anyone from coventry or nuneaton?

[Black Sheep]

hello,

just wondering if anyone is from coventry or nuneaton as I'm wanting a better way of getting between the two without using the A444 (if you know it you'll know why!)

is it worth joining the canal and using the tow-path at all?

the main aim is to get to ashbourne

 

[Ranger]

the towpath is OK ish, but get rough a points between Bedworth and Numneaton (or used to)

For a road route it depends on exactly where in Nuneaton you want to get to, but roughly:

From Cov take the B4113 to and through Bedworth until you get to the Griff roundabout

Then take the small road down to the industrial estate (where TNT is based) where the road bears round to the left you will see a park on the right.

Go through the park and cross the railway bridge on your right (you are basically behind the Travelodge) this then takes you to Coventry Road which you can follow down to the A444/B4113 roundabout and avoids the worst of the traffic on both roads.

If you want to get into the town centre and avoid roads almost completely you can push your bike across the two roads and into Riversley Park and hey presto you are in the town centre

There are various other routes, that are completely traffic free but I would have to figure out how to do a map

I will add that Nuneaton has a really good network of open space most of which is cyclable to some extent, I used to travel from the A5 to south of Bedworth only using short sections of road quite regularly. Mind you I was responsible for most of the open space and so knew it quite well.

Try contacting the countryside team at Nuneaton Council and see if you can get a look at their "Green Map" just say Giles sent you

Oh, just read you are going to Ashbourne, ask the Council for the Weddington Walk brochure, this is a typical Sustrans route but will get you to the A5 (and importantly under it) and back onto the road routes north

 

[Black Sheep]

thanks

i've driven it regularly to ashbourne, but usually go onto the A5 and then through tamworth, over bassets pole roundabout somewhere in the midst

as you can see, i'm a bit sketchy on the details as its my future in-laws i'm heading to and millie normally drives.

its the part between nuneaton (through weddington) and Ashbourne that i'm not sure about yet for direction. I don't have a problem with single lane A roads or even dual carrageways, although i'm never doing the A45 to rugby again! I just want to avoid the main manic roads.

 

[ColinJ]

I rode from Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire to my mum's house in NW Coventry in 2007 and have a route plotted which avoids busy roads as much as possible. I went close to Ashbourne without actually going into it.

Have you got a GPS system for your bike? Without GPS, you'd probably find it difficult to navigate because of all the quiet little lanes I used. I have a GPX file which would help you. Tell you what, I'll stick it on Bikely later.

Here's a list of the places I went through/by which you can see on the OS Landranger maps:

Keresley, Corley, Fillongley, Wood End (not THAT Wood End!!!), Gun Hill, Old Arley, Church End, Charity Farm, Broomfield Farm, Bentley Common, Baddesley Endsor, Grendon, Polesworth, under M42 to Shuttington, Seckington, Thorpe Constantine, Clifton Campville, Lullington, Coton-in-the-Elms, Walton-on-Trent (annoying singletrack bridge there - avoid at busy times!), Barton-under-Needwood, Tatenhill, Rough Hay, Anslow, Rolleston-on-Dove, Marston-on-Dove, Hatton House, Mount Pleasant, Bartonfields, Longford...

From there I skirted round Ashbourne, but since you want to go to it, you could go:

Alkmonton, Yeaveley, Wyaston, Spitalhill, Ashbourne.

Total from Keresley about 80 km (50 miles).

If you want quiet roads - there's your route; if you want the quickest route, that isn't it!

Sorry, I couldn't give you a more detailed reply - I'm busy!

 

[Black Sheep]

I don't, nor can afford a GPS

the way in which i've done my shorter rides is to plot them out on google and then take notes of when I need to turn off and where it may be signposted for.

its worked well on rides of 20 miles or so and also for A road road trips in the car.

thanks for the village list, its helped me mark a route on google

is 60 miles there and back doable in one day?

 

[ColinJ]

I don't, nor can afford a GPS

the way in which i've done my shorter rides is to plot them out on google and then take notes of when I need to turn off and where it may be signposted for.

its worked well on rides of 20 miles or so and also for A road road trips in the car.

thanks for the village list, its helped me mark a route on google

I have Memory Map installed on my PC and the way that I plot these routes is to draw a straight line between start and finish points and pick the quietest, most interesting looking route that gets closest to the straight line without going through any big towns or cities.

is 60 miles there and back doable in one day?

It is if you are fit enough!

I did my trip from Hebden Bridge to Coventry in less than 13 hours and that included some big hills like Holme Moss and Snake Pass, as well as the entire Peak District. My ride came in at about 141 miles so I'd certainly consider 100-120 miles doable. What I might find difficult is stopping for a long time then motivating myself to get back on the bike to go home. I'd find two 60 mile rides in one day much harder than one 120 mile ride. My legs start to stiffen up if I stop riding for more than about 45 minutes.

PS I've just thought that my comment might have sounded flippant... Whether or not you could do the round trip in a day really depends on what you are used to and how long you are prepared to take to do it. If you've done 80+ miles before in a day and it didn't cause you too many problems, then you would probably be okay doing 100 - 120 as long as you ate and drank enough.

 

[Black Sheep]

no idea how far i've gone in a day before - just thinking it'd be amusing to visit my fiancee at her parents - but if i'm not expected then i don't want to impose on them by stopping over.

my bike is a 5 speed which may affect hill climbing (still has a good range on it)

i'll have to have a look at how far I can comfortably get sometime next week.

 

[ColinJ]

You aren't really getting into the big hills by Ashbourne. The terrain drops down a bit from Coventry, then there is a long fairly flat section then it starts to rise back up again at the other end.

When I did my ride down, I didn't tell my mother and sister what I was doing. When I turned up on my bike, they thought I'd just ridden up from Coventry station. They were amazed when I told them I'd actually ridden from Yorkshire!

 

[Black Sheep]

nice

they'll assume i've ridden from buxton station I guess, the house is about half way between buxton and ashbourne but once I get to ashbourne I'll just get on the tissington trail and follow that instead of the A515.

think it might be a bit beyond the distance I can do, however i hand my final project in on tuesday and I think i'm going to go for a long ride afterwards, so i'll get an idea of distance that i can do.