It’s interesting because I guess it wasn’t a cycle project but a major road project and when they built it they just decided to include cycle provision!
Hello the cargo bike in front of you here around 8min was me!! On my way to the allotment 😅 if I knew it was you I would have said hello. Love your videos!!!
Hi, I live around Lloyd park and know that area really well.(my bike lives in a cycle hangar). The cycling infrastructure in the borough has really improved in the last few years. I was hit by a car 10 years ago on lea bridge road by a car turning off it and that side road is completely blocked to traffic now and there is protected cycle paths along both sides of lea bridge road. The new LTN you mention is very new(ie a couple of months) but there are things like that all over the place. Cycling round this area is improving all the time and I hope similar measures can be taken in the rest of the city and country.
Normanton Park, Handsworth Ave and Selwyn Ave have schools nearby so can be busy at drop off pick up times. I avoid Handsworth on my commute to avoid kids and parents dropping off
@@Londoncycleroutes agreed! That Crooked Billet roundabout looks fun to ride on. Have you also noticed the EV charging poles they’re installing on certain roads?
Great video and your subscriber count just went up by one. 👍 I count myself as someone who tries to keep abreast of developments, but hadn't ever heard of "parallel crossings" until now. What a pity they (and the adjacent pedestrian crossing) don't follow best practice - i.e. aren't raised to kerb height to calm road traffic and better delineate pedestrian and cycle routes. In fact, a bit like the plans for Cottingham Bypass (H2G2), 'they' haven't exactly gone out of their way to publicise these crossings ..... like actually telling anyone about them !! Maybe it's time I bought an up to date 'Highway Code'
Thank you for subscribing! That’s really interesting re: parallel crossings- I think there could definitely be a public info campaign about them. Really they were just rolled out without a word. They’re also largely in London, though they do exist elsewhere - I saw one near Bournemouth the other day!
Given how weak the cycling infrastructure on the north end of Waltham Forest looks on a map, when I followed this route earlier this year I was really surprised how many smaller interventions had been added. But still needs a greater variety of routes in the north end of the borough, more options for links to the south end (ideally some separated lanes on streets like Fulborne Road and Hale End Road), and of course better signage (though less necessary if less winding!).
Agreed, the council are making small but good progress in the north of the borough but face a lot of local and political intransigence. Many of these roads are used as rat runs and can feel rather treacherous at times. The contrast in the south is huge.
Yes completely agree - I think the strategy of making the south really good but flooding it with investment is a good one when resources are constrained but now time to start pushing out (even if it’s politically a bit trickier)
It’s a perennial problem with satnavs and new LTNs! the issue is sometimes that Google maps detects that people are driving through the filter so the software says oh no it isn’t closed and overrides people telling them that it is
Hi Jon, I may be misinterpreting what you said, but you were not on LCN9 for any of the first half, those hills can easily be avoided and LCN9 had pretty good signage last time I used it. You can find a good map at Waymarked Trails (look for the '9' near Chingford police station on the map).
You could have gone up Chingford Road when you reached the Billet Roundabout rather than going up Billet Road. Although the cycle lane is not segregated, you would reach Forest Road more quickly. You could also turn into Farnan Ave which is a nice road to cycle up to get to Forest Road.
It’s a shame you had to speed this up as I would have loved to see everywhere in real time. May I point out that it is (phonetically) Hyam Hill, not Higam Hill. I know as I lived in North Countess Road until I married back in 1981. Extremely interesting to see all the changes, thank you.
Thanks! If you want to watch it a normal speed you could actually watch on 0.5x speed in TH-cam by clicking the little settings icon - though my commentary will sound a little slurred!
It does! But I always use the citymapper time from the point where the video starts to the point where it ends at 9am on a weekday- so it takes into account the walk to and from the stations and an average wait for the train at peak time. Probably a better reflection of the time you’d leave for a journey by overground (you wouldn’t leave 9 mins)
That pavement parking is interesting - if it was off the pavement, it looks like there'd scarcely be any space to drive or cycle. (Obviously, too many cars is the problem, but I don't know the immediate solution.)
A 9:40 I noticed a stretch of pavement parking on the left that results in the pavement basically just ending, with no dropped kerb to allow a wheelchair / mobility scooter user to easily continue their journey. I get that some pavement parking probably has to be allowed in areas like this, and it's better than the free for all seen in most of the rest of the UK. But if councils are going to mark bays partly on like this they need to at the very least properly consider the impacts to disabled access.
Exactly! I live in Newham and some of our roads and infrastructure are looking really dated. Plus, the houses aren’t as nice as the ones in Waltham Forest with a few exceptions such as Forest Gate. I believe it’s because Newham isn’t as wealthy as Waltham Forest, but I would much rather live there than here.
