Favourite railway cycle routes

[mattheus]

I assumed this was a UK thread, but if I can piggyback on this Euro-diversion:

Vennbahn. Simply stunning. Great places along the route too.

I've actually ridden a fair chunk of that - gorgeous area! (It was on a 1000km Audax - not sure we're supposed to mention such things here ... )

If any UK trail has a page that looks like this on its website, I want to know about it:
https://www.vennbahn.eu/en/stories/

It's like Blair Witch Project meets ... well something more child-friendly.

[RickH]

The Millennium Greenway through Chester, approximately 9 miles end to end, is one I happily cycle regularly. The surface is good tarmac (better than many of the lanes around) and there are relatively few barriers, none which cause any problem getting through on the tandem.

Further afield*, I rode the Arbutus Greenway today. About 8 miles end to end from near the south side of False Creek down to the Fraser River (*Vancouver BC.)

[peetee]

I have a nice central location to explore the mineral tramway routes around Redruth. Not all the routes follow the lines exactly and there are some gradients to contend with, especially following the incline out of Portreath. Scenery and history abound. What's not to like?

[rjb]

Notice the similarity of these 2 pics. This is the incline on the west Somerset mineral line at Comberrow. This is a good line to explore. It starts at Watchet and runs to the base of the Brendon hills before the incline then takes you to the top near Raleigh's Cross. The gradient is 1:4 almost a kilometre long and gains 230 metre's in height.

[Cyril Haearn]

Can/may one walk the inclines?

[peetee]

Some years ago it was possible to ride down Portreath incline but not so sure now. Satellite images suggest it links in with a footpath at the bottom but I don't know if the road leading down is private. The signposted tramway trail route is down a wooded Combe just to the east.
Here a couple of pics of my favourite route; the Great Flat Lode Trail.

[rjb]

The west Somerset mineral line site is a good place to start. You can descend the incline from the winding house at the top for a short distance, the lower section is in private hands, gardens to the old houses which can be seen in the photo I posted. It's well overgrown now apart from the top section. There is a cycle path from Watchet to washford then quiet roads up to Comberrow the base of the incline then a selection of unmade roads, tracks, some tarmaced which lead off to other hamlets like Leighland Chapel.
More here for anyone that wants to explore. http://www.westsomersetmineralrailway.o ... loring.php

[TrevA]

The High Peak trail is not flat. There were winding engines in three places. I have not yet been forgiven for those

It’s pretty flat apart from the the short Hopton incline and the very much longer Cromford to Middleton Top incline. The latter can be avoided by starting/finishing at Middleton Top.

[drossall]

I had no problem, but my wife has not forgotten them in 35 years .

[rmurphy195]

Whats the longest rail trail in the UK ... And if ridden with a paved / surfaced canal path whats the longest combined path way .....
I have a heart issue and although being encouraged to keep up with the milage my (cycling) Cardio consultant suggests i keep off the big climbs
( Whinlatter Pass next week on my CTC ... lets see how that goes ... ) ....

The combined Tissington and High Peak trails can give you a reasonably long ride - about 50 miles round trip from Ashbourne - Parsley Hay then on to the National Stone Museum - if you don't mind a few more steep bits then go on to Cromford before turning back. Lots of interesting things to see on the way, and a few hills as well if you want 'em.

Ashbourne - Parsley Hay (go beyond the bike shop/cafe at the Northern end, up to a replica croation round house) - and back, this will give you about 27 miles round trip. This part of the trip is "uphill" for about 2/3rds of the way (in railway terms, about 1/400 maybe) then levels out a bit and maybe a slight down gradient. In short, as gentle or as demanding a ride as you like to make it. My record one february, with a (cold) North wind was about 3 hours on the outward trip, and 45 mins on the return - needless to say I had the trail to myself, and the MTB tyress came in useful in the odd snow flurry!

Surface on these is crushed limestone, and well drained.

Hartington makes a nice stop, but its a bit of a climb back up to the railway.

Lots of opportunities to cut across to other peak district trails if you fancy a bit of road/hills here and there - the Manifold trail is quite handy.

And yup, "Favourite" does describe this area for me!

[Morzedec]

Perhaps inevitably, I'll offer a few dozen routes in France (go look at af3v.org).

The beauty for me is the peace and quiet: I was self-isolating even before it was invented.

Happy days,

[rmurphy195]

Perhaps inevitably, I'll offer a few dozen routes in France (go look at af3v.org).

The beauty for me is the peace and quiet: I was self-isolating even before it was invented.

Happy days,

These look nice - tried af3v.org, it's all in French (no surprise there) but clicking on the little union flag in the corner doesn't take me to an English language version - am I missing something?

[Morzedec]

Murph, hello, and thank you for mail.

South Birmingham? - that must be Stratford-upon-Avon then.

af3v.org: open the site, click on the large central map, then hover your mouse over whichever route you like the look of and click again. A new page should open with menus across the top: some useless information, some photos, and on some routes a map. For real excitement copy a selection and bang it in to Google Translate, hours of fun.

Are you a French tourist, or just a 'wannabee'? The flu will be over soon (when us old ones are all dead) so go explore, we love the place - and I ought to be at home now, but can't get there, so it's 'holiday home in Cornwall' time for the foreseeable.

PM me for any more information that you may want.

Happy days,

[ratherbeintobago]

The Cinder Track is meant to be quite good, though Larpool viaduct wasn’t much fun to walk over…

[mjr]

The best railway cycle route may soon be the London-Stansted Express: half-hourly new trains (class 745/1) with 3x 6-bike spaces. It'll be a complete reversal for that route, which used to have a bike ban, despite going to an airport used by many cycle tour operators.