Suggestions for 100ish miles route

[DrPips]

Hi all,

New to the forum, and haven't done much serious cycling.

A friend and I are looking to do something of reasonable distance over a few days at some point next year. Neither of us do much cycling, so we're thinking of something around 30 miles a day for maybe 4 or 5 days. We'll have our better halves in a support car as well. I also have a tag along bike for my 4 year old, so would like him to join us for some parts of days. Because of the tag along and preference we'd like something with little traffic, woodland trails would be fun. We both have mountain bikes, but mine has hybrid tyres.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,

Dom

[LollyKat]

Welcome to the forum!

Have a look at cycle.travel, which is a mapping site aimed at cyclists and can suggest round trips. Choose a starting point, click "round trip" and set your distance to, say 120 miles. Then click "suggest a ride" and it will come up with 3 possibilities. Click again, reset the mileage and it will show another 3, etc.

Selecting an individual route on the map will show mileages, so you can split it into daily rides however you like. If you click on a point on the route a little box comes up with links to photos and Streetview.

As the name suggests, Cycle Travel chooses quiet roads, but check the contours as sometimes the routes can be unnecessarily zig-zag or hilly.

If you give us some indication of where you live or the area you might like to explore you will get some more specific recommendations.

[Middle of the road]

Don't know where in the UK you live but Norfolk and Suffolk could be a possibility if you are looking for some traffic-free parts for children.

There's the coast, the Broads and The Marriots Way (a traffic-free disused railway that runs north-west from Norwich to just north of Reepham).

As an alternative, how about the New Forest in Hampshire? Some really lovely quiet lanes and traffic-free parts.

Just choose the time of year to be outside the peak holiday times

[thirdcrank]

+1 for Norfolk. Dumfries and Galloway is another excellent area but be wary of the A75.

[DrPips]

Hi,

Thanks fot the replies. It doesn't need to be a circular route. We'll have 2 cars with us so can be flexible. As long as it's in the U.K. We don't mind where we go. One idea I'd had was the Hadrian wall route as I'd walked that a few years ago. Unfortunately it will have to be peak holiday times as we are all teachers.

[captain offensive]

Was going to possibly suggest Hadrian's. You get the fun of doing a coast to coast but it's probably the easist one. A few short climbs around vindolanda area but nothing awful.

[robert32asp]

Since you have a back-up or support vehicle, you don't need to do a circle route.

You stated you wanted light traffic and/or wooded trails along with about 30 mile stages.

I tend to do about 40 mile legs. A recent ride I did included two segments that might interest you.

Bristol to Bath (actually Melksham) 32 miles BB rail line path and tow paths (some were a little narrow in places, especially bridges)

Bath to Avebury Stone circle 32 miles tow paths and roads.

Avebury to Oxford about 46 miles, tow path and mostly roads, maybe split into 2 days

Another segment was

Cambridge to Downham Market 41 miles (roads, trails across the Fenns)

Downham Market to Burnham Market 39 miles, mostly roads but some through park and beach resort

Burnham Market to Norwich 40 miles

[Cunobelin]

The Isle of Wight?

There is an established 100 km {urlhttp://www.cycleisland.co.uk]Randonnee route[/url] which has a varied terrain and levels of civilisation.

It also "feels" adventurous because you have to get there by ferry from Lymington, Southampton or Portsmouth. All of these are easily accessible by train

[crazydave789]

try the wales coast, quieter than cornwall or the lakes but just as pretty. plenty of beach stops for the families and campsites.

[fireflyinjuly]

I would definitely recommend the Isle of Wight circular.

But would also recommend the Tweed Cycle Way - Biggar to Berwick upon Tweed following this beautiful river.

Hadrians is also relatively easy - relatively flat for a coast to coast!

[eileithyia]

IOW, Norfolk and Suffolk were ideas that also sprang to mind.

[fireflyinjuly]

Yes, I can recommend the Norfolk and the Suffolk coastal cycle paths - part of the Suffolk path includes a crossing with bike in a rowing boat.

Another easy ride is Bideford to Padstow - you take in the Tarka trail and Camel Trail ,with some stunning Countryside in between.

[softlips]

I wasn't aware of the cycle travel site, will have a look.

Have you looked at the routes of sportives in your area? They may give you some ideas.