Brilliant bike rides from London to cycle out of the city

Total distance: 38km (via Highgate)

Difficulty: Hard – there are some big kickers as you leave London, which means it’s not the easiest way to start a long-distance route.

The main route to St Albans goes up some steep climbs on the way out of north London – we’re looking at you, Highgate Hill. But once you’re gliding down into open countryside from Barnet, all that thigh-burn is totally worth it. The route then follows quiet country roads and posh sports cars until it joins up with a unique part of National Cycle Route 6: a disused railway track underneath a beautiful canopy of trees leads all the way up to St Albans cathedral. 

Highlights: Zipping through a tree tunnel along an old railway track on the way into St Albans.

Total distance: 20km

Difficulty: Easy – a wide, sign-posted gravel path is good for cyclists of all abilities.

Popular with families in high-vis jackets and giddy couples on ‘activity’ dates, this easy-to-navigate route follows the River Wandle from Wandsworth down to Croydon. It’s a flat, meandering, pretty trail that takes in south-west London’s bounty of parks and green spaces. Pick up National Cycle Route 20 from Wandsworth Town Station and enjoy a mostly traffic-free ride with plenty of nature spots along the way – until you get to Croydon, that is.

Highlights: Hunting down the blue plaques and local history facts of the cute ‘Wandle Art Trail’.

Total distance: 25km (via the Lee Valley towpath)

Difficulty: Medium – expect to get muddy, lost and whacked by a few low-lying branches.

Had enough of road cycling? Jump on the towpath heading north from Hackney Wick up the River Lea past canal locks, reservoirs and hippies in houseboats. Cross briefly onto the A110 and then plunge straight into London’s largest public open space, with more than 40 miles of surfaced and unsurfaced bridleways to get lost in the forest on. Bounding along leaf-covered cycle trails will seem a world away from London’s traffic build-ups – an increasingly more frequent site as lockdown starts to loosen.

Highlights: Hunting down Queen Elizabeth I’s fancy Hunting Lodge, built by her father, Henry VIII.

Total distance: 42km (via Hampton Court Palace)

Difficulty: Hard – ‘Zig Zag Road’ was part of the 2012 Olympic road-cycling route. Just saying.

Venture out of London, past Hampton Court Palace and onwards into the greenery of Surrey. Head for the horizon and don’t be daunted. Box Hill’s ‘Zig Zag Road’ may have been likened to peddling up the Alps, but it’s actually incredibly doable. It climbs 120m, over a steady 1.6 miles, on smooth tarmac road with amazing views. The Olympians may have lapped it nine times, but who’s got time for that on a Sunday?

Highlights: the views when you get there – you’ll have earned them.

Total distance: 43km (via the Thames Path)

Difficulty: Medium – the majority of the route is along the Thames Path, but there’s road action too.

Although some of the more narrow parts of the Thames Path remain closed around Greenwich and the Cutty Sark, join National Cycle Route 1 a little further along and tick off some riverside landmarks along the way: the O2 and the Thames Barrier are en route. Abandoned industrial sites and a few active chemical treatment plants keep things interesting until Erith, where the route heads down the Darent Valley Path (via Dartford) all the way along to Gravesend. It’s not the prettiest of rides, but it’s usually quiet and the Thames’ urban landscape is weirdly peaceful.  

Highlights: Spotting Antony Gormley’s ‘Quantum Cloud’ sculpture from the banks of the Thames.

Total distance: 75km

Difficulty: Hard – getting to and from Potters Bar can be a hairy (and hilly) experience, but the Hertfordshire lanes are worth the effort.

We have a confession. Your starting point is Swain’s Lane (sorry, not sorry). But what better way to get the blood flowing than a short, sharp incline? Now you’ve warmed up nicely, it’s a case of following the High Road out of Highgate until you turn right towards Potters Bar in Chipping Barnet. From here, the quiet lanes of Hertfordshire are your oyster, and you can gulp in some fresh air as you spin your way through the idyllic dwellings of Newgate Street, Epping Green and Hoddesdon. Take a left on the latter’s high street and follow Lord Street all the way to the hub of Hertford. It’s at this point that you’d normally have two choices – call it a day and jump on the train or get some more miles in the legs. Now you can only do the latter: complete the loop to Potters Bar (keeping an eye out for the brilliantly named Cucumber Lane), and follow your nose back to the start.

Highlights: tackling some of the tougher climbs that the north of London has to offer.