35km West London’s Waters
Western Waters
Overview
It almost feels as if there is more water in West London than Venice. Ride on the towpaths and wide tracks on a gentle route through some of West London’s ‘countryside’ of water meadows, parks and scrublands. And just as with Venice, there’s more than just water; sublime architecture, beavers, superb engineering, surprising views, including one where a Royal Command stops a train to admire it, and a splash of social housing history. The route is flat and straightforward, a perfect exploratory pedal for those unfamiliar with the pleasures of West London, or for those who come from hereabouts, it’s a great opportunity to reconnect with your area and discover all manner of hidden gems that you never knew existed.
Ride practicalities
START/FINISH: Shepherd’s Bush Station DISTANCE: 35KM. TOTAL ASCENT: 151m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: Cycle paths and quiet back roads MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Shepherd’s Bush, Greenford EAT AND DRINK: Hammersmith: The Elderpress Café, Shepherd’s Bush (Uxbridge Road),Princess Victoria, LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: Between the Great West Roads, Tour of Ealing, Arcadian Thames, Lower Brent River Ride, Chiswick to Greenwich
What to visit: The London Museum of Water and Steam
Ride Notes
The route begins outside the terminus for the Hammersmith and City tube lines. (nearby are the District and Circle Lines - all three lines permit bikes subject to TfL restrictions). Head across Lyric Square, ride up King street on C9, a segregated cycle lane, before turning down to the river. Before you lies the splendour of Hammersmith Bridge, the first suspension bridge across the Thames and arguably, the finest of all Thames bridges.
Winter Sunset, Hammesmith Mall
Cross the Great West Road (via a pedestrian/cycle underpass), then ride first onto Hammersmith Mall, followed by Chiswick Mall, one of the most gracious 18th century riverside roads in the land. Do please ride with extra awareness as you ride down Hammersmith Mall, for the shared path is narrow and often busy. Similarly walk your bike down the very short but narrow alley outside The Dove pub. At the end of Chiswick Mall, you turn into Church Street, into which you turn after the Mall, looks as if it has been moved in its entirety from a Kentish village - a ragstone church, weatherboard housing, and rickety walls found in very old buildings. There’s nothing rickety about Chiswick House, the one time home of the 4th Duke of Devonshire, where you arrive after another road crossing using the pedestrian lights. Perfect Palladian architecture in its purest form. So much so that it was based on the Antonio Palladio’s Villa La Rotunda (which in itself was based on a Roman country house). The route takes you through the world’s first English Landscape Garden into Grove Park and onto Kew Bridge.
Gallows Bridge, Grand Union Canal
Continue on C9, a segregated path into Brentford (other than a short section in Brentford High Street) and turn onto the canal. This is the Grand Junction Canal (later renamed the Grand Union) which brought industrial goods from the Midlands. The canal path, whilst perfectly rideable in all weathers, is both lumpy and bumpy and can be muddy after heavy rain. It is on this stretch that you enter ‘West London’s countryside’. Community orchards, water meadows, woods of willows and poplars, scrubby and neglected lands (rich in wildlife) and always the canal.
Hanwell Flight
The six Hanwell Flight Locks, which you come to after some delectable canal-side riding, were constructed in the early 19th century and were considered a marvel of engineering at the time. Turn off to follow the River Brent and arrive at the Wharncliffe Viaduct, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1837. It too was, considered a marvel of engineering. Queen Victoria loved the view so much, that she frequently ordered her train to stop as it crossed the viaduct en route to Windsor.
And well she might, for the next few kilometres are through a series of semi-wild parklands, the vision of Luke Fitzherbert who had the idea in the 1970s of restoring the lands bordering the then ‘biologically dead’ River Brent. The highlight of this section is in Paradise Fields where you may see a family of beavers gnawing away at trees and returning the wetlands to their original state. Until their re-introduction in 2023, beavers had not existed in London for over 400 years. (Viewing of the beavers is best done at dusk).
Wharncliffe Viaduct
The next section of the route follows the Paddington Branch of the Grand Union Canal. The path is wide and firm. There are old bridges, canal boats, and plenty of green spaces. The bushes beside the canal are berry rich in autumn, the leaves richly green in summer. In bare-twigged winter, there is a cleanness to the surroundings. Coal smoke drifts from canalboats and smells of curries, biscuits and all manner of other processed foods circulate in the air as you ride through Greenford (the processed food capital of the UK).
For the final section, you leave the canal, wheel your bike up some stairs (there’s a handy runnel to assist with this) and after a short pedal on a shared pavement you arrive at Wormwood Scrubs. Once a military exercise area, as well as an early airfield where the first cross-Channel flight (The Clément-Bayard No. 2 airship) landed in 1910. You’ll ride past the prison - a model prison of its time - and through the Old Oak Estate, a social housing experiment undertaken by the old GLC as part of its post WWI ‘Homes for Heroes’ plan. As social housing estates go, this has to be one of the finest in all of London. Neat lawns, shared grassy squares, perfectly cut hedges.
The last few pedal strokes take you across the busy Uxbridge Road and past the Princess Victoria, a beautifully restored Victorian gin Palace. They do good lunches and are still well known for their gin selections.
The route rides through the Old Oak Estate, one of the finest GLC creations. Essentially it is a ‘Garden Suburb’ filled with Social Housing. Acres of green space, gardens, neatly trimmed hedges. The very model of modern town planning.
boabab plane, Ravenscourt Park
Soon you are into Ravenscourt Park was once part of the Ravenscourt Estate whose early owners included Edward III (who granted it to his mistress) and the Bishops of London. It’s a popular place to play and relax. The trees, of which there are many, are of the sort you‘d expect to find in an arboretum rather than a west London Park. The Golden Rain tree (Koelreurteria Paniculata), the Cider Gum (Eucalyptus Gunnii), the Caucasian Wingnut (Pterocarya Franinifolia) to name just three.
Out of the Park, you cross King Street and back onto C9, the segregated cycleway. Turn left and follow the cyclelane back to Lyric Square, Hammersmith where the ride finishes.
If you enjoyed this relaxing and varied pedal around some of West London’s highlights, perhaps you’ll be tempted to click on other similar rides in the Ride Practicalities section above.
Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.
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