Biking with kids

I've posted about Donkey Lane Planation before, but this is one my son's favourite rides and this time we decided to also cycle over Warley Playing Fields, which runs next to part of the woods, to reach the playpark the other side. This was great because it extended a woodland ride to give an extra something as part of a slightly longer day out. The rides through the plantation itself are great, with streams, bumps and loads of different pathways to explore. However, in October to be honest it was pretty boggy and difficult to ride in some areas for a child on a hybrid. It was definitely easier on my mountain bike, but even then some of the mud was too deep! So this ride is probably better for dry spells or for periods which haven't seen extended heavy rainfall - we did love it with some puddles and boggy bits, just not quite as much bog as in October! The playpark was pretty good with plenty to entertain different ages, including an area to play ball. The zip line didn't really live up to its name! This ride would be great in the spring time with a picnic on the Playing Fields. We tend to park on the residential roads near Woodman's Cemetery, but you could alternatively try at the play park side - the postcode for the play park is CM13 3AZ. My earlier post provides more information about Donkey Lane Planation itself. To get to the woods from the playpark, just walk towards the woods until you see a little wood bridge (shown in photos) to your right.

We are lucky enough to have Lake Meadows within walking (or biking!) distance from our home. It has been crazy busy on the paths lately and too boggy off path to cycle without getting stuck, so at the moment an early morning (before 10.30am) ride is best here during wetter months.

A path runs round the whole park and the lake and is reasonably smooth and flat, with some steeper routes you can take if you want to. It's worth noting that the majority of the path runs round the lake, so if you have very small children you will need to keep an eye on them, and a small portion of the path is next to the lake directly, with no barrier. There is a short woodland path behind the tennis courts with humps and bumps to ride, some steeper parts and some flat. A little stream runs through here for added fun for kids - but watch out for broken glass.

The wild flower meadow (in photos) is beautiful in the summer and autumn and there are fallen trees all round the park to stop and climb. There is a younger kids play area which has seen better days, its very basic and usually over populated. The older kids play area is again basic and on grass which becomes very boggy with rain. There is a concrete net/footie area and a skate park, the latter is in and out of use due to frequent vandalism. There are also tennis courts and boules areas in the park. Boules is free - bring your own kit and is located behind the tennis courts. You can pay for tennis at the cafe and again will need to bring your own kit. There are plenty of benches for rests and the cafe in the park has been open for take aways during the Covid-19 situation, but it isn't open every week day in winter, and please note it only takes cash! Usually there is also a second cafe in the swimming pool building, but with the pool closed due to Covid the cafe is also closed. the park is a short walk to cafes in Billericay town centre and Peapods cafe on Radford Way.

You can park in the dedicated car park - it gets busy in summer and you will need to pay. There is another car park on Radford way which you will also need to pay for and is only a 2 minute walk from the park. Most of the streets in the immediate vicinity of the park have parking restrictions. The post code for the car park is: Cm12 0BW

Last weekend we took our bikes to meet up with family in the park I basically grew up in - we literally lived next to it! So it holds great memories for me. The little bridge in the last photo has featured in many childhood photos over the years.

There is a great little play area, complete with zip line, graffiti wall, bike/scooter track, splash area (summer only). The cafe is great and the toilets are clean! There is loads to explore around the rest of the park including formal garden beds, a band stand and the river Darent runs all the way through the park (currently blocked off think they might be dredging it). The biggest bonus for young kids is that the park is mostly very flat with good paths and lots of grass and there are so many exciting things to explore along the way.

There are loads of bridges going over the river to explore and tunnels which take you through to Brooklands lakes (also pictured). Brookland lakes paths are very narrow at some points and the middle path between the lakes or prone to flooding - so avoid the lakes on a bike with young kids. The park itself has plenty anyway.

At the Darenth Road end of the park, there is a slide as part of the entrance experience- always a win - and a football pitch. Parking is possible by the road at this end, but it's not easy! The Market Street entrance by the library takes you past the war memorial and the formal beds and is the closest entrance to the play park. We went on a sunday and parked free on the one way system. The Cranford Road entrance is nearer the tunnels and Brooklands lakes and there is a small amount of parking in the park itself here - it won't be possible to park here with bike carriers on the back. Parking is not easy to visit this park but it is possible. There are also a number of paid car parks around Dartford all of which are a short walk /ride to the park.

Please note the tunnels to brooklands are closed during periods of heavy rain as they are designed to flood.

This is part of national cycle network #125.

Today we explored a little bit of Thorndon South Country Park. Definitely requires gears to navigate and there are paths next to water, so not a safe or easy ride for very young children. Mine is 6 and mostly managed but struggled going up some of the steeper hills.

We went down the hill from the car park, past the pond, through a gate and ended up in a field where cattle grazes - though we saw none today. We followed some of the paths across the fields and you get a great view of the surrounding countryside - complete with the A127 and the C2C train in the distance 😉 my son loved seeing the trains go past! We then came back and went round the pond a few times. The ride around the pond was great fun because it was right next to the water and involved narrow paths and some points.

There are plenty of benches to have a rest on. You can bike all the way up to North Thorndon apparently, but we didn't do this today. It was hilly, but not as bad as Weald! There are some signs here and there explaining the landmarks and what used to be there - it used to all be part of a large estate.

We parked in the official car park - you can pay by card, cash or app. Its not cheap but same as the other country parks in Essex.
Postcode is: CM13 3LL

On the day we visited Papermill Lock (see post from yesterday) we also biked Danbury Common. My top tip for if you can't get a parking space at the lock is head to Danbury Common instead - it's only 15 minutes away with tons of free parking. We visited the Common recently for the first time with friends and saw so many cyclists so it's been on the list for a while!

There are relatively flat parts but much of it, like Danbury itself, is fairly hilly. With young kids you could easily have fun just biking around the grass at the car park, complete with natural lumps and bumps to go over and then head down the path to the left of the car park once you're on the green which goes through the woods on a a light downhill path and comes to a lovely little stream. There is a little track along the stream that is pretty flat for a short ride, though at some point you'll need to go up again to go further. The stream is lovely, always has water being pumped into it, so great even in dry spells. Its a great place to stop and play, with plenty of logs etc for dam building or den building and lots of stream hopping or paddling fun to be had. There were some parts of the stream which I was able to access to ride through on my mountain bike, which was fun! We did a couple of circular loops through various paths, but there is so much more to explore with woodland, gorse and open green areas. My son is 6 and with the help of gears managed some of the hills, it would be difficult without gears to go beyond the grassy area and the path along the stream, but for younger children this would be enough anyway.

This felt like a nice safe and fun place to ride and the free parking is an added bonus. It's run by National Trust and there is a donation box in the car park. There are at least 2 different car parks, we used the larger one on Bicnacre Road, post code CM3 4JJ. Be warned if you have a tow bar carrier - there is drop coming out of the car park which I neglected to notice 😬

Today we went to one of our favourite places - the little pocket of paradise that is Papermill Lock. We've been here kayaking a fair bit over the summer and noticed the tow paths looked reasonably bikeable so we thought we would try exploring from land for a change.

We biked from Papermill towards Chelmsford, crossing the bridge and the road at Church Road to rejoin the path. From here we biked down past the weir and took a right to do a circular route across fields to return to the tow path and go back again. You can go as far as you like, the path apparently continues to Springfield and the other way to Heybridge. Parts of the path were better than others for bikes. With young kids, it gets a bit narrow past the weir towards Chelmsford and that's why we headed back across fields instead at that point. The section between Papermill Lock and Church Road was probably the easiest to bike, with the pathways being a good width to allow easy passing. The route is so beautiful and peaceful with plenty of points to stop for a picnic on the river bank. We had great entertainment on route today from paddle boarders having a lesson and getting very wet! There are several bridges to cross in the section between Papermill and Church Road - always exciting for a child! The paths are tow paths and therefore next to the river, so requires children to be reasonably confident riders. Today it was not too busy because the weather wasn't great. I would avoid it to be honest on hot days because papermill gets crazy busy.

It is possible to park by the road at Papermill, but out of courtesy to river users and knowing how heavy that gear is, I would recommend using the car park at Papermill - the cost is £5 for the day. There is a cafe at Papermill Lock for refreshments, with facilities and outdoor seating. It is possible to swim in the river on the Heybridge side of the lock. We also had a swim at Church Road end last week, but it was a bit like swimming in pea soup 🤣

This was a lovely little ride through beautiful surroundings which you could make as short or as long as you wanted, just be aware some parts of the path get quite narrow. The postcode for Papermill Lock is: CM3 4BS

We love Burnham by foot and scooter (there is a great little skate park at the Riverside Park), but thought we would try it by bike today. With the bikes we went the opposite way to our usual route, so towards Creeksea along the SaltMarsh Coast path, rather than Burnham central. We cycled past the little sandy beach area (where you can swim at high tide), through the marina (restaurant to stop for a drink here if needed), carried on along the water front along a fun bumpy path (my son requests bumps!), until we saw the disc golf goals belonging to the Parlour Cafe at Creeksea. At this point we cycled up a field with disc golf at the next possible exit. At the top we reached Parlour Cafe which we love. The playground is lovely for kids and they have super friendly goats! They currently have a drive through service going on which didn't work for us, the queue was crazy, but we probably mis-timed with the lunch crowd. We'll try earlier next time as it usually a fab cafe! The paths got quite narrow beyond the turn off for Parlour, so best for confident riders. After our bike ride, we tried out the little dirt BMX track, at the end car park in riverside Park, which was fun! We also took the opportunity as always to visit the little play parks in the Riverside Park. These are great with zip lines and a good variety of play equipment. Usually we go crabbing off the jetty in Burnham central, but we ran out of steam this time! It's a guaranteed catch here though usually! There are loads of picnic benches all over the place, so a great place to spend to day. We parked at the end car park in Riverside Park (CM0 8HS) we always park here because there are always loads of spaces and it's free. You can also park for free at the Marina.

Has anyone used this site? It allow you to type in a journey start and end and see the routes you can take by bike. I was hoping to see more routes that were off road locally, but I can see that to get out of the Essex town I live in, I would need to go on many roads and that's not something I want to do with a young child. I hope it's of more use to others as it looks like it could be a great resource:

cycle.travel | route-planner and maps - traffic-free & quiet roads For everyday cyclists. Commuter routes and tips, bike maps, National Cycle Network routes, and cycling news. No lycra required.

Weald Country Park! We were too busy navigating the hills to get good photos at this one. I would say great to bike with teenage kids, not so great with young ones like mine. The hills were too much for him , even though he is reasonably good with gears now. I forgot how hilly this place is! The cycle routes were not easy to find and, when we did, required a lot of horse manure navigation! If you have younger kids, go but walk. You can feed the deer, there is an excellent stick man trail, you can feed the ducks on the lake and the scenery, particularly in autumn, is stunning. Easy parking, but very busy at the moment we found. Visitor centre open and plenty of toilets! Parking cost astronomical be aware! Post code: CM14 5QS

Great little track designed for BMX, but equally fine with any hybrid or mountain bike. My son navigated mostly fine with a Squish! Not for kids who aren't yet confident riding. We were able to park on the roadside right outside- single yellow lines are ok between 9-2. There is also a little play area, a zip line and a nice flat space with a basketball hoop/football goal for ball play which extends the fun factor for this one. Probably could have got away with joining in as an adult if went very early, but otherwise this is really more of a 'watch thw kids bike, while feeling very jealous' 🤣🤣 Recommended by Really no such thing as bad weather - check out this page if you're an Essex mum looking for new outdoor places to go! Post code: CM2 7QX

Not many photos of this one, but another great place for a bike ride is Thames Chase. Again easy paths, no steep hills and varied scenery make this a great outing - woods, fields and even a tunnel right under the M25!

Usually there is a visitor centre with a cafe, indoor and outdoor space to eat, toilets, and various play areas as you follow the paths but these were all still closed as of two weeks ago due to Covid. Large car park, so easy to access.

There is a highway rat trail but this looked like it was in the process of being retired when we went.
Post code RM14 3MS

Not the best day for a ride, but we stayed dry on this one in spite of the dark clouds! We love South Woodham for a walk by the river, but we established we love it just as much by bike! For most of the way there is a top part with great views over the river Crouch and a lower path which is grassy just below. This allows you to move out the way of walkers as required. Please note cyclists have to give way to walkers here. The grassy path is tougher to pedal on, so better for kids with gears. There is fun to be had by kids going up and down from the higher path to the lower path - again gears are helpful. But equally staying on the higher path removes requirement for years. You can park up right by the river and path at marsh farm country park. If you go right the path along the river takes you towards North Fambridge, with amazing views. If you head left there is a little loop you can do which is a nice easy trip for kids, with riverside access points along the way. Take the first pathway heading left along the route and you'll go back next to a field, left again takes you back to the rear side of the car park. You can't get lost, follow the masts in the yacht club. Its a great place to explore, so don't forget your picnic, crabbing gear and food for the ducks and swans! Park at CM3 5YT - carry on down the single track lane from Marsh Farm.