This, on 18 Nov 2014, was my first C25 exploratory ride – Continue reading
C25 Arc 9: under Hernes Oak (?) in Windsor: forlorn Feltham (Nov B)
trailblazer
Martin submitted the winning design for London’s first dedicated cycle route in 1977.
Now, 46 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. 
Revisions continued during the lockdowns, and though access conditions are now eased rail timetables have yet to settle post-pandemic. However 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 890 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. There is a series of lockdown posts within the capital from 2021, before ‘CyOrb’ rides were resumed later that year.
Contact Martin for further information.
Cycle Orbital’s website has been built by Anthony Cartmell at Fonant.
C25 Spinoff 6: Greensand quarrying near Redhill (Nov A)
As with the last post, C25 pleasures can come from industrial discoveries. This was the day I checked out Spinoff 6 to Gatwick Airport, starting from Caterham. The descent from the Downs is via a delightful bosky drovers track, Continue reading
C25 Spinoff 3: The church in the soap factory (October D)
Spinoffs 3 and 4, on either side of the Thames estuary, are the most industrial, unusual and, in places, intimidating of all the C25 rides. On this day I managed to explore both banks, by taking the small ferry from Gravesend to Tilbury. Continue reading
C25 Arc 5 Lower: The Chevening Diversion-a modest proposal (Oct B)
This unexceptional photo needs your intervention. Please imagine, in the middle distance, moving left to right and disappearing behind the wood, a motley procession of riders on horseback in medieval garb. Got ’em? Look closer… Continue reading
C25 Spoke 2: “Here Darwin thought and worked for forty years” (Oct A)
I chose to revisit rural Bromley and the Darent valley on a day off from a busy schedule at the Royal Opera, starting with Spoke 2, cycling up to Downe via Jackass Lane. First stop was a visit to Down House. Darwin’s home is no perfunctory blue plaque landmark; On the Origin of Species Continue reading
C25 Arc 10: comedy roadsign, Little Missenden (Sept D)
The day before the autumn equinox was spent on a photo-recce of Arc 10 and 11 to check that three prized sections are still in fine fettle. These are two stretches of abandoned road and the shortcut through Penn Woods – all indispensable parts of the C25 system. Continue reading
C25 Spinoff 3: D-Day landing craft on Erith Rands (Sept C)
The equinoxes are better known for storms than flat calm, but a year ago I caught this stretch of the Thames in an eerie stasis of slackwater high tide and no breath of wind. Air and water stood still, the seabirds hung randomly at anchor, as it were – but these concrete WW11 landing craft go nowhere under any conditions. Continue reading
Learning from Cycling and Society Symposium (Sept B)
The Cycling and Society Symposium was held (at short notice) at Imperial College on September 7-8. I have been increasingly attending academic and activist cycling meetings; this was the most comprehensive and stimulating, Continue reading
C25 Arc1B & Spinoff 1: The Stort Navigation – a revision (Sept A)
A performance of La Boheme for Opera Up Close in Bishop’s Stortford gave me the opportunity to upgrade the photos of Arc 1B and Spinoff 1 by cycling from Cheshunt to Stortford. As it transpired more was achieved: Continue reading
C25 Spokes/Arcs 11: bucolic Herts in earshot of M25 and M1 (Aug D)
This was first ride after the 2017 summer break; a beautiful day to plot a sample ride – and to make of use of my new camera. I knew this ford over the Colne to be a special spot (scroll down the photo library to see the same scene in June 2016 Continue reading
C25 Spinoff 2: The 10.35 phantom train to Shenfield (Aug C)
Since the C25 is based on the capital’s rail infrastructure, here is a post for the train enthusiast. I had been told that an un-timetabled extra train was running on TfL Rail’s Liverpool Street-Shenfield service, so I took myself off to investigate. Continue reading
C25 Spinoff 5: Hever’s footpath over and cycleway under (July D)
Bastille Day 2016 was the occasion for me to confirm the route of Spinoff 5 in a clockwise loop from Knockholt to Oxted. At thirty miles-plus with plentiful hills to negotiate it has its challenges, but the centrepiece of the ride Continue reading