Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 4 -NCN4 from Greenwich to Southwark

If you would like to do an assessment of NCN4, please retain your impartiality by doing the assessment before reading the post or watching the video. List of 18 London cycling posts and videos.

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National Cycle Route 4, NCN4, runs for 432 miles from Greenwich, in East London, to Fishguard, in Wales. It’s fully open. But the route of London section has not been finalised. This video, travelling west, looks at the section between Greenwich and Tower Bridge. Some parts of NCN4 are attractive, particularly where it goes beside the Thames and through Russian Dock Woodland. Other parts go through dull housing estates. If you are doing the whole trip from or to Wales the estates are of some interest. But if you are a Londoner who wants a recreational cycle ride they are unappealing.

*National Cycle Route NCN4 should be re-routed to follow the Thames Path, with an alternative route through Russia Dock Woodland*

Cycleways need to have a route but, on its own, routing is rarely sufficient to create an attractive place for leisure cycling. Cycle routes should be planned and designed as urban greenways – like the Albion Canal section of NCN4. It was designed by Brian Clouston landscape architects and is shown on the video.

*The London section of Sustrans National Cycle Route NCN4 is not finalised. Nor is it satisfactory. It should be re-routed to follow the Thames Path as closely as possible.*