Newcastle to London in 26 hours

[chanellew]

Hi,

I will be cycling from Newcastle to London on Saturday 6th - Sunday 7th October, to raise money for charity. I have made a provisional route but would greatly appreciate feedback from people local to the route, as I have never cycled north of London before! Please let me know if you think that a road I have chosen is unsuitable for cyclists due to traffic/hill/width etc.

Here is our route;

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=21 ... e61b&msa=0


It is just myself and my boyfriend completing this 300+ mile journey and we would love some company along the way, so if the route does come near you please get in contact with us to find out what time we are due to pass your home turf!!

You can find out more about our cycle and why we are doing it at

http://www.newcastle-to-london-cycle.com/

We are very much beginners, so any advice about training/food/navigation/kit you may have that will help us would be fab too!!

Many thanks,

Chanelle

[Mark1978]

What time are you setting out? As you come right past Chester-le-Street where I live

Your route from Newcastle to York seems sensible. Be wary of the single carriageway sections of the A19, drivers treat that road as if it were dual carriageway, speeds are very high.

Also avoid the A66 around Darlo, head south through Middleton St. George instead.

[hexhome]

I am familiar with much of your route. Given your need to balance speed and directness, I think that the A19 will be fine, it is wide and pretty straight for much of the section you will be using. One section you might like to detour is the short section of A17 east of Newark. It is a horrible bit of over congested trunk road carrying heavy traffic into East Anglia. I would suggest carrying straight on at Stragglethorpe crossroads onto Stragglethorpe Lane and then second left onto Gorse Hill Lane, joining the A607 at Caythorpe. It's a climb up to the A607 whichever way you go but Gorse Hill Lane is a bit gentler and less twisty.

[Dean]

You could do worse than looking here for route ideas:

http://www.londonedinburghlondon.com/route

Your route does seem a bit strange. You're going along some pretty busy roads, which is fine for navigation, simplicity and speed, but then the route dodges off it onto the lanes, especially around York. In your situation, unless you know the area around York, I'd probably plough straight down the A19 and A63 to Howden rather than hitting the lanes. It's not that much fun, but if there are only a couple of you going pretty quickly, you'll be alright.

However, I agree that the time you'll be there is critical. The A19 south of Thirsk* is fine at 6 on a Sunday morning, 'orrible at 5 on the afternoon.

Also, do you have a preference for a-roads where you just get somewhere, or minor roads where you're away from the traffic?

An alternative from Northallerton to York is this, which is very simple to follow, and much much more pleasant than the A168-A19 (basically, the A167 to Topcliffe and Arsenby**, then over the A168 and it's one road down through Helperby Brafferton and Tollerton back to the A19):

Northallerton to York.

According to Mr Google it's about two miles longer than the A168-A19. If it's Saturday afternoon when you're there, the A168 can be a bit of a racetrack, and it's quite narrow, but the choice is yours.

I'd agree about dodging the A66 around Darlo (that's Darlington to you). The A66 bypass is pretty unpleasant. If you do want to go through Darlo, this is the route I'd suggest, through the town centre but pretty simple and both shorter and more pleasant than the bypass on your route. Try not to get too confused on the throughabout:

Sedgefield to Croft-on-Tees

...or, as Mark suggested, go through Middleton St George (your route takes you there anywhere). There's a very small, but delightful, lane through Dinsdale and Girsby which is a little shorter than the dogleg through Darlo:

Sedgefield to Great Smeaton.

It is a minor road, though, and navigating it might lose you more time than you'd want.

If you wanted just to make time on the northern stretch, my usual route from Newcastle to Darlo is along the A167. Not as bad as you might expect, and gets the job done. If you're setting off early in the morning or in the evening, you could do worse than ploughing down the A167, and keep on A-roads all the way to Howden.

I don;t think I'll be around that weekend, but I'll keep an eye out if I am - have fun!

*I wouldn't even think about it north of Thirsk.

**actually Asenby, but it was officially re-christened Arsenby when Ian Botham moved there.

[chanellew]

The route is a strange mix of busy roads and country lanes, purely because I was trying to find the most direct, shortest mileage route. I was trying to make our target time of 26 hours as easy as possible!! I will have a look at your suggestions over the weekend and look to amend the route.

