Planning a Bickepacking UK trip in August

[Charles]

Hello! I'm Charles, a seasoned cyclist from France.
I ride a lot on Zwift and on the road. I love adventure, cycling, riding bikes or even on a kayak!

We just finished our first bickepacking adventure together with my 6 years old son (will be seven this summer). It was the "Passa Païs" in France, 90km over four days, each on his bike and camping three nights. He's able to ride 20-40km a day without trouble, I don't plan to push him more than that.
He absolutely loved it and desperately want more.. I need to deliver on this one!

I'm planning our next trip and we're eager to do it in the UK. Could you help us plan it?

We would ride the first two weeks of August, and arrive in the UK by car with our bikes on the trailer hitch rack. Duration of the trip would be 10-12 days.

I used IA to get some proposals, and at this time what I have in mind is to go for Norfolk and Suffolk:

Departing from Ipswich, and following the coast to Norwich. Maybe take the train back to Ipswich with the bikes for the return.

Can you tell me if there are bike-only paths in this area?

Of course I would welcome suggestions, what we love is:
-Bike / non-motorised paths
-Cool camping sites with amenities and poeple to meet
-Bathing! Sea, river, lakes, surfing, kayaking..
-Chill spots and hidden gems in the country

What we like to avoid:
-Tourist crowded areas and inauthentic places
-High traffic lanes and dangerous roads

Thanks for your help

[tomsumner49]

Hi Charles,

There are a few ideas in this thread, including some ideas in Norfolk. I don't know that area well but others will.

viewtopic.php?t=159601

We did a trip in the Peak District a few years ago (mentioned in the thread) which uses old railway lines and quiet roads. But might be shorter than you are a looking for.

And the "Passa Païs" looks great - will add it to my own list of potential future trips!

Tom

[Nearholmer]

I’ve not cycled the Suffolk coast, it’s on my “to do” list, but from what I can see there isn’t a huge amount of a near-coastal route that is traffic free.

There is a good very nearly all traffic free route from Norwich, in a squiggly circle using Marriott’s Way and the Bure Valley Way, but that wouldn’t need anything like 10-12 days, so I would use part of Marriott’s Way then NCN1 to go to the north coast at Wells, which has possibly the best beach in England, from there to south of Sheringham using a route No.30, then to Aylsham using No.33 (this has a brilliant section through the deer park of Blickling Hall) , Bure Valley Way, and back to Norwich from Hoveton/Wroxham. Total about 160km, so giving time for some non-cycling things too.

Something like this:

This overlaps the very popular Rebellion Way route in places, and a good side excursion would be to follow that to the highest hill (a mere pimple) in Norfolk near Sheringham.

The North Norfolk Coast Road (A149) is very, interesting and pleasant, and it would be nice to go Wells to Sheringham right along the coast, rather than following No.30 which is a few miles inland, but along the coast road can be horribly busy. I’ve done it in summer by picking time of day - cycling at the crack of dawn while everyone else is still in bed, and I certainly wouldn’t take a 6yo along it.

Even what I’ve suggested would involve a fair bit of minor road, and North Norfolk is popular with holidaymakers in the summer, so I leave it to you to judge whether your son would be OK with it.

There is plenty of camping in Norfolk, Pitch-Up being a useful app for finding nice small ones, and the area has lots of interesting things to see, and is largely “authentic”, whereas the Suffolk Coast is a bit patchy in that respect …….. Great Yarmouth is a notoriously commercialised place, for instance.

[Charles]

Wow, thank you for these detailed informations!

From what I understand, the area will be great to visist but the challenge to keep the trip enjoyable will be to pick the quietest routes..

It seems that interconnected bike paths are still pretty rare in the UK.
Honestly considering now if we should wait a few years for this one and keep bicycle lane / trail trips only.

I will take more time tomorrow to process all this and have a deeper look.
Thanks again

PS: Yes, the Passa Païs is really nice and easy, being 100% cycling path ("Voie verte"). The route is well documented along with activities and accomodation.
It is part of the Velodyssée, with links the Pyrenean mountains to the Canal du Midi. However, the Velodyssée is a "veloroute", which means it's mostly bike-friendly but you'll sometimes ride on shared roads with the traffic.

