The River Thames (west)

West of Putney, you can follow the River Thames towpath for miles and miles. The path is cyclable all the way to Weybridge, 26 miles in all. There’s so much of interest along the way that you might as well keep your camera strapped to your wrist: the locks, the islands, the bridges. The glorious architecture spans the full range from boat-houses to Hampton Court Palace.

And of course, as a riverside path, it’s gloriously flat.

National Cycle Network route 4 will take you from central London to the riverside at Putney. Don’t follow the NCN 4 signs slavishly, though, as it takes a diversion through Richmond Park.

Once you reach Weybridge, you can put your bike on the little ferryboat that crosses the river to Shepperton. From here it’s just a mile to the railway station at the end of the branch line; there are half-hourly trains back to Waterloo, or hourly on Sundays.

The Wandle Trail

London doesn’t have many off-road trails of the sort that are common elsewhere. The Wandle Trail is probably the best known, running along the valley of the River Wandle in South London.

It begins at the mouth of the river, just west of Wandsworth Bridge. From here it follows a collection of riverside trails, (mostly) quiet roads, and linking paths towards Hackbridge and Carshalton – around nine miles in all. Much of the route forms part of the new Avenue Verte London–Paris cycle route, so don’t be surprised to see cyclists with heavy panniers!

It’s pleasant scenery for most of the way, even if it rarely scales the scenic heights of the River Thames path. The route is consistently signed with a waterwheel symbol and National Cycle Network route 20 numbers. You can easily catch a train back from Hackbridge station.

One word of warning. The Wandle Trail is notorious for its gates, installed to keep motorbike riders out, but a genuine pain in the ankle for genuine cyclists. Don’t expect to cycle at anything more than a slow pace. Cyclists with clipped-in pedals will find the constant clipping/unclipping particularly painful.

Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common

You’re unlikely to see any Wombles on Wimbledon Common, but you won’t see any cars either. Add next-door Richmond Park, which has a good network of cyclable paths, and you have some of the finest off-road cycling in London.

There are many possible circuits, of which the one mapped here is our favourite. It takes in much of the Tamsin Trail, the circular route around Richmond Park. But it also heads across the road to Wimbledon Common, and returns via the leafy, well-to-do Putney Park Lane – unmissable in the autumn months. There are three cafés en route, and the circuit can easily be truncated if your family’s limbs are tiring.

By train, you can take the South West Trains service from Waterloo to Barnes. Or if you want to do the whole journey by bike, just follow National Cycle Network route 4 west from the South Bank.

The Shoe Lane route

This is a classic example of a bike-only route that avoids a busy road. By piecing together narrow streets, blocked to motorists by judicious use of bollards, you can entirely avoid the Farringdon Road and reach King’s Cross from the City.

The key is Shoe Lane, a tiny street that passes under Holborn Viaduct without a sniff of traffic. Saffron Hill isn’t any wider, but together they do a very good job of delivering you onto the back streets of Farringdon. From here you can skirt around the frenzy of Kings Cross to come out opposite St Pancras Station.

Stratford to Holborn via the canals

London doesn’t have many canals, but the Regent’s Canal and the River Lee network together provide invaluable traffic-free routes from the East. This one is particularly valuable as it avoids the notorious Bow Roundabout – yet it’s only a few hundred yards longer than the main road route.

The cycle lanes around the Westfield Centre in Stratford aren’t up to much, to be frank. But negotiate these and the northern edge of the Olympic Park, and you’ll drop down onto the Hertford Union Canal’s towpath, an arrow-straight waterway connecting the Lee and the Regent’s. (You can also cycle through Victoria Park, immediately adjacent, if you prefer.)

Follow the Regent’s Canal almost all the way to Islington Tunnel, leaving it at the Prince of Wales pub (just after the Narrowboat pub and City Road Basin). You can then follow residential roads into the city; our suggested route here continues to Holborn via Margery Street and a couple of bike-only cut-throughs.