I think Newham is a bit better than people give them credit for - they’re not amazing but they’re gradually building out both cycle lanes and LTNs which is more than you can say for some boroughs! WF clearly one of the best though
@@Londoncycleroutes I’ve noticed within the past few months that Romford Road is receiving a new cycle track and upgraded pavements. I’m glad they finally got around to doing it cause the road looked horrible before.
yeah they're basically done with phase 1 there - I think the next phase is to do the other side of the road and take it all the way to Ilford. no design for that yet but if they do a good job it'll be a game changer (and basically an extension of Cycleway 2)@@thelightingenthusiast
Haha I really need to work out how I’m going to do this- currently my schedule for working on the videos is so based on doing the same format (which makes it easy to repeat)…. I need to find a way to find the time to do something a little different…
@@Londoncycleroutes you will have to make it into a multi part vids. Say, rank 32 to 20 in one vid, rank 19 to 10 in another, then, 9 to Walthamstow. You will figure it out.
Being from not-London I always forget that the pavement parking situation is reversed there compared to everywhere else where it’s allowed unless specifically banned. Here, almost every street - certainly the majority of the older narrow residential ones - will have cars parked half on the pavement. You might as well reduce them by 50% to be honest. There was a consultation / proposal from the department for transport a few years ago to consider changing the rules, but I don’t think it was ever followed up on, which is quite disappointing.
I’ve been following that one as well, it’s really depressing that they’ve not gone with it - it would have made such a difference. I think it’s been a victim of political instability - I saw one of the many transport secretaries say she supported it at a parliamentary committee about a year ago but she was out of office a few weeks later.
That roundabout was pretty impressive. The sort of infrastructure for walking, wheeling and cycling that you rarely see elsewhere in the UK.
Yeah both of the roundabouts there were dealt with really nicely I thought
that billet roundabout is brilliant.
It’s interesting because I guess it wasn’t a cycle project but a major road project and when they built it they just decided to include cycle provision!
gotta love Waltham forest lol
They do a good job!
@@Londoncycleroutes shame about all that pavement parking though
Hello the cargo bike in front of you here around 8min was me!! On my way to the allotment 😅 if I knew it was you I would have said hello. Love your videos!!!
Oh amazing, hello! It’s always nice to get a cargo bike in a video so thanks for being there! I hope the veg is doing well
@@Londoncycleroutes haha happy to be an example, they are the best kinds of e bike IMO!
While watching these videos I play 'spot the cycle hangar' - I counted 9 down one road - amazing! I think they are a great idea!
Very good! They’re super handy, we definitely need more
I live in Chingford and ride to Walthamstow from time to time taking similar cycling route
Nice, glad it matches your local knowledge!
Great stuff Jon, you're a life-saver! I notice that you took the route going down Friday Hill, rather than up it...
Pure random coincidence, for sure!
Hi, I live around Lloyd park and know that area really well.(my bike lives in a cycle hangar). The cycling infrastructure in the borough has really improved in the last few years. I was hit by a car 10 years ago on lea bridge road by a car turning off it and that side road is completely blocked to traffic now and there is protected cycle paths along both sides of lea bridge road. The new LTN you mention is very new(ie a couple of months) but there are things like that all over the place. Cycling round this area is improving all the time and I hope similar measures can be taken in the rest of the city and country.
It’s amazing how the south of Waltham Forest has got better! great borough for this kind of thing
Normanton Park, Handsworth Ave and Selwyn Ave have schools nearby so can be busy at drop off pick up times. I avoid Handsworth on my commute to avoid kids and parents dropping off
Useful local knowledge thank you!
Should all become school streets!
*I've got a soft spot for "hidden" paths like underpasses/tunnels and the Ching Path, etc, nice thumbnail*
🤙🏼👌🏼👌🏼🤙🏼
Yes i love them too- always keen to add a bit of depth to this city haha
Fun fact: Waltham Forest is my favourite London Borough! I live in neighboring Newham.
They’re good at this sort of thing!
@@Londoncycleroutes agreed! That Crooked Billet roundabout looks fun to ride on. Have you also noticed the EV charging poles they’re installing on certain roads?
Imagine if all London local authorities treat cycling infrastructure like Waltham Forest
That would be nice!
Great video and your subscriber count just went up by one. 👍
I count myself as someone who tries to keep abreast of developments, but hadn't ever heard of "parallel crossings" until now. What a pity they (and the adjacent pedestrian crossing) don't follow best practice - i.e. aren't raised to kerb height to calm road traffic and better delineate pedestrian and cycle routes. In fact, a bit like the plans for Cottingham Bypass (H2G2), 'they' haven't exactly gone out of their way to publicise these crossings ..... like actually telling anyone about them !! Maybe it's time I bought an up to date 'Highway Code'
Thank you for subscribing! That’s really interesting re: parallel crossings- I think there could definitely be a public info campaign about them. Really they were just rolled out without a word. They’re also largely in London, though they do exist elsewhere - I saw one near Bournemouth the other day!
Given how weak the cycling infrastructure on the north end of Waltham Forest looks on a map, when I followed this route earlier this year I was really surprised how many smaller interventions had been added.
But still needs a greater variety of routes in the north end of the borough, more options for links to the south end (ideally some separated lanes on streets like Fulborne Road and Hale End Road), and of course better signage (though less necessary if less winding!).
