trailblazer 
Martin submitted the winning design for London’s first dedicated cycle route in 1977.
Now, 44 years on, he has worked up a network of recreational rides around the capital. During development the working title was the C25, in reference to the orbital motorway, and still in use in this blog library.
But the C25 is no more: Cycle Orbital is the new title – less auto-centric and more accurate. It 
will be given launch publicity when lockdown conditions are eased and the rail system is freely available. In the meantime, the website is fully operational; please visit it by clicking the logo.
The network comprises 12 Arcs, 12 Spokes, and 12 Spin-offs. That’s 800 miles of off-road and quiet cycling through varied landscapes – often beautiful, always interesting.
Please enjoy this blog library from the archive of photos taken on reconnoitre, laid out chronologically below. It has recently been updated (March 2021) with a series of lockdown posts. You can contact Martin for further information. Cycle Orbital’s website has been built by Anthony Cartmell at Fonant.
Well beyond. Our Covid hideaway here in S Ayrshire, to which we decamped exactly on the equinox, is 400 miles NW from Luton Airport Parkway. There was just room for my bike, and goodness! I am grateful for the luxury of freedom it gives me.
The Bruce Stone above Loch Trool Continue reading
With the dark shadow of Covid-19 encroaching, but with increasingly springlike weather lifting the spirits in equal and opposite measure, the remedy is clear; get in a couple of rides and check the health of the C25, before the risk of confinement. A good call Continue reading
A cycling map with helpful 6-mile orbital rings! It’s obvious why this was a treasured Christmas gift for me. It’s the date – 1887 – that makes the map really fascinating, for the 1880’s are the years when the modern bicycle was developed, with a bicycle boom following in the 1890’s. Not only that Continue reading
The previous week’s ride was powered by a firm westerly wind; today’s was even more blustery. I rarely tackle a headwind, so this eastbound spin tested the mostly on-road conditions from Spoke 12 Hadley Wood via Clay Hill, Enfield Lock and Epping Forest. I hope the first road section is temporary: Continue reading
This was a ride concocted from the need to deliver items to near Didcot power station, and to explore a ride back via Wallingford and Henley to the end of Spinoff 9 at Crazies Hill. I was also enticed out by a bright frosty day with a brisk westerly to blow me home. Having taken the 9.20 Paddington train I was ready to set off back by 10.30, but it started badly; Continue reading
Currently there’s usually one dry day a week, and I squeeze an autumnal ride in then if free. Today was a corker; everywhere drenched in vibrant russets and golds from West Drayton to Beaconsfield via Langley and Black Parks and Burnham Beeches. Previously, greener rides through the amazing giant conifers of Havering-Atte-Bower and the Kentish Weald Continue reading
I may be the only customer at The Wine Society warehouse in Stevenage who rocks up after a thirty mile bike ride, usually muddy (more of this anon), to fill my panniers with a dozen bottles and pedal off. Continue reading
Project C25 has taken a back seat in 2019, though I have been checking on the condition of the routes, finding to my relief minor improvements in many places, and little evidence of degradation and thankfully no disrupted or closed paths. For instance, yesterday I learned that downstream of the Thames Barrier “the missing link” had been installed. Continue reading
The Tokyo megalapolitan area is home to thirty eight million people – substantially in excess of half the UK population and the world’s largest urban agglomeration. Having experienced it firsthand, here are some observations from a wide-eyed Londoner Continue reading
It is a beautiful May day, and no C25 rides for some while. Time to get the glamour bike out and give it a spin. This is what the C25 can conjure up in a short afternoon: a 15-miler from Elstree to Rickmansworth, home and back in two and half hours. How’s that possible? Continue reading
The C25’s purpose is to entice the rider out beyond the metropolis into pastures new. While designing the system I was aware of the importance of noting potential hazards along the way. Last week, out of the blue, I was thrown by a potholed rut between the surface of the approach lane and the main A40 carriageway in Beaconsfield, and left unconscious by the roadside for 20 minutes. Continue reading
It starts so well. Straight off the train at Rainham (20 minutes from Fenchurch St) you can take a coffee at Rainham Hall (NT) before setting off on five miles of prime offroad cycling – and superb birdwatching – along the Thames to the RSPB centre at Purfleet. Thereafter, in order to reach the destination of Tilbury Fort, significant obstacles as well as fascinating discoveries lie ahead. Continue reading