Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
mnevans
Posts: 2
Joined: 20 Jun 2022, 3:54pm

Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by mnevans »

Hello Cycling UK Forum! I am a 52-year old American coming to spend a year in the UK, arriving July or August 2022, depending on the visa situation. I will be based in Edinburgh with some planned time in Bristol either in July or later (depending on visa...). I will have my trusty 2010 King of Mercia (8 speed alfine gearhub transmission, fenders, lights, racks/panniers). With some 35 years of touring experience, but never yet in the UK. I'd expect to be able to make about 50-75 miles a day unless very windy, wet, cold or dark. Not sure I am ready for or capable of LEJOG. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for:

(a) safe, scenic route
(b) ...but do not miss ___ ! (could include: food suggestions)
(c) direction: EDI-BRS vs BRS-EDI?
(d) nightly lodgings - how to best find?
(e) possibility of sending the rest of our stuff, packed in check-in bags, ahead by rail or freight.

I am also hoping to possibly connect with local cycle clubs for day rides in Edinburgh and in Bristol, so if anyone knows where to start to find contacts for that - much appreciated.

Thanks in advance -
Mike (Takoma Park, MD USA)
Jodel
Posts: 60
Joined: 27 Oct 2020, 8:19pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by Jodel »

Hi Mike,

I can't help with most of your queries, but if you want to join in with rides in Edinburgh there is a very active CTC group who organise several rides every week. Most are anywhere between 30 - 100 miles.

https://groups.io/g/CTCEdinburghLandB
Jdsk
Posts: 24634
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by Jdsk »

Welcome.
mnevans wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 4:10pm (d) nightly lodgings - how to best find?
In the absence of specific recommendations I'd start with Booking.com and Airbnb. In towns and cities the chain hotels such as Premier Inn and Travelodge are often very convenient and bike-friendly: there's lots on this in the archives.
mnevans wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 4:10pm (e) possibility of sending the rest of our stuff, packed in check-in bags, ahead by rail or freight.
This is luggage, not bikes? Sent to future accommodation? Courier services work well, but I haven't used unaccompanied luggage by rail for more than 50y!

Jonathan
pal
Posts: 612
Joined: 22 Mar 2008, 11:49am

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by pal »

mnevans wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 4:10pm (a) safe, scenic route
It depends a bit on what your attitude is to hills -- but a less strenuous, but still relatively scenic route could be the Bristol-Edinburgh stretch of this: https://cycle.travel/route/lejog_east_coast (Which avoids Wales -- lovely but steep -- and the Pennines: ditto.)
mnevans wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 4:10pm (b) ...but do not miss ___ ! (could include: food suggestions)
Again: depends a bit on what you're after -- scenery? history? culture? In any case, the east coast from Newcastle up to the Scottish border is a highlight, imo: beaches, castles, islands, kippers...
mnevans wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 4:10pm (c) direction: EDI-BRS vs BRS-EDI?
BRS-EDI should mean you're cycling with the wind behind you most of the time, unless you're very unlucky.
roubaixtuesday
Posts: 5814
Joined: 18 Aug 2015, 7:05pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by roubaixtuesday »

mnevans wrote: 20 Jun 2022, 4:10pm Hello Cycling UK Forum! I am a 52-year old American coming to spend a year in the UK, arriving July or August 2022, depending on the visa situation. I will be based in Edinburgh with some planned time in Bristol either in July or later (depending on visa...). I will have my trusty 2010 King of Mercia (8 speed alfine gearhub transmission, fenders, lights, racks/panniers). With some 35 years of touring experience, but never yet in the UK. I'd expect to be able to make about 50-75 miles a day unless very windy, wet, cold or dark. Not sure I am ready for or capable of LEJOG. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for:

(a) safe, scenic route
(b) ...but do not miss ___ ! (could include: food suggestions)
(c) direction: EDI-BRS vs BRS-EDI?
(d) nightly lodgings - how to best find?
(e) possibility of sending the rest of our stuff, packed in check-in bags, ahead by rail or freight.

I am also hoping to possibly connect with local cycle clubs for day rides in Edinburgh and in Bristol, so if anyone knows where to start to find contacts for that - much appreciated.

Thanks in advance -
Mike (Takoma Park, MD USA)
I think you may get some diverse responses!

Thoughts and suggestions. All just personal opinion.

