Tidal Explorer GPX Route

Tidal Explorer traces London's working river past, from Greenwich to New Cross Gate, on paths flat enough for anyone to ride.

This one's built for a family day out rather than a training ride: traffic-free almost the whole way, pan-flat, and stitched together from the dense network of cycle paths that link the sights of the lower Thames. Tunnels, bridges, boardwalks, a cable car, two rivers' worth of docks and a Victorian sewage works dressed as a palace, all reachable on whatever bike you've got.

Ride Details

• Ride Level: Easy / Green
• Distance: 36km / 23 miles
• Terrain: 95% traffic-free on tarmac cycle paths and gravel trails
• Bike: Any bike
• Includes: GPX file and printable Ride Guide

The Route

Start at Greenwich station and pick up the Thames foreshore to the Cutty Sark. From there it's the foot tunnel under the river and up through the Isle of Dogs, past the towers of Canary Wharf to the Georgian terraces of Limehouse Basin.

The route picks up the Regent's Canal towpath to Victoria Park, crosses the A102 into the Lee Valley, and cuts across the football pitches of Hackney Marshes. There's a temptation to detour onto the MTB trails in the Olympic Park; resist it, or don't, and carry on north past Stratford to join the Lee Navigation as it passes Three Mills Island.

Along Abbey Creek, which genuinely does look like a creek, the Greenway runs past Abbey Mills Pumping Station, Joseph Bazalgette's Victorian sewage works dressed up as a Byzantine palace, on towards Beckton for a spot of plane-spotting across from City Airport.

The Emirates Cable Car crosses the Thames from there (bike-friendly; they'll slow the cabin down to let you on), with views over the City and south London on the way to the Greenwich Peninsula.

The Thames path leads back into Greenwich through the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College. It's worth the extra twenty minutes to see the Painted Hall and the Coade Stone memorial to Nelson before the route winds through the back streets to New Cross Gate station.

Abbey Mills: A Sewage Works Built Like a Palace

Joseph Bazalgette built Abbey Mills Pumping Station in 1868 to pump London's waste east and away from the city, in the aftermath of the Great Stink of 1858, when the smell of the Thames got bad enough to threaten to shut down Parliament. He built it as a Byzantine-Gothic palace, with mosaic floors and wrought-iron staircases, for reasons no one has ever fully explained beyond Victorian confidence. It still handles a good share of east London's sewage today, mostly out of sight in a newer building next door, while the original stands as one of the more unlikely listed buildings on this route.

Along the Way

Places to Visit:

1 mile Cutty Sark

11 miles MTB Trails – Velo Park Stratford

12 miles The House Mill – Three Mills Island

13 miles Abbey Mills Pumping Station

18 miles Emirates Cable Car

20 miles Old Royal Naval Hospital

Places to Eat:

9 miles Motherworks – Canalside

20 miles Trafalgar Tavern

Finish

Finish at New Cross Gate, or double back to Greenwich for the DLR. Either way, budget time for a proper stop along the route rather than treating this as one to be raced through.

Start and End Points

Start: Greenwich Station. Finish: New Cross Gate Station.

Ride Details

• Distance: 36km / 23 miles
• Climb: 260m / 850ft
• Percentage traffic-free: 95%
• Trail surface: Tarmac cycle paths and gravel trails
• Technical Grade: Green — Easy
• Mudometer: Mostly paved and gravel, minimal mud, rideable year-round

Is this ride for me?

This is about as flat and easy as our rides get, which is why it works well as a family day out. Budget four to six hours if you're stopping properly at the Cutty Sark, Three Mills, Abbey Mills and the cable car, rather than the two or so it'd take to just ride it. It's also easy to shorten if you're short on time or legs.

Read more about our grades here.

Is my bike OK for this ride?

Any bike will do, right down to a hire bike. This is genuinely a route you could ride on a Boris Bike.