment, A4, M4, A404 up to join the M40 at High Wycombe, off at Junction 5 M40 and then a blast around the Chilterns/up towards Thame, and further north if time allows. This is a great route - but it still takes close to an hour to get to the Junction 5 turn-off from Westminster, and for the fun to begin.
2. Out through Wandsworth, pick up the A3 heading towards Portsmouth. Take the Merrow turn-off just before Guildford, and pick up signs towards the A25 and Dorking. From here, any B road heading south towards Cranleigh. On a good run, I can get down to the A25 in just under an hour - but again, this requires leaving Zone 1 before 6.30am.
Cheers
thanks all for your feedback.
Red Devil, I decided to follow your tips on Saturday morning - a great route! Montecristo, I will investigate your suggestions in the near future. My route was as follows (leaving central London at 630):
- Down through Croydon, then out through Warlingham, down the hill at Clarks Lane to Westerham, then on to Edenbridge, Cowden, Hartfield and through the forest to Fairwarp. Hartfield to Fairwarp was my favourite section. From there I looped over to Buxted, and up to Groombridge, then back to Hartfield, on to Hever and then to Ide Hill.
A few observations - the route back to central London from Ide Hill via M25 and A20 was much faster than coming down through Croydon. Whilst the sat nav will send you south, the trip out on the A20 is better due to fewer traffic lights and more dual carriageways. I also made the mistake of coming thorugh Crowborough at the start of the return leg, around 830am - this seemingly coinciding with local mums dropping children at football/swimming lessons. Next time I will avoid and/or start even earlier.
Keep the tips coming for drives out of Zone 1!
Red Devil, I decided to follow your tips on Saturday morning - a great route! Montecristo, I will investigate your suggestions in the near future. My route was as follows (leaving central London at 630):
- Down through Croydon, then out through Warlingham, down the hill at Clarks Lane to Westerham, then on to Edenbridge, Cowden, Hartfield and through the forest to Fairwarp. Hartfield to Fairwarp was my favourite section. From there I looped over to Buxted, and up to Groombridge, then back to Hartfield, on to Hever and then to Ide Hill.
A few observations - the route back to central London from Ide Hill via M25 and A20 was much faster than coming down through Croydon. Whilst the sat nav will send you south, the trip out on the A20 is better due to fewer traffic lights and more dual carriageways. I also made the mistake of coming thorugh Crowborough at the start of the return leg, around 830am - this seemingly coinciding with local mums dropping children at football/swimming lessons. Next time I will avoid and/or start even earlier.
Keep the tips coming for drives out of Zone 1!
Thanks all.
AOK - lunch tips are also warmly welcomed! They might be an incentive for my wife to join me (she thinks it's very strange that I have taken to rising at 5.45 on a weekend to go driving). The Curious Pig looks great. Any breakfasting spots are also of interest. Do keep us updated on your findings in East Kent and Essex.
Conscript - I know that route down through Shoreham through to Sevenoaks, through my cycling trips in are - lovely roads. My preferred route is to avoid Sevenoaks by ducking through Seal, then down towards Shipbourne, and then it's easy to cut across towards Ide Hill and Hever. I drive a 360 Modena - great fun although it's best suited to the wider B roads - the sat nav sent me down a couple of single track lanes on Saturday, the wing mirrors were taking a pasting from the hedges on both sides! I'm also hoping to pick up a 205 GTI in the coming months to relive the front wheel drive adventures of my youth. Hope to see you out there one day, bright and early!
Cheers
AOK - lunch tips are also warmly welcomed! They might be an incentive for my wife to join me (she thinks it's very strange that I have taken to rising at 5.45 on a weekend to go driving). The Curious Pig looks great. Any breakfasting spots are also of interest. Do keep us updated on your findings in East Kent and Essex.
Conscript - I know that route down through Shoreham through to Sevenoaks, through my cycling trips in are - lovely roads. My preferred route is to avoid Sevenoaks by ducking through Seal, then down towards Shipbourne, and then it's easy to cut across towards Ide Hill and Hever. I drive a 360 Modena - great fun although it's best suited to the wider B roads - the sat nav sent me down a couple of single track lanes on Saturday, the wing mirrors were taking a pasting from the hedges on both sides! I'm also hoping to pick up a 205 GTI in the coming months to relive the front wheel drive adventures of my youth. Hope to see you out there one day, bright and early!
Cheers
Gassing Station | Roads | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff