The Corporation of London is responsible for managing Epping Forest, which appears in the first two photos. When it comes to cutting back vegetation which impinges on the public highway the Corporation’s interest only extends to roads. Every year the shared use footway/cycle track on Woodford New Road is obstructed by vegetation which the Corporation should cut back but doesn’t. The London Borough of Waltham Forest has an equal responsibility in this matter, but as maintaining the walking and cycling infrastructure is not important to either the crap Corporation or this crap council, the same situation occurs summer after summer after summer.
(Above) 'Shared use' on Woodford New Road. The markings have almost completely faded and three quarters of the space for pedestrians and cyclists has vanished into the undergrowth. If you look carefully on the left of the photo you can just see a scrap of the wooden fencing which marks the edge of this 'shared use' facility.
Once past the jungle, you are free to enter another top class cycling facility, the waterworks roundabout underpass system (below). Have your mobile phone and personal alarm ready, and watch out for the family of rats who live here. This labyrinth of desolate, circuitous underpasses was built so that cyclists wouldn't get in the way of drivers at the roundabout, and because pedestrian crossings would only slow down the traffic. So let the bipeds and the two-wheelers go underground - motorized transport is the top priority.
