4 day family bike ride with 8 and 10 year

[jonesric]

Morning all,

New to the forum so apologies if this has been asked. I am planning a 4 day bike ride holiday this yr for the family. The last time we did this they were 1 and 3 and on the bike seats on our backs, doing the Tarka way (great holiday). The kids will be closer to 9 and 11 by the time we go and I think they are old enough to enjoy a few days continuous bike ride.

I dont want to put them off so not going to push the distances each day (probably around 20ish miles) and be battling the winds.

I was thinking about doing part of the King Alfred way but thought I would join and ask here before going much further in the research. Off road and quiet lanes would be ideal.

Any thoughts / suggestions. We are based just north of the M25 but I am looking for some different terrain as well so would like to travel further afield.

thanks in advance

Richard

[Jdsk]

Welcome

Yes, there's lots in the archives, but we can point to that when we know more about your plans.

That sounds as if you're thinking of them on their own bikes, including on some public roads? (This is your call and decisions differ. At 8 and 10 ours were on the back of tandems.)

What are your thoughts about accommodation, and will you be carrying eg full camping gear? How much will they need to carry?

Great Britain only, or how far abroad would you travel?

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

...
I was thinking about doing part of the King Alfred way but thought I would join and ask here before going much further in the research. Off road and quiet lanes would be ideal.
...

King Alfred's Way:
viewtopic.php?t=145571

Two young fit adults in my family did this, and found some of it muddy and very hard going. So if I were planning it with children of the age of yours I'd have bail-out points planned in advance.

Jonathan

[jonesric]

The kids will be on their own bikes but not planning to camp and will probably organise for our luggage to sent on ahead. Making it as enjoyable as possible.

Good info on King Alfred Way. Maybe not the right one for us

[Jdsk]

On our morning walk we played our experiences with and without children against your ideas, and came up with:

1 Cantii Way, mostly off-road. Short distances between accommodation. Seaside fun and games.
viewtopic.php?t=150227

2 Brittany. It's a few years since were there. Stayed in one place, and did day trips from there. Quiet roads. Fun with little boat crossings.

3 Rebellion Way, but we haven't ridden it ourselves:
viewtopic.php?t=152128

4 Norwich/ Orford Ness/ Sutton Hoo.

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

With children that age, I reckon Norfolk would work well, not necessarily slavishly following The Rebellion Way, but riffing around the sections that include Marriott’s Way and Bure Valley Way. I’d try to include Blickling Hall, which has absolutely lovely, very mild off-road cycling, easily reached with only a tiny bit of road, and depending how confident/competent they are on country lanes, over Kelling Heath and down to Wells to visit Holkham Beach - arriving at one of the best ‘seasides’ in England would be a good reward.

[tomsumner49]

A few years ago we did a loop in the Peak District using the Tissington and High Peak trials with 4 kids (ages from 7 to 13 on their own bikes). It is largely traffic free. We did it over 4 days with 3 nights camping to make a bit of an adventure of it. The approximate route is here:
https://cycle.travel/map/journey/347991

If outside the UK is an option we did a mini 4 day tour as part of a summer holiday to the Netherlands last year with an 11 year old on his own bike and a 4 year old in a weehoo trailer. The route was Hoorn - Edam - Heemskerk - Schoorl - Hoorn so fairly short distances. The kids loved staying in a castle at the hostel in Heemskerk (https://www.stayokay.com/en/hostel/heemskerk) and cycling through the dunes.

And we're thinking about doing the Somme Valley Route this summer - https://en.francevelotourisme.com/cycle ... ycle-route.

Also very keen to hear other people's suggestions!

[roubaixtuesday]

What accommodation is critical I think, It sounds like you want to do a "moving on" tour rather than stay in one place and do day trips?

I think the Peak District trails could work really well as suggested above.

Further afield with kids of similar age we did the Meuse valley north from Charleville - Meziers which was great.

Never attempted cycle-camping with kids. Just too much stuff! But people do.

In my experience kids don't really get tired as long as it's interesting. Boredom is the killer, and ice cream the cure. Enjoy!

[jonesric]

Great suggestions all and thanks so much for offering your thoughts and advice.

We are definitely going to be moving from place to place for this holiday rather than have a base.

We love our camping hols and we love cycling but for now we will keep the two hols separate. Will give the kids a bit of luxury after a days bike ride. Lucky for me their idea of luxury is a YHA with bunk beds.

I've got lots to go on there so will do some digging and let you know which way we go.

Thanks for helping focus the search!

[JohnI]

We did a similar trip with our (then) 12 year old a few years back and had some good advice from people on here, including a route to Norfolk.
viewtopic.php?p=1313093#p1313093

[bretonbikes]

On our morning walk we played our experiences with and without children against your ideas, and came up with:

1 Cantii Way, mostly off-road. Short distances between accommodation. Seaside fun and games.
viewtopic.php?t=150227

2 Brittany. It's a few years since were there. Stayed in one place, and did day trips from there. Quiet roads. Fun with little boat crossings.

3 Rebellion Way, but we haven't ridden it ourselves:
viewtopic.php?t=152128

4 Norwich/ Orford Ness/ Sutton Hoo.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan. PM me if you want some ideas for Brittany. Anything based around the Nantes brest canal might be ideal - good surfaces and interesting, safe, relatively flat cycling. https://www.bretonbikes.com/brittany/nantes-brest-canal

[Jdsk]

On our morning walk we played our experiences with and without children against your ideas, and came up with:

1 Cantii Way, mostly off-road. Short distances between accommodation. Seaside fun and games.
viewtopic.php?t=150227

2 Brittany. It's a few years since were there. Stayed in one place, and did day trips from there. Quiet roads. Fun with little boat crossings.

3 Rebellion Way, but we haven't ridden it ourselves:
viewtopic.php?t=152128

4 Norwich/ Orford Ness/ Sutton Hoo.

Hi Jonathan. PM me if you want some ideas for Brittany. Anything based around the Nantes brest canal might be ideal - good surfaces and interesting, safe, relatively flat cycling. https://www.bretonbikes.com/brittany/nantes-brest-canal

Thanks.

Looks great, but it not me who's asking... : - )

Jonathan

[bretonbikes]

On our morning walk we played our experiences with and without children against your ideas, and came up with:

1 Cantii Way, mostly off-road. Short distances between accommodation. Seaside fun and games.
viewtopic.php?t=150227

2 Brittany. It's a few years since were there. Stayed in one place, and did day trips from there. Quiet roads. Fun with little boat crossings.

3 Rebellion Way, but we haven't ridden it ourselves:
viewtopic.php?t=152128

4 Norwich/ Orford Ness/ Sutton Hoo.

Hi Jonathan. PM me if you want some ideas for Brittany. Anything based around the Nantes brest canal might be ideal - good surfaces and interesting, safe, relatively flat cycling. https://www.bretonbikes.com/brittany/nantes-brest-canal

Thanks.

Looks great, but it not me who's asking... : - )

Jonathan

It's OK - it's been a long day and my mind has obviously fused...

[Jdsk]

: - )

Jonathan

[Pinhead]

On a personal note I would never take my young sons on a public road that has no cycleways

Single dada if three