A decent motorbiking road out of London

Hiring a motorbike in London always has the disadvantage that you have to go quite a way to find a decent road to ride down. Well, I’ve found one now with the route from north-east London to Saffron Walden. The ‘easy’ way would be to take the M11, since Saffron Walden is only a couple of miles from it, but that is distinctly not interesting on a motorbike. Instead I took the A113 (starting from Snaresbrook) through Chigwell, under the north circular, and then on to Chipping Ongar. This seemed like it would be quite a good place to stop off with some pubs and restaurants. Just north of Chipping Ongar is a roundabout and the route goes straight across this (passing the A414 exits on either side) and onto the B184. This is where the road starts getting more interesting.

The B184 eventually hits the A1060 (not signposted) and you need to turn right there and then left once you hit Leaden Roding about a mile down the road. Leaden Roding itself looks another good place for a stop. From there, it’s a case of following the B184 to Great Dunmow (signposted) and then through there to Thaxted and on to Saffron Walden (all signposted). There are a number of good looking pubs on the way so I’m sure I’ll be heading out there again.

The ride is good firstly because the roads are mostly of good quality with a few decent bends and not too many speed limits (bar through the towns and villages, as expected). It’s a bit lacking in good straights but you can’t have everything. The best thing, though, comes I think from the fact that it runs north to south along a route that’s much better served by the M11, meaning that it’s quite empty. There were a few Sunday drivers around but there are a reasonable number of spots to overtake (on a sports bike, anyway).

It’s about an hour to Saffron Walden from Leyton going this route, compared to around 35 minutes up the M11, and the ride is definitely worth it.

3 thoughts on “A decent motorbiking road out of London”

  1. How many more of you idiots have to die before you realise that there are better ways to spend a Sunday than ruining our weekends.Another near fatal motor cyclist induced accident on the A1060 (Wed 7th June 06) still won’t stop you will it?There are many advertised track days – why don’t you go there instead

  2. I’m glad to see that the last person to leave a comment here said such nice things about bikers and then failed to leave his/her name. Very big of you.What Joe public fails to realise is that there are idiots in all walks of life. With bikers most people only ever see the nutters and never notice the majority that ride sensibly & safely.We’re just ordinary people like you. I don’t get drunk every weekend and vandalise town centres. I prefer to ride my bike instead.

  3. Dear Mr Nonymous,Anyone with half a brain will notice that bikers fall into two distinct categories: (1) speed-crazed idiot fools (who sooner or later tend to perish…); (2) the rest of us, who just enjoy the freedom and exhiliration (yes, even at 60mph) of a motorbike.Both groups are fully aware that the most endangered species on the road is the biker himself – no half ton of metal around us to protect us from sleepy, foolish, unobservant and uncaring car-drivers. If we have an accident with one of you, WE lose, full stop.Of course, if you prefer to sit in traffic, that’s your prerogative, but I would agree with George Orwell when he wrote, “Two wheels good, four wheels bad” (or words to that effect!)Fot the time being, get off our backs and go and moan about something else…!

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