Agreed, the council are making small but good progress in the north of the borough but face a lot of local and political intransigence. Many of these roads are used as rat runs and can feel rather treacherous at times. The contrast in the south is huge.
Yes completely agree - I think the strategy of making the south really good but flooding it with investment is a good one when resources are constrained but now time to start pushing out (even if it’s politically a bit trickier)
12:02 Google maps refuses to update these filters. Drivers are always caught out. Nice video too
It’s a perennial problem with satnavs and new LTNs! the issue is sometimes that Google maps detects that people are driving through the filter so the software says oh no it isn’t closed and overrides people telling them that it is
Hi Jon, I may be misinterpreting what you said, but you were not on LCN9 for any of the first half, those hills can easily be avoided and LCN9 had pretty good signage last time I used it. You can find a good map at Waymarked Trails (look for the '9' near Chingford police station on the map).
Not LCN9 (which I think starts down Warren Road?) but an unnumbered LCN route - it’s on OpenCycleMap if you look
You could have gone up Chingford Road when you reached the Billet Roundabout rather than going up Billet Road. Although the cycle lane is not segregated, you would reach Forest Road more quickly. You could also turn into Farnan Ave which is a nice road to cycle up to get to Forest Road.
Yep that’s a good option if you’re confident on the bigger street! I like to go the quiet ways in the videos haha
It’s a shame you had to speed this up as I would have loved to see everywhere in real time. May I point out that it is (phonetically) Hyam Hill, not Higam Hill. I know as I lived in North Countess Road until I married back in 1981. Extremely interesting to see all the changes, thank you.
Thanks! If you want to watch it a normal speed you could actually watch on 0.5x speed in TH-cam by clicking the little settings icon - though my commentary will sound a little slurred!
Great route, but worth pointing out that Chingford to Walthamstow Central on the Overground takes 9 mins.
It does! But I always use the citymapper time from the point where the video starts to the point where it ends at 9am on a weekday- so it takes into account the walk to and from the stations and an average wait for the train at peak time. Probably a better reflection of the time you’d leave for a journey by overground (you wouldn’t leave 9 mins)
Brucie Bonus Double Header.
Double bill!
That pavement parking is interesting - if it was off the pavement, it looks like there'd scarcely be any space to drive or cycle. (Obviously, too many cars is the problem, but I don't know the immediate solution.)
I think just have fewer parking spaces!
A 9:40 I noticed a stretch of pavement parking on the left that results in the pavement basically just ending, with no dropped kerb to allow a wheelchair / mobility scooter user to easily continue their journey. I get that some pavement parking probably has to be allowed in areas like this, and it's better than the free for all seen in most of the rest of the UK. But if councils are going to mark bays partly on like this they need to at the very least properly consider the impacts to disabled access.
@@liamness yeah totally, you can't just have impassable pavements
I wish Newham was more like Waltham Forest 😭
Exactly! I live in Newham and some of our roads and infrastructure are looking really dated. Plus, the houses aren’t as nice as the ones in Waltham Forest with a few exceptions such as Forest Gate. I believe it’s because Newham isn’t as wealthy as Waltham Forest, but I would much rather live there than here.
I think Newham is a bit better than people give them credit for - they’re not amazing but they’re gradually building out both cycle lanes and LTNs which is more than you can say for some boroughs! WF clearly one of the best though
@@Londoncycleroutes I’ve noticed within the past few months that Romford Road is receiving a new cycle track and upgraded pavements. I’m glad they finally got around to doing it cause the road looked horrible before.
yeah they're basically done with phase 1 there - I think the next phase is to do the other side of the road and take it all the way to Ilford. no design for that yet but if they do a good job it'll be a game changer (and basically an extension of Cycleway 2)@@thelightingenthusiast
Speaking of Walthamstow, when are you going to upload the worst cycling borough to 2nd best borough ranking video.
Haha I really need to work out how I’m going to do this- currently my schedule for working on the videos is so based on doing the same format (which makes it easy to repeat)…. I need to find a way to find the time to do something a little different…
@@Londoncycleroutes you will have to make it into a multi part vids. Say, rank 32 to 20 in one vid, rank 19 to 10 in another, then, 9 to Walthamstow.
You will figure it out.
nice idea!@@mrigennegi6524
Being from not-London I always forget that the pavement parking situation is reversed there compared to everywhere else where it’s allowed unless specifically banned. Here, almost every street - certainly the majority of the older narrow residential ones - will have cars parked half on the pavement. You might as well reduce them by 50% to be honest. There was a consultation / proposal from the department for transport a few years ago to consider changing the rules, but I don’t think it was ever followed up on, which is quite disappointing.
I’ve been following that one as well, it’s really depressing that they’ve not gone with it - it would have made such a difference. I think it’s been a victim of political instability - I saw one of the many transport secretaries say she supported it at a parliamentary committee about a year ago but she was out of office a few weeks later.
Good video, but....Handsforth Avenue? You what? - It's Hands-worth. Hig-ham Hill? - You what? It's pronounced High-am Hill.
I’m always getting these things wrong!