[Nearholmer]

You are right that we lack long, interconnected routes using only bike paths.

There are options in Derbyshire and Devon, but please allow me to suggest one that is close to an entry point from France, the Dieppe to Newhaven ferry (you wouldn’t really even need the car).

This is very nearly all (not quite all) cycle paths of one sort or another with a train link (the orange part), and is a route that I think I would be confident to take my 6yo youngest nephew on. There are a few short sections on roads, and a couple of short sections through woods where it is quite bumpy, but even if you decided to walk some of those bits for safety it wouldn’t ruin the ride at all. There is only one section, c1km, through the port at Shoreham, where I would 100% definitely walk a 6yo rather than cycle, because it is narrow and is busy with heavy trucks.

Much of the scenery is very beautiful, and there is a lot to see, castles, old towns and villages, steam trains.

[mattsccm]

I may be wrong about the trains in that part of the UK but generally our railway system has a reputation for being bike unfriendly. Not everywhere not all the time but it does need thinking about.

[Nearholmer]

Outside of commuting peak times, the trains are generally very bike friendly in that area; South Western, Southern, Thameslink, and South Eastern are all “wheel it on”, no reservations, and simply lean it up and sit down.

GWR who operate Redhill to Guildford and Reading are the only fly in the ointment. They recommend (don’t compel) reservation on that route, but in practice you can usually find space without reservation except maybe at weekends when cycling in the hills along there is mega popular.

I have used trains in Surrey, Hants, Sussex and Kent a fair bit, and never once had a problem just turning up, and never once seen anyone else have a problem.

[mjr]

I’ve not cycled the Suffolk coast, it’s on my “to do” list, but from what I can see there isn’t a huge amount of a near-coastal route that is traffic free.

No, I've ridden that maybe 2022 and there's no officially-cyclable route closer to the coast than the A12 between Kessingland and Benacre, or the B1127 north of Reydon/Southwold. You might be able to pedal along the Suffolk Coast Path to bypass the first, but officially that's footpath and permissive path, but I don't see a good alternative to the B1127 without a big detour.

South of Southwold, things improve for a while, with the ferry or old bridge to Walberswick, then cutting through Dunwich Forest to the village roads, then through Minsmere to Sizewell Common and then Thorpeness and along the beach bank to Aldeburgh, but then you're stuck again with the choice between busy roads and long detours inland. After Snape, it's mostly quiet roads if you can time it to use the ferries.

There is a good very nearly all traffic free route from Norwich, in a squiggly circle using Marriott’s Way and the Bure Valley Way, but that wouldn’t need anything like 10-12 days, so I would use part of Marriott’s Way then NCN1 to go to the north coast at Wells, which has possibly the best beach in England, from there to south of Sheringham using a route No.30, then to Aylsham using No.33 (this has a brilliant section through the deer park of Blickling Hall) , Bure Valley Way, and back to Norwich from Hoveton/Wroxham. Total about 160km, so giving time for some non-cycling things too.

The problem with NCN1 from Marriott's Way to Wells is Fakenham, or rather the roads shared with some of the dopiest drivers in Norfolk either side of it. I'd continue along Marriott's Way to the junction 21 cafe (the westernmost point, after NCN1 forks off), then head north along small roads through Hindolveston and the Snorings to join the old railway pilgrimage path and then rejoin NCN1 at Wighton for Wells.

I plotted that at https://cycle.travel/map/journey/752731 and then continued it past Holkham Hall to NCN1 / Norfolk Coast Cycleway to Ringstead and then the chalk Downs Road into Hunstanton, the sea bank to Heacham, the grass sea bank to Snettisham Beach... there's a bit of a worry there because the road from Snettisham Beach to Snettisham proper sometimes gets busy, but the Heacham-Snettisham nature reserve link is not yet built and all alternatives seem worse... then wind through the royal estate of Sandringham to reach the train station at King's Lynn.

