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Waltham Forest has the unusual pleasure of being
semi-detached from the rest of London. It is cut off from inner
and central north London by the marshland of the Lea Valley
with its waterways, the River Lee or Lea, and the canals which
run parallel to the river.
Yet it boasts many cycle commuter routes to the rest of London.
You might ride to Finsbury Park or to join the Regent¹s
Canal. One major route runs from the longest street market
in Europe (it takes up the whole length of Walthamstow High
Street) to, or from, the Docklands or the West End. Ride it
and you can see swans floating and herons fishing, and hear
frogs croaking from the ditches.
The on-road network
Waltham Forest avows itself to be generally environmentally-minded and, to
give it its due it, did produce the first Green Charter in London back in
1989. Also, over the past decade or two, it has developed nearly 40 miles
of cycle routes.
These include:
- around 20 miles of (coloured) cycle lanes along main roads;
- 12 miles of fully signed quiet routes* on residential roads with dedicated
traffic-light-controlled cycle crossings across busy main roads, and
- eight miles of tracks segregated from motor traffic.
The network includes advanced stoplines at nearly every main
junction. The quiet route to Hackney and the City (London Cycle
Network route nine) is on the path used by traders and porters
who walked in and out of the City via Mare Street. It is known
as the Black Path and dates from the sixteenth century. It
forms part of the Chingford to Hackney cycle route and part
of it is open to pedestrians and cyclists only.
In surveys it has conducted, our group, the Waltham Forest
Cycling Campaign (WFCC), has found local cyclists generally
support the borough¹s policy of providing main road and
quiet routes. Doing so allows most cyclists to be catered for:
those who are in a hurry and who want to bash along the A roads
and those who prefer taking it easier along the relative quiet
of back roads. However, many do complain that, in common with
many main road routes in London, the cycle lanes are narrow
and obstructed by illegal car parking, a practice which continues
despite complaints to the council.
Much of the visible provision for cyclists in Waltham Forest
has been masterminded by Gina Harkell, the borough¹s enthusiastic
and experienced Cycle Officer. WFCC has a generally positive
and long-standing relationship with Gina. It has regular consultation
meetings with her on all new developments involving cycling.
Facilities worth looking out for After sustained pressure
from the campaign, the council has commissioned a secure bike
shed at the busy Walthamstow Central station. When it opens
next year, it will allow people to park their valuable bikes
for the tiny charge of 30p per day. Users will have unique
access using a smartcard. Recycled rail materials will be used
in its construction.
Unusual features in the Borough¹s cycle network include
a contra-flow cyclelane at the top of Leytonstone High Road.
This allows cyclists to continue along the main commuter route,
Leytonstone High Road, while other traffic has to negotiate
the lengthy one-way system. A second is a traffic light-controlled
cycle filter at the Blackhorse Road/Forest Road junction. This
halts all other traffic, allowing eastbound cyclists 10 seconds
to get ahead of the traffic or to turn right without having
to weave across three lanes.
Probably the best single cycle facility in the borough, though,
is the underpass under the notorious Billet roundabout on the
North Circular Road. It has cyclepaths connecting to all of
the roads entering the roundabout on an intermediate level
above the North Circular Road. This facility ensures Chingford,
the more conservative end of the Borough (currently boasting
the Conservative party leader Ian Duncan Smith who has been
known to cycle), remains connected to the rest. Its construction
shows what the Department of Transport can do when money is
no object!
The most recent high profile cycle route was provided on the
new Orient Way which links West Leyton with Stratford along
the Lea Valley. This has very wide and smooth segregated cycletracks
and it won the LCC Best Cycle Route Award in 2001. Before it
opened, the area was a popular haunt for cyclists and local
wildlife but recently it has become the butt of criticism as
a result of glass and dumped rubbish.
Off-road and leisure riding A towpath runs
along much of the length of the Lea Navigation and this allows
pleasant, flat, traffic-free cycling north and south. A section
of the NCN 1 has also recently opened and will, ultimately,
connect London with Edinburgh.
The other great natural resource we have on our doorstep is
Epping Forest. This swathes the northern and eastern edges
of the borough and has the alternative name of Waltham Forest.
Here there are miles of wild tracks, many are which are ideal
for mountain biking, and it is possible to ride from one end
of the borough to the other on these forest routes.
Racing cyclists are also catered for. There is the excellent
Eastway cycle circuit located on the southern borders of the
borough.
History and associations As with many other
north London boroughs, Waltham Forest also has its little bit
of gentrification: Walthamstow Village. The warren of small
streets and mixture of housing styles, boasts the oldest house
in Walthamstow (the Ancient House dates from the fifteenth
century) and is generally a quiet area to explore by bike.
The main street in the Village (Orford Road) will have been
the centrepiece for this year¹s Car-Free Day.
William Morris, socialist, and founder member of the nineteenth
century Arts and Crafts Movement lived in the borough and is
generally celebrated as our most famous resident. His most
famous quote, "Fellowship is life and lack of fellowship is
death" is engraved in two-foot high letters on the Walthamstow
Assembly Hall, next to the famous art deco Town Hall.
With its routes to escape into the Essex countryside or options
to take the train to East Anglia, Waltham Forest is a good
borough for a roving cyclist to live in. Indeed if William
Morris had been born in more recent times he might well have
said, "Cycling is life and lack of Cycling death", with which
we could all agree.
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