Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciated!

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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moreasbestos
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Joined: 9 May 2016, 10:42am

Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciated!

Post by moreasbestos »

Hi there,

My first post…. I am looking for some advice on a 4 day tour I have planned in July. A friend and I are looking for a road tour around the Lake District or Pennines (anywhere picturesque and fun to cycle basically). Rather than building the route for ourselves we were wondering if there are websites or anything which have established circular routes which are already set out and all you have to is print and book the accommodation (I know we are lazy..)

We are looking at doing about 75 miles a day and ending up back where we started after the four days. Any advice from you wonderful people is most appreciated! Ive tried googling but couldn’t find much.

Thanks very much for any help
gloomyandy
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Joined: 16 Mar 2012, 10:46pm

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by gloomyandy »

You might want to take a look at the Yorkshire Dales Cyleway:
http://www.cyclethedales.org.uk/cycle-t ... s-cycleway
perhaps not as far each day as you had in mind. But not an easy route by any means and lots of places to stop off at along the way. Not that hard to extend it either if you want longer days.
geocycle
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Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 9:46am

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by geocycle »

Good suggestion above. Also look at Lancashire cycle route http://www.visitlancashire.com/dbimgs/L ... 20Loop.pdf

Loads of choice on the sustrans site map perhaps based from Penrith if you want the north Pennines? http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map
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Sweep
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Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by Sweep »

+ 1 for lancashire cycleway. If you search "ribble valley" on the forum search you should also find a recent maybe relevant thread.

Edit.

Here

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=104402&hilit=ribble+valley
Sweep
mullinsm
Posts: 114
Joined: 9 Sep 2011, 2:00pm

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by mullinsm »

A word of advice: If you haven't toured with weight on the bike before, you may be surprised how much extra effort it takes. 75 miles a day in the lake district on a heavy bike is pretty tough going by most people's standards.
pwa
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Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by pwa »

There are about four coast to coast routes across the Pennines. If you mark them out on a map (info off the web) together way the Dales Cycleway (excellent) and join up a few loose ends with your own bits you should be able to cobble together something really good. Start with the Coast to Coast and the Way of the Roses, perhaps, and look for ways of joining them to make a circuit.

The Lake District can be a bit too busy with traffic and requires a love of very steep climbs and descents. Make sure you know what you are doing before you venture that way.
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RickH
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Location: Horwich, Lancs.

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by RickH »

Another +1 for the Lancashire Cycleway. I did it in 4 days riding (although only 2 were carrying gear as I live near the southern end of the southern loop.

1st leg I did was the Southern loop from Rivington (near Bolton) clockwise to Whalley - 71 miles of rolling terrain. (I got the train home from Whalley - on the Bolton to Clitheroe line through Blackburn)
2nd leg Train back to Whalley then rode Clockwise round the Northern loop 78 mostly flat miles to Silverdale (a bit of rollling terrain at each end) 1st day then 51 miles, rather hillier but concentrated in the middle third, back to Whalley the next (& train home).
3rd leg Train to Whalley then final 64 miles clockwise to Rivington. This was for me the hardest leg, quite a few hard hills (although I did this final bit after a bit of a gap so fitness - or lack of it - may have been a part of how hard it felt).

You could arrive at Whalley & stay there 2 nights (or more if you plan to stay over at the beginning and/or the end) & possibly leave stuff there.

Day 1 Park (if travelling by car) in Whalley then get the train to, say, Bromley Cross (direct train). Ride round back to Whalley (that would be about 82 miles but mostly relatively easy terrain).
Day 2 Ride remainder of southern loop back to Bromley Cross (~56 miles - so the hardest bit would be shorter) & get train back to Whalley.
Day 3 Whalley to Silverdale on Northern loop (78 miles), stay in Silverdale.
Day 4 Complete Northern loop, Silverdale to Whalley then head home.

You could swap day 2 with day 1 if you wanted the hills out of the way earlier or do it, as I did, after completing the Northern loop. You could do one, or both, loops anticlockwise.

Regards

Rick.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
moreasbestos
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Joined: 9 May 2016, 10:42am

Re: Northern England Road Cycling Tour - any help appreciate

Post by moreasbestos »

Thank you all very much !
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