500 miles cycle in UK - any route suggestions?!

[gedstaxi]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a one-way or circular cycle route in the UK that is roughly 500 miles long? We are planning a big fundraiser next spring and wondered if anyone had any tips to put into our route plan before we start. As you can imagine we would prefer "not too many big hills" but know that they cannot be avoided!

We'd kinda like it to have a " catchy title" - so, one idea we had was something like .... "Old Castle to New Castle" - i.e, Windsor to Newcastle - but its not long enough!! You get our drift!?

ta much!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I'm just back from a 750 mile circular tour.... involved the Trans Pennine Trail and Hadrian's Cycle Way plus some freelancing in between to get between the starts/ends.

You could make it shorter by doing something similar using the Way of the Roses and the Trans Pennine Trail or the Way of the Roses and Hadrian's Cycle Way/Reviers Way
Hadrian's Cycle way has a few short steep hills on it, but nothing over 255m and you don't have to do the Wrynose and Hardknott passes to get to the start (). The Trans Pennine Trail goes up and over the Woodhead Pass which is an easy climb from the east (going up to just over 400m). My journal write up is here http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/lellow-bike-nover-lellow-bike-exclaimed-the-little-girl.165131/

We only ruled out the Way of the Roses because with the TPT it was actually too short for a self supported camping tour of 2 weeks - at least for us it was.

Otherwise you could look at something like the across the north and west coast of Scotland, following the coast line - but some of that north coast is tough!
Other options include some of the Welsh cycle routes - round the borders of Wales?

Also have you considered Ireland? It has some stunning scenery and the roads and drivers are great and there is plenty to cycle there! (been there and cycled 3 sides of it)

 

[Douggie954]

I did Hull to Harwich this summer mainly down Route 1 of the NCN. We did 350 miles but used a few ferries. If you cycled all the way you could easily make up an extra 150 miles. Best bit, it is mainly flat after the first day and surprisingly good scenery.

 

[albion]

How about 500 miles charity wide 'By the Byway'.

The National Byway may turn out to be 500 miles at Hexham, less than Hexham or maybe past Hexham.

 

[albion]

How about 500 miles charity ride 'By the Byway'.

The National Byway may turn out to be 500 miles at Hexham, less than Hexham or maybe past Hexham.

 

[jefmcg]

London-Edinburgh-London is 1465km (~920 miles) but it started in North London and turned round in South Edinburgh. City centre to city Centre, London-Edinburgh (or vice-versa) would be spot on. And it's a decent route, already spec'd out.

http://app.strava.com/activities/71705930 (I didn't finish, which is why it's short)

 

[Ticktockmy]

Take the Bike bus from Inverness up to Durness, then cycle south using whatever route you want to chose, as from there you can only south, unless you head out to Cape wraught, There is a selection of routes you can use from landrover tracks to wibbly wobbly main roads, plenty of places to wild camp if you wish, and you can cycle all day and not see anyone else.

 

[briantrumpet]

Hi,
Can anyone recommend a one-way or circular cycle route in the UK that is roughly 500 miles long? We are planning a big fundraiser next spring and wondered if anyone had any tips to put into our route plan before we start. As you can imagine we would prefer "not too many big hills" but know that they cannot be avoided!

If it weren't for the "not too many big hills" bit I'd suggest you could make a nice one round the south west peninsula as "Peninsula Pedallers", but the stunningness of the views you'd get would be offset by the pain of having a hill round virtually every corner, and hardly any flat bits. Going round Devon alone is about 340 miles, and 30,000ft of climbing.

 

[Broadside]

To echo jefmcg, Edinburgh to London is about 500 miles. I did it last week (Edinburgh, Newcastle, Harrogate, Newark, Cambridge then London), each day is 100 miles but it is a pretty hilly route, the easiest day still had over 800metres of climbing.

 

[marcusjb]

Another vote for London to Edinburgh. It is an easy sell - two capital cities etc.

Easy for people to see on a map and understand that it is quite a long way.

The audax uk LEL route was solid with plenty of highlights.

 

[iwantanewbike]

In 2012 I self-navigated a route from Lands End to Broadstairs (near Margate, Kent).
In total this was ~960km / 600miles but this could be made shorter as I took convoluted routes at times (e.g. I liked the sound of a town called Beer, so routed to there!).

I've attached gpx files which can be imported into www.ridewithgps.com or similar.

Let me know if you have any questions about the trip?

 

[Ed Phelan]

Got a good list here with some of the upcoming cycling challenges 2015, including the bi-annual ride from Lands End to John O'Groats which is usually just under 1000 miles, but many cut the route in half and end up somewhere around the Lake District, which would be a very pleasant yet challenging ride through Cornwall and around the boarder of Wales. London to Edinburgh is also a great route as many have previously said.

All of my fundraising rides have been much shorter than 500 miles, but good on you lot! Who are you riding for?