Best Sustrans (NCR) routes??

[anothereye]

Does anyone know of a really good NCR route that could be held up as an example to the rest of the country?

Gerry

[mw3230]

The C2C - one of the original I think and arguably one of the most popular

[anothereye]

Where does the C2C link?

[mw3230]

[quote="anothereye"]Where does the C2C link?[/quote

This should give you all the info -

http://www.c2c-guide.co.uk/

[byegad]

I don't know about good practice but NCN Route 1 just North of Beal in Northumberland is an example of what not to do! Boggy, with thicker mud at the gates it is no more a Cycle Route than my bedroom is a motorway!

A cycle route that requires riders to dismount (Never mind lift bikes over fences.) is not a cycle route.

[anothereye]

A cycle route that requires riders to dismount (Never mind lift bikes over fences.) is not a cycle route.

I agree.

[byegad]

A cycle route that requires riders to dismount (Never mind lift bikes over fences.) is not a cycle route.

I agree.

It's a pity that Sustrans don't.

[Cunobelin]

A cycle route that requires riders to dismount (Never mind lift bikes over fences.) is not a cycle route.

I agree.

It's a pity that Sustrans don't.

Once again - it isn't Sustrans!

Local Council's design and maintain the routes - Sustrans merely offers advice and enables the funding and suggestions.

If the Council fails to observe these - there is nothing Sustrans can do.

[anothereye]

So Sustrans are ultra-pragmatic? Funding projects that they would not propose?

[byegad]

Yes it is!

Someone, probably a Sustrans Ranger or his coordinator, looked at the boggy field and routed NCN Route 1 across it. The landowner may well own it but Sustrans signed it as a route and include it on their maps. There are perfectly good on road alternatives, maybe a mile or two further, but faster in time from where the official route diverged from the sensible route to where they converge in Beal. With the added bonus of avoiding the need for a thorough cleaning of the drive train after using it.
Sustrans fails over and over again to make their routes practical. Which is why I resigned as a Ranger after meeting both good and bad local coordinators and riding, or not being able to ride their routes.

I know the problems Sustrans face, I was facing them for many years, but the 'solutions' vary from excellent to appalling and as a user you cannot predict when you'll meet an impassible obstacle be it a bog or man made and designed to deny access to motorcycles which also blocks wheel chair users, tandems any bike with panniers and yes recumbent trikes. The route from Tan Hill down to Northallerton is as good as it can be given it has to cross the A1 and a river. NCN1 North of Wingate in County Durham is an obstacle course as the local Rangers are determined to stop motorcycles accessing the route, in failing to do this, because the local youths merely breakdown a fence to gain access they have also stopped me riding the route as I can't get over the ditch that the motorcyclists can easily deal with.

[anothereye]

The route from Tan Hill down to Northallerton is as good as it can be given it has to cross the A1 and a river.

Is this the route (Google walking):?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&sourc ... 5&t=h&z=16
What makes it a good route? Good planning or an accident of geography? Is it an NCR route? If so; what number (NCR?).

[sirmy]

Once again - it isn't Sustrans!

Local Council's design and maintain the routes - Sustrans merely offers advice and enables the funding and suggestions.

If the Council fails to observe these - there is nothing Sustrans can do.

Not quite true but true enough, Sustans are often the instigators of routes, occasionally buy land crossed by these routes, and then expect others to maintain them. In the area where I live i've heard that Sustrans have had a falling out with one local authority over the cost of cleansing on the sections of part of the NCN they (Sustrans) own and are now relying on their rangers to do all litter and vegetation maintenance. I can only see a decline in the quality of these routes unless they get this sorted. I also know some one who works for a civil engineering firm who needed access to part of the NCN, in another part of the country to do some work, and Sustrans asked for more than £10K for the privilege! They are in danger of becoming a bit of joke in the wider world

[anothereye]

In the area where I live i've heard that Sustrans have had a falling out with one local authority over the cost of cleansing on the sections of part of the NCN they (Sustrans) own and are now relying on their rangers to do all litter and vegetation maintenance....

Imagine if the AA and RAC had to hold jumble sales to fund motorway maintenance!

[vorsprung]

Once again - it isn't Sustrans!

Local Council's design and maintain the routes - Sustrans merely offers advice and enables the funding and suggestions.

If the Council fails to observe these - there is nothing Sustrans can do.

They could delist the route

or move its path to avoid the problems

or have a special classification for some of their routes as "unsuitable for road bikes"

Sustrans are always ready to take the credit for 12,000 miles of cycle path. When there is a problem however, it is someone elses fault

[byegad]

Good idea, certainly the stretch North of Beal was never a cycle track, just two boggy fields across the edges of a salt marsh. Whoever thought that anything resembling a touring bike with luggage would be able to use it was sadly mistaken.