1) The best bits of the UK for cycling are also the hilliest.
2) UK hills tend to be short and brutal rather than long and easy compared to most countries. Hard work with panniers, don't overdo the distances.
3) Your appetite for hills, your gearing and the time you have ( which you don't specify) will probably dictate your route.
4) You would be advised need to book accommodation in advance at that time of year. Pubs are my preferred option.

If it were me ( but I love hills) I would definitely go across the Seven Bridge and through Wales and/or the Welsh border counties (Herefordshire, Shropshire). Little traffic, beautiful countryside. Thence west of Manchester, then through the Yorkshire Dales, then Northumberland to Edinburgh. I would recommend against the Lake District - *very* tough climbs and will be mobbed at that time of year.

Which way round to do it? Whatever works best for your logistics.

If steep hills are a problem, then better to head NE from Bristol, through the Midlands then York and through the NE.

"What's your lowest gear" might be your key question. I don't know the range of your setup, but an eight gear hub sounds like you won't have really low bottom gear?

The best mapping IMO is the ordnance survey. You can get coverage of the whole country for a £25 ish subscription and it does a reasonable job funding on road cycle routes too. Cycle.travel is a good route finding app.

Enjoy!
Jamesh
Posts: 2963
Joined: 2 Jan 2017, 5:56pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by Jamesh »

Go south to north as that's the way the prevailing wind blows....

But you may get a northeasterly!🤣🤣

Pubs are good for food accommodation, travel Inn good too nearest to motels in USA.
simonhill
Posts: 5226
Joined: 13 Jan 2007, 11:28am
Location: Essex

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by simonhill »

These many questions in one can get a bit convoluted. Often best to ask a series of targeted ones.

Accommodation: expect to pay quite a lot in peak summer. As said booking,com is very useful, along with all the other hotel search sites, eg Agoda. Travelodge and Premier Inn are good and can be cheap if booked well in advance but can go well over £100 if high demand. B&Bs in the UK are often quite expensive and can be a bit bijoux.

There are plenty of tourist offices in towns and counties that usually have accommodation lists. A search on "hotels" on Google maps is useful. I just used this for a recent tour.

Cheaper hotels are often in the less salubrious areas that you probably won't want to tour in.

As a starter, pull up the Travelodge website and have a browse. I got one in central Portsmouth for £44 a couple of days ago. Next day they were £66.

Sending stuff: lots of courier/delivery companies in the UK. Just Google it. They can collect and deliver, or you drop off. The Post Office is reasonably priced and convenient.

I can't help on the route but would say (as ever) choose a route that goes to places you want to go to - historical, cultural, scenic , etc.

Prevailing wind: we've had far more easterlies and north easterlies so far this year, but I wouldn't bank on it.
nirakaro
Posts: 1578
Joined: 22 Dec 2007, 2:01am

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by nirakaro »

roubaixtuesday wrote: 21 Jun 2022, 10:46pm UK hills tend to be short and brutal rather than long and easy compared to most countries.
Be aware also, that if you choose a hilly route, the amount you climb can be out of all proportion to how high you go. Last time I rode across the Pennines, the highest point was well below 400m, but I climbed over 1000m all told, mostly constant upping and downing of small climbs.
wirral_cyclist
Posts: 1024
Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by wirral_cyclist »

I'd sort 'the rest of the stuff' separately, send that somewhere, for however long on a completely unrelated timeline. It will be far easier to get a taxi (cab) to move tour luggage than it would be to move 'everthing you own'. Go via a route that goes through interesting places, so probably east of the River Severn? Where you stay might be related to where you can stay rather than where you want to stay (Scotland or west of Severn mostly) but booking on Booking.com can often be had with generous cancellation allowance (unfair to property owner perhaps but a risk they signed up to?). By the time you get to proper lumpy bits you should be 'match fit' (not west of Severn - I was wheelying up 25% somewhere mid Wales). I'd do something of a 'classic' LEJoG east of R Severn initially:- Bristol, Gloucester, Worcester, Ironbridge, Chester, Liverpool for 'must see' then Shap and Gretna. From there pick up Scots C2C to Moffat, Innerleithen and Edinburgh, several routes into Edinburgh once in/near Gorebridge on Scots C2C.
Norman H
Posts: 1331
Joined: 31 Jul 2011, 4:39pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by Norman H »

Nobody so far has mentioned hostel accommodation.

https://www.yha.org.uk/

Some YHA hostels are more than a good days ride apart these days but the gaps are often filled by independents. Some also offer camping and/or camping pods with full use of the self catering facilities. Intermediate in price between Camping and B&B and more savings can be made by self catering your evening meal. They also offer the opportunity to meet and socialise with interesting folk.

