Penge is one of those awkward journeys from Crystal Palace that most people drive. It's less than three miles, but the public transport connections don't join up very well, the main roads are unpleasant and intimidating to cycle, and it's just a bit too far to walk unless you've got a more relaxed schedule than most do nowadays.

 But it turns out - if you know what you're doing - it's an absolute piece of cake on a bike. (Did someone say cake?). Thanks to LB Bromley's recent upgrades to the junction at the eastern end of Crystal Palace Park - there's a brand new "Toucan" crossing ("two can" cross - cyclists and pedestrians - traffic engineer humour apparently.. yeah me neither), and the pavement along the north side of Penge High Street has been designated shared-use from there to Crampton Road.

So you've got an 8-80 standard route all the way from Auckland Road up to Penge East. From there you can either use the footbridge, or dog-leg around - Queen Adelaide Road, Albert Road - to work your way up to Lennard Road if lugging bikes over the railway footbridge isn't an option.

From there it's a straight run along Lennard Road to the Waterlink Way at Cator Park. Lennard can be busy/fast at times but the sight lines are OK & you don't tend to get many trucks. It could do with some upgrades though, if anyone from Bromley Council is reading this.

In part 2 I'll take a look at the alternative route back to Palace, via the Waterlink Way and Country Park...