5th February 2003

We received an inquiry from Christian Loubier asking our suggestions for a good route from Harwich to London. A retired schoolteacher, Christian lives in Eberdingen, a village not too far from Stuttgart in the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg, and plans to cycle to London, assisted by the Hook-Harwich ferry, to see the Albrecht Dürer exhibition at the British Museum. Hackney cyclist Patrick Field provided the following tips:

The best place-to-place cycle-touring maps for the UK are the 1:250,000 series published by Ordnance Survey.

Sheet 5 "East Midlands and East Anglia"
or
Sheet 8 "South-East England"

BOTH cover the route from Harwich to London and show all the roads. You don't need two maps - either 5 or 8 covers the whole route - if you are going to be based in London 8 may be better - London is in the middle and it gives you the South Coast.

There are many routes from Harwich to the Capital depending on how quickly/easily you wish to travel or how scenic and quiet you want your route to be. The flattest, most direct routes are usually the busiest.

The advantage of carrying a comprehensive map is that if you find a particular road too busy or boring you can divert onto quieter 'B' roads or lanes.

A compromise route....

• Harwich to Manningtree on B1352
• Manningtree to Colchester on the A137
• Colchester to Maldon using the B1026
• Maldon via Chelmsford to (Chipping)Ongar on the A 414
• beyond Ongar - still on the A414 - at the Talbot roundabout turn left onto the B181 for Epping
• from Epping follow the B1393 then the A104 which leads all the way to Central London

If you don't like sharing busy roads with fast motor-traffic look for alternatives to the last section of the A414.

Once you get to London you can pick up useful street maps - published by the city council - free from most bikeshops.

Good luck!

Patrick Field trades as The London School of Cycling