Quiet route from East London's Lea Bridge Road to Woodbury Wetlands via Shoreditch

Makes a nice little Sunday outing starting from the River Lea at Lea Bridge and finishing at one of East London's finest 'undiscovered' outdoor cafés, the Coal House at Woodbury Wetlands. We needed to walk the bikes a short distance along Lamb's St in Spitalfields due to building works in Bishop's Square. Let's hope work finishes soon. Enjoy this exuberant palm tree as you swing into Clapton Square from Clapton Passage. The route bypasses Columbia Road, because it was closed for the famous weekly flower market.

From North Weald to Chingford Plain with off road

Notes on the off road sections: 

• the bridleway from Kiln Lane to Epping Road nr Tawney Common goes through Mount Wood on a very smooth and well-drained surface just possible with a road bike. Amazing ferns and rhododendrons in season. 
• The path from Mount Wood Lane along a Roman road to Theydon Garnon is rough and often boggy - hybrid or MTB only. Amazingly it has it's own tunnel under the M25, probably out of our roadmakers' respect for their Roman predecessors! 
• The forest route from Chingford is on very well drained and smooth bridleway with the exception of the start at Earl's Path. For an ideal all year surface do-able on a road bike, go along Nursery Road and take the entrance path at Warren Hill. 

Walthamstow to East Mersea

I cycled this route in August 2019. I would avoid Maldon which is busy, tourist-ridden and has an 11% hill to exit. Will think about using a route from Tiptree.

Buntingford: 47 miles of glorious countryside

This highly enjoyable route through gentle hills, high causeways, valleys, villages and ancient hamlets follows ride 7 and part of ride 8 from Nick Cotton's book 'Chilterns, Hertfordshire & Essex Cycle Tours'. I have made one change and avoided The Causeway and Whitebarns Lane out of Brent Pelham by taking the B1038 which wasn't busy on an Easter Sunday. Leave it in if you like to leaven your ride with some gravelly lanes. I thoroughly recommend this book even if you do need to plot the GPS yourself.

Walthamstow Wetlands

A route from Coppermill Lane through both reservoirs in the Walthamstow Wetlands opened in 2018. The route goes from the Coppermill Lane entrance and crosses Ferry Lane to exit at Lockwood Way. (Be sure to turn left here: don't continue to Blackhorse Rd).   It then continues on a cycle path to Highams Hill, crosses Billet Road, comes through Aveling and Lloyd parks to cross Forest Road and enters Hoe Street. Good surface, can be done on any bike.