Jon Lucas wrote: ↑19 Jul 2022, 8:30am
Yes, if the OP wished to do this but to avoid Bath itself, they could approach Bath from the Kennet & Avon canal towpath (and reach that from quiet lanes through the countryside south of Bath - hilly but the Two Tunnels route can be picked up in Wellow and a signed route from this takes you to the canal from just past Midford). At Bathampton, 2 miles east of Bath, turn off to the north along the lane, and just after crossing the Batheaston by-pass there is a newish cyclepath off to the east that takes you over the river Avon and meets the road that is the start of the Fosse Way in Batheaston. Rural all the way!
I've re-read this 3 times, and still can't put it in correct order! Shame - sounds nice
[I know Bath area quite well from a bike, but there a lot of roads, cycle-paths and canal-paths in a small area!]
Sorry, in order:
From Wellow (village south of Bath) cycle along the Two Tunnels path towards Bath. It reaches Midford in about 2 miles, and just afterwards there is a signed cycle route along the lanes that lead to the Kennet and Avon canal path. Turn left along the towpath to Bathampton. Here, come off the towpath by following the lane that crosses it northwards, and after about 200 yards, just after it crosses the Batheaston by-pass, turn off to the right onto a new cyclepath that runs down to and alongside the river Avon and then crosses it. You arrive at the main road directly opposite the Fosse Way in Batheaston.
PH wrote: ↑18 Jul 2022, 10:20am
Yes, possibly a lot easier to do if you go East of the Pennines. The only really urban riding we did was through Edinburgh and only that because my companion wanted to spend an evening there. You could use this East Coast route as a basis, though ours headed East earlier and missed Bristol, then later came inland to miss Newcastle. https://cycle.travel/route/lejog_east_coast
Lots of people assume going East adds a lot of miles, ours was 1,100 which is maybe 100 longer than the popular touring routes, though as well as missing a lot of urban riding, it also missed a good bit of climbing, though we didn't purposely plan to avoid it.
That looks a good route and Edinburgh is always worth a visit.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Jon Lucas wrote: ↑19 Jul 2022, 9:19amYes, if the OP wished to do this but to avoid Bath itself,
...
Sorry, in order:
From Wellow (village south of Bath) cycle along the Two Tunnels path towards Bath. It reaches Midford in about 2 miles, and just afterwards there is a signed cycle route along the lanes that lead to the Kennet and Avon canal path. Turn left along the towpath to Bathampton. Here, come off the towpath by following the lane that crosses it northwards, and after about 200 yards, just after it crosses the Batheaston by-pass, turn off to the right onto a new cyclepath that runs down to and alongside the river Avon and then crosses it. You arrive at the main road directly opposite the Fosse Way in Batheaston.
Hopefully better.
VERY good, thanks. (always hard to follow non-road routes on a map, but I've managed it)
I'll add that to my mental library of options in the area
I used the strawberry line sustans route to avoid Bristol on my slow LEJOG. That day was Cheddar to Chepstow.
We stayed in Preston with a relative......it was actually a very nice cycle in using sustrans routes along the canal tram road and bits n pieces and out along the sustrans route along the Ribble and north through nature reserves and throwing us out in countryside on the way to the Bowland fells. Yes there was a bit of town on the way through the Greater Manchester/Lancs passage.....but not that much
Um..
...having done lejog and cycled through Bristol and Glasgow, I didn't find any issue. I used a sustrans route, which on Bristol picked its way through a area of imported car parking, over the Avonmouth bridge, through a residential area, along a park then out towards a green space, and then an industrial area. Not too picturesque but it lent variety to the journey and was over in about 3 or 4 hours..
..I think Glasgow took 6 hours mostly following a sustrans path which bordered rivers. I found Glasgow very pleasant to cycle through.
Sustrans has a LEJOG route available. It does go through Manchester, and probably some other big places. You can either work out your own bypass or rely on the local knowledge put into those routes.
Currently considering a similar ride for September 2023, there is a company that organised an off-road JoGLE and shared the routes, I’ll dig it out and post here as there are bound to be elements that are usable for normal bikes.
