30km A London springtime cycle ride

Ride overview

For over 1000 years at springtime, the Japanese indulge in ‘hanami’, meaning the ‘viewing of flowers’. Originally, the hanami festival was reserved for Japanese aristocrats but has since become a tradition for all classes, and indeed across the globe. Sit for ten minutes under the cherry trees in Battersea Park and you’ll see a host of Londoners stop what they are doing whether they be joggers, dog walkers, or people walking briskly whilst urgently talking into their phones. Children collect petals, even the dogs seem to enjoy the petal strewn paths and grass. London has to be one of the world’s most floriferous cities and this short and gentle ride, celebrates mid -Spring with an easy route along low-traffic, flower filled streets from Chiswick to Battersea and onwards if you wish, to the glorious Royal Parks.

Ride Practicalities
The route is lovely at any time during the year, but March and April are truly spectacular. The parks and mid-season blossom are on display in their full majesty.
There are many options if you wish to tailor this ride to your time and fitness; ride it from Chiswick to Battersea and miss out the Royal parks, ride it as a loop from Shepherd’s bush and miss out the Chiswick section, or see everything and ride it from Chiswick and end at Shepherd’s Bush. All work.
START/FINISH: Chiswick or Shepherd’s Bush station/Battersea Park station/Shepherd’s Bush. DISTANCE: 32km TOTAL ASCENT: 200m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: Traffic-free cycle lanes, low-traffic roads. Suitable for any bike, including hired electric bikes RECOMMENDED CAFÈS/PUBS: The Scarsdale Tavern remains a favourite, but there are countless places on the route for you to discover. Consider bringing your own pic-nic NEARBY MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: Chiswick, Battersea Park, Shepherd’s Bush. Bikes permitted on Overground, Mainline trains (restrictions apply) PLACES TO VISIT; Chiswick House LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: Arcadian Thames, , On the fringes of the Thames, Chiswick to Greenwich, The Royal Borough, The Crocus ride, Sensational Snowdrops, Tour of the Royal Parks

Ride Notes
Chiswick House has one of the oldest collections of camellias in Europe. Brought by ship from China, where they have been cultivated for thousands of years, they became a symbol of status in 18th century England. Camellias are not just confined to the greenhouse, but fill the gardens too. Many of the plants were grown by Alfred Chandler who, in the 1800s had a camellia nursery in Vauxhall. As well as an impressive display of camellias, the gardens are said to be the birthplace of the English Landscape Movement, with its more naturalised style of planting. It’s a wonderful place to saunter and begin your immersion into hanami.

Riding onwards, you pass perhaps the most spectacular magnolia in London on Chiswick Mall, before arriving in St. Peter’s Square, one of West London’s garden gems. From thence, it is a short ride to Ravenscourt Park where the display of mid-season cherries appears each season on countless Instagram feeds.

The next few kilometres make a spring. You glide through Holland Park and Kensington with their displays of majestic magnolia trees set against the white stucco of mansions. The magnolia is one of the most ancient of plants. Fossils show that it has existed for over 65 million years. It is so old that it was first pollinated by beetles as bees had not yet evolved. London’s first magnolia was brought to London by Henry Compton, the Bishop of London, and planted in Fulham Palace. To add to the rich experience, put your nose into one of the thick-petalled goblets and inhale a heady floral punch - part rose, part citrus, part earthy.

The route includes a wander through Holland Park in order to visit the Kyoto garden, as well as delight in the displays of daffodils and camellias. However, despite the supreme floral displays, the deviation comes at distasteful price; you’ll have to push your bike along the wide woodland paths as the Royal Borough is aggressively anti-cycling and the police have been empowered to slap a £1000 fine on anyone caught riding a bike in the park. That’s many times more than the average person could be fined for speeding along Kensington High Street. If you wish to avoid the walk, and the distaste of obeying such a crass policy, avoid the park by cycling - legally - along Holland Walk and pick up the route again at the southern end of the park.

After many happy twists and turns through the low-traffic streets of the Kensington and Chelsea, admiring many a spectacular tree, you arrive in Battersea Park. Thanks to the generosity of the governor of Nara province in Japan, Londoners can enjoy ‘sakura’, the Japanese cherry blossom festival. The avenue is planted with 40 pale-flowered Yoshino cherry trees, which seem to have the power to bring busy Londoners to a halt.

The relatively brief period of sakura, the time when cherry blossoms are in bloom serves, in Japanese culture, as a reminder of the impermanence of beauty and life. This idea is often referred to as “mono no aware,” or nothing lasts forever.

The final leg, takes you across the river once again and into the Royal Parks, which are filled not only with many magnolias and cherrys but more notably with over a million flowering spring bulbs. Sitting on the grass amidst swathes of golden daffodils as the bands of the King’s guards march by, is one of the great delights of London. Contrary to some, it is not just the preserve of the visiting tourists.

Pic-nics are very much part of the tradition of hanami, and in any of the parks you ride through, you could on a warm spring day, spread your rug and sit with friends under the cherry trees. If you wish to have the full Japanese experience, you might bring along some sake (rice wine) or tea to drink with seasonal foods. If you’ve forgotten to bring your own pic-nic, there are any number of coffee places within the park who’d be delighted to sell you something.

From the park, there are a few more kilometres of daffodils and other spring plantings to enjoy as you ride through Hyde Park and into Kensington Gardens, before returning to the meleé of Shepherd’s Bush where the ride ends.

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.

If you enjoyed this guide, why not subscribe to the website so as not to miss other inspirational routes?

wheremywheelsgo.uk is a Feedspot UK Cycling top website

30km Pedalling the Petals