Cycling UK Forum

Sorry to resuscitate an old thread but I rode part of route 6 this weekend and was rather dismayed at what I found in parts - riding through Northampton is pretty horrendous, although I half expected it to be.

Having to go from cycle path to shared use pavement to simply crossing the road at lights to then using the one-way system was pretty unsettling. The roadworks around the station at the moment are very ugly and it's tricky to follow the pavement/footpath through to the next ridable section. Not sure how long the station's roadworks will continue for, but it looks terrible at present.

There is also a closed section directly north of Northampton which I wasn't aware of. Unfortunately the 'diversion' was rather unclear from the south, and not signposted at all from the north. Heading southwards, riders simply get to a fenced-off section saying the route is closed and are left to fumble their way via a footpath back to the main road and along until the route picks up again.

The Brampton Valley Line section I rode along was decent enough. Some of the gravel is very fine and smooth, but at times the stones are rather sharp and larger, making for a slightly uncomfortable ride.

It was interesting for me to read some of the above posts before setting out. I have mixed feelings about Sustrans National routes. Some have been wonderful, while others definitely suffer from issues similar to those noted above. I'll try and do a bit more research from other users of national routes next time rather than just blindly following what I hoped would be a good-quality, well-signposted route from A to B.