We plan to head off very early; around 5-6am so appreciate if you don't want to get up that early to join us in Chester-le-street!

Please do keep your suggestions and advice coming in, I'm planning on finalising the route in the next few weeks.

Thanks,

[Mark1978]

I'd agree with the A167 suggestion - some parts can be busy but it's farily wide as it's the old A1 and as such is a much more direct route, which will take you all the way down to Thirsk, also do you really need to go to York? It's a bit of a detour, you can pick up some nice roads south of Thirsk that can get you to the Leeds area pretty quickly. Although I realise a route further east might be less built up.

[thirdcrank]

On the motorway section of the A1 (M) south of Thirsk, there is now alternative provision - largely on the old A1 all the way to the section which starts just beyond the M62 (around Darrington.) I'm not suggesting it's all ideal, but it is generally a lot better than the "general purpose" A1 and has the benefit of being direct. They are on with motorwayising the remaining bit of A1 between there and the Doncaster Bypass but I don't know how far on they are with that. There are reasonable roads on either side of the A1 there, perhaps the most direct route would be to the east of the A1, joining upwith the A 638 to Doncaster which is the old A1.

[Mark1978]

Yes, from Thirsk you can follow the line of the old A1, which starts off as the A168, although you might have to use some back roads to avoid the (almost) motorway standard part of the A168. This will take you through Wetherby from there the road is unclassified but still continues (usually referred to as 'The LAR', or local access road).

At Bramham Crossroads cross over the motorway and you're back onto the very old A1 through Aberford. But then you do have the issue of the Ferrybridge bypass to cross the river - http://goo.gl/maps/3ieYN which is unchanged since the A1 came through here as dual carriageway, but there is a nice wide hard strip and the road is pretty quiet.

From there on I don't know the area , but if you do go A167-A168 that'll get you down to the Leeds sort of area pretty quickly.

[Dean]

They've upgraded the A1 from Leeming Bar south so you can follow service roads all the way down to Wetherby without having to go as far east as Thirsk.

[Mark1978]

They've upgraded the A1 from Leeming Bar south so you can follow service roads all the way down to Wetherby without having to go as far east as Thirsk.

Yeah, but it's getting to it. The A167 will take you into Thirsk.

[Dean]

No, the A167 takes you to Topcliffe. To get to Thirsk you need to go east down the A168. By the way, I wouldn't even consider the A168 between the A1 and the A19 - all the wagons and holidayers from the A1 hop across that way to the A19 for Teesside, and it's more of a motorway than owt else.

I'd agree that Leeming's a bit harder to get to (I thought of posting a route, but then thought better of it).

Thinking about it, the old A1 goes from damn near Topcliffe - you could follow the A167 to Topcliffe, nip down the lanes through Cundall, and pick up the A168 in Boroughbridge, or a bit earlier. Where the A168 runs parallel to the A1, it is the old A1, and it's nigh empty.

[mg2012]

If you get sick of undulating hills at the end you could go round the eastern side of Peterborough through the Fens. Won't add much to your mileage and probably save you some time (unless it's really windy)...
On Google Maps, the green A roads can get busy during rush hour, the orange A roads are usually fine unless they have 4 digits then they can get bumpy.

Assuming you get there at night, how about Lincoln - Sleaford - Bourne - Whittlesey - Ramsey - St Ives. Should be easy to follow in the dark, not very busy at night so the A15 should be ok (I'm not from that area though so don't know, plenty of parallel B roads in any case) and usually not very windy.

[JT]

Stay away from the Fens. Flat yes, but incredibly boring, there's always a headwind, and the drivers are terrible (especially at night).

Your route around Peterborough is just about spot-on and will be very enjoyable.

[barneybear69]

I've created a route Gateshead - Thirsk which I've cycled. Large stretches of A167 have a decent cycle path alongside .
http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=454886
Regards
Nigel
PS I live in Gateshead
PPS GOOD LUCK

[nirakaro]

Hold on, you say that you’re beginners? And you’re planning to ride three hundred miles, virtually non-stop? That sounds like a ride that would make Bradley Wiggins think twice.
Perhaps there’s something you’re not telling us, like you’re beginners at long distance cycling, but run ultra-marathons, or do Iron Man triathlon? If not, I wish you well, but wonder if maybe you’re being a little over-ambitious?