Alternatively, a full Marriott's Way loop could be extended to use the Weavers Way to North Walsham, then back roads to the coast and back to Stalham, the rest of the Weavers Way, then head south along back roads to the end of the Bure Valley Way and use one of the few bridges across the lower Bure at Wroxham, then make the best of an under-pathed job back into Norwich from the NE. https://cycle.travel/map/journey/752885

Even what I’ve suggested would involve a fair bit of minor road, and North Norfolk is popular with holidaymakers in the summer, so I leave it to you to judge whether your son would be OK with it.

Using a planner like cycle.travel that takes motor traffic volumes into its weighting is very helpful, as is using the well-mapped-but-badly-signed cycle route network. Sustrans did terrible damage delisting 42% of Norfolk's NCN routes, but the Norfolk Coast Cycle Route is independent of them, as are the Quiet Lanes between Cromer and Happisburgh.

While it might be lovely to ride parts of the coastal A149, just one encounter with the horrendous driving can suck all the fun out of a day's riding, so I basically avoid any part without cycleways (which is most of it).

[Nearholmer]

I'd continue along Marriott's Way to the junction 21 cafe (the westernmost point, after NCN1 forks off), then head north along small roads through Hindolveston and the Snorings to join the old railway pilgrimage path and then rejoin NCN1 at Wighton for Wells.

I think that must have been what I did myself, because I avoided Fakenham, and I remember some Snorings. I definitely went to Walsingham as well.

But, I’m using my 6yo nephew as mental substitute for the OP’s son, and I wouldn’t take him along those lanes; a driver could easily and very literally not see him, and he could all too easily wander into a bad position on the road.

[Charles]

Nearholmer, your suggestion is brillliant. It had not thought about other border crossings than Dover.
Mjr, you're totally right, while some people would tolerate having their kids on the road, I know mine will definitely not enjoy it as he tends to overthink and be a sponge to adult's worries. So yes, one bad encounter might be seriously hinder our bikepacking future, and I've got epic trips in mind for the next years.

Considering all the information you guys gave me, i'm starting to think that trying to make an itinerance route is not the best solution for our trip. In France, such a trip is possible on short routes, maybe a week long at best, but both our countries aren't Denmark or Holland.
Still, I really want my son to discover the UK, plus I just wrecked my bank account on a Frog 67 bike for him so we'll need to get that missile going!

Quick point about the train: When travelling with my kid, I tend to call in advance and make sure every step of the trip will be smooth. Some would argue that it can tame the adventure feeling. I'll say I don't enjoy arguing with an overzealous rail worker in august heat with a crying kid. Sometimes just calling the local train station, or council office helps a lot.

So now what I have in mind is:
Drive up to Dieppe (less than 8 hours from home), park the car there.
Take the ferry in the morning to Newhaven
Select a nice camping there and ride to it
Make it our base for a few days and take bike trips every morning to nice locations (beaches, visits, rivers or whatever)
Select another camping maybe and repeat

It may sound less epic than performing a full-route ride (I mean, how cool are the route names in your country? "I've juste cycled the Rebellion Trail" sounds awesome), but that could be a more realistic way to enjoy the UK on bikes..
It also bypasses the train issue.

What do you think?

[Nearholmer]

To me, that sounds a much more manageable plan with a 6yo.

The key will be finding the right campsite, one that is an easy bike ride from Newhaven (which probably means Seaford area, which is very nearby, linked by a good bike path) or one that you can use the train to get close to (the trains in the area are really easy to use, despite the worries expressed above), which is what I would do because it gives you more choices.

I know the area pretty well, in fact very well from a cycling perspective, and from a “things that children will enjoy” perspective, so if you need more thoughts, just say so; already have a mental list of days out that a 6yo boy might like, having done them with my own children!

Here is a very crudely drawn map of how to get about in the area by bike and train, which I hope makes sense. There are lots more paths in the national park area than I have shown, but they are almost all too steep or bumpy for a 6yo on a Frog. There are, of course, also lots of roads, but I have only shown the ones that are useful, or need great care to cross, with a child on a bike.

[Charles]

Love the hand drawn map! I plan to do some kind of treasure map for the kid.

Unfortunately due to events out of my control we won't be able to make it to the UK this summer and we'll resort to a nearer adventure..

Thanks a lot for the advices though, it won't be for nothing, fingers crossed for next summer..

Maybe we will have some occasion to talk about it then