As others have said Jul/Aug are busy months so booking will be essential, probably the more so for city centre locations.
User avatar
Traction_man
Posts: 326
Joined: 10 Jan 2020, 5:30pm
Location: Bangor NI

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by Traction_man »

by coincidence my yha membership card arrived today and with it a map of the hostel network, I was pleasantly surprised to see how the distances between hostels especially through the Midlands are reasonably consistent which is better for cycle touring.

the frustrating thing though is the yha website does not enable booking multiple hostels for different dates, it's a matter of booking each one individually which is a nuisance as some seem to be fully booked for months ahead...

a combination of hostels and Premier Inns might be the way to go, besides their pricing is not that different these days.
IMG_20220625_102153000.jpg
mattsccm
Posts: 5101
Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by mattsccm »

You are not far of several of the LEJOG routes. Masses of stuff here on that.
mnevans
Posts: 2
Joined: 20 Jun 2022, 3:54pm

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by mnevans »

Thank you all for so many good suggestions! You are super kind!

In the meantime the visa situation is such that I've got to return to the US after being based in Bristol, then fly again to Edinburgh. So much for the Bristol-Edinburgh point-to-point plan in late July/early August

But that means I might be able to make some weekend trips from Bristol and perhaps from Swansea while visiting colleagues in July. Wales does sound lovely and I am not too proud to push the 8-speed up grades steeper than 10% (!)

Freight: Then I might send the bike along to Edinburgh while we are back in the States. I will look via post office and ask about courier/delivery services. My landlords in Edinburgh might be able to receive the bike in early August before they leave.

Short 'get used to the hills' trips: Once we get to Edinburgh in August I can try some of the suggestions, as day or long weekend trips (the scenic and kipper-filled ride to Newcastle is very appealing).

Accommodation: I've had great luck other places with youth hostels but also appreciate the suggestion to try booking.com and use the internet.

Routes: The suggestion to look at cycle.travel and the 'flat' LEJOG route was great - I made some investigations:

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/335278
https://cycle.travel/map/journey/335279
https://cycle.travel/map/journey/335281

and maybe next June/July I can do...

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/331717

Thanks again to everyone who replied!
Mike
wirral_cyclist
Posts: 1024
Joined: 17 May 2010, 9:25pm
Location: Wirral Merseyside

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by wirral_cyclist »

mnevans wrote: 1 Jul 2022, 12:39am
https://cycle.travel/map/journey/335281

Thanks again to everyone who replied!
Mike
I wouldn't do that route, though being C.T it will be fine.

Instead for more scenery and interest I would reverse the Coast & Castles route in Scotland to as far as Coldstream, or maybe Norham (C.T suggest that's better), then cut across towards Beal (fairly decent pub/hotel at West Mains) and then you could visit Holy Island for Lindisfarne Castle, well if the tide is right!. Then I'd still follow the C&C as far as Warkworth/Amble to bag the other castles, cutting across into Newcastle from Amble could save a few miles and hills.
You'd probably need 2 nights out, more hills on my route but the 20-30 mark on yours/mine still has that ridge that might need walking.

My suggested 3 day route
1st night after 55m (2800' 1 hard bit) at Burts Hotel in Melrose (fabulous people, a place we go often)
2nd night after 73m (2800' but easier) at Seahouses lots of accomodation, hotels/B&B/Pubs (boat trip to Farne Islands for bird watching)
3 day is part C&C and C.T generated route from Warkworth, 65m (2000)

I've done C&C both ways, not sure it's any harder going South than usual way North.

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/335480
Ayseven
Posts: 116
Joined: 31 Jul 2021, 4:15am

Re: Bristol to Edinburgh - route suggestions

Post by Ayseven »

I would book directly with whomever you want to stay with. In the unfortunate case of cancellation, you will probably be reimbursed. Not so easy otherwise. AND you can get better service. This has been my personal experience.
Post Reply