Doncaster to Cleethorpes

[IanCh]

Can anyone suggest a pleasant route between Doncaster and Cleethorpes avoiding busy A roads but taking in any interesting sights and villages, please?

[MockCyclist]

Well you can only cross the Trent at Keadby Bridge or Gainsborough so that's a defining factor. I'll describe the Keadby crossing as I haven't been as far south as Gainsborough. Definitely stay off the A18.

Refer to OpenStreetMap - from Donny wend your way up through the Isle of Axholme: From Branton to the east of Doncaster you can take a bridlepath along Brockholes Lane right through the wildlife park (could be busy). Where the bridlepath meets the road, at the main entrance to the park, go left, over a rail bridge and left along another bridlepath across the fishing lakes then go due east along Hayfield Lane and pick up the B1396 to Blaxton. Beyond Blaxton the B1396 isn't very wide but being straight and the main route into the Isle, you can get buzzed by fast traffic. So you might want to turn off and pass through Wroot > Woodside > Tunnel Pits > Epworth. These are quiet roads and you're in the heart of the region that was marshland drained by Vermuyden, the interest is in observing the new course of the rivers and imagining what once was.

From Epworth it's quiet roads through Beltoft to Althorpe (where it's possible to see Vermuyden's original outfall into the Trent if you know where to look) and Keadby Bridge.

At the other side of the Trent, go down to East Butterwick > Messingham > Scawby > Brigg. Again quiet roads.

That's the limit of my personal knowledge but at Brigg you could head to Barnetby and pick up Sustrans #1 into Cleethorpes, which looks as though it passes through some interesting lanes.

[gloomyandy]

Have you tried using cycle.travel (http://cycle.travel/map) I just tried entering doncaster and cleethorpes into it and the route looked pretty good to me. I've been using this a fair bit recently and like the routes it tends to generate. They sometimes need a little tweaking but it often finds routes I might not have considered.

[IanCh]

Thank you. Both of these suggestions were really helpful.

[IanCh]

I'd just like to thank mockcyclist for the advice. We completed the Wirral to Cleethorpes tour on Sunday. The leg as described between Doncaster and Cleethorpes was great. Thank you.

[MockCyclist]

Thanks for the feedback, always good to know that a route suggestion worked