Cycling Holiday

[tice18]

Hi all,
My Dad is a very keen cyclist, I also like cycling but don't get the time to cycle with him as much as I'd like, I have a racing bike and he has a tourer, we're cycling to Paris in July, along with my sister. I'd like to arrange a cycling holiday in England for a few days, just 3-4 days in May. Preferably from one site, where we can do some different 30-50 mile routes, any suggestions?
Thanks for the help
Pete

 

[Danny]

You don't say which part of England you want to aim for.

If you are happy to venture up north I would suggest you either head for the Lake District or the Yorkshire Dales. There are plenty of good rides you can do in both areas, and there are also good youth hostels and lots of B&B accommodation where you could base yourself.

I'm personally also a fan of the countryside around Hereford and the Welsh border regions - and if you are prepared to venture into Wales, Hay-on-Wye would be a good base if you avoid the festival week.

 

[tice18]

Sorry, forgot to mention. We're from Essex so something within about 3 hours driving would be preferable.

 

[snorri]

Sorry, forgot to mention. We're from Essex so something within about 3 hours driving would be preferable.

You would need to think about what you want to do or see. For example do you like to be beside the sea or inland, hilly areas or flat, staying in hotels,B&B or campsites, stay with friends or family?
Perhaps you could take a train and leave the car at home, or even cycle off from home.
For some, planning is half the fun of a tour.

 

[tice18]

Don't get me wrong, I love the planning bit, I just need a bit of help to get going!! Maybe I haven't included enough info.
Basically, I'm 16, and my geography isn't brilliant, I don't really know where to start in relation to finding a good cycling location. I'd like to arrange it for my Dad's birthday, without him knowing until he opens the card/whatever to tell him. He's arranged all our cycling trips and done the routes etc for everywhere we've been before, so I'm a bit ignorant about it all! Any advice is greatly appreciated, I'm trying to work my way through it methodically, first step finding a good location.
I'll make a spec. of the trip:
Necessitys:
3-4 Days
Camping in tents
At least 3 good, different 30-50 mile rides from site.
Rides on quiet roads/cycle paths suitable for racing/touring bikes.
Inland Cycling
Preferences
Driving to the site.
Less than 4 hour drive from Essex
Mostly Country cycling
Relatively flat

Again, any advice is greatly appreciated, Thanks guys!

 

[andym]

If you're going for 3-4 days then you probably want to be looking close to home.

Suffolk and Norfolk coast? Circular ride around Essex and Suffolk? Visiting places like Old Felixstowe (check when the ferry runs!) Aldeburgh, Southwold, Holkham, Wells-next-the Sea, Lavenham. Beautiful coast, and lots of attractive villages.

There used to be a couple of useful guidebooks called something like Cycling in East Anglia. I also got information from the East of England Tourist Board, and Suffolk County Council websites (the route along the Suffolk coast is signposted but I can't remember the name - Suffolk Coastal something or other).

 

[Danny]

Sustrans sells a variety of guides and maps about cycling in Norfolk and Suffolk. You can probably get your local library to order the Cycling in the East of England guide if you don't want to fork out £10.

 

[HelenD123]

If you go for Norfolk, I can highly recommend Deepdale Farm as a place to stay. It's part campsite, part hostel so if the weather turns nasty you could check into the hostel. There are some lovely quiet roads around. You could head north one day, south another and inland for a third day.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Firstly it’s a great age to start planning adventures at 16, and once you have done it a few times, you will be off to far off places, and at time scaring yourself shitless..LOL. doing Daft thing like Rob Lliwall cycling across Siberia during the winter.

I would suggest to you, that as well as Norfolk and Suffolk, we have here in Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire weald, some very nice cycling, with nice flat lanes, some killers of hills if you like such things, some long distance cycle paths, the Downs link, which runs North south from Shoreham on Sea to St Martha’s hilltop pilgrims church, most of it is old railway track and quite rideable on a road bike.

To the north in Surrey we have the Northdown’s way and a good amount of that is rideable track or minor roads. And to the South we have the Southdown’s way. We have lots of quaint pubs, for that lunch time break and tearooms tucked away is little towns and villages, plenty old historic houses and castles to visit during your ride if that is your thing.

Accommodation wise there plenty of campsites hidden away up back roads, and quite a few youth hostels as well if you wanted to travel lighter. And if anything goes terribly wrong you are never far away from a railway station or bus route.

 

[andym]

I would suggest to you, that as well as Norfolk and Suffolk, we have here in Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire weald, some very nice cycling, with nice flat lanes, some killers of hills if you like such things, some long distance cycle paths, the Downs link, which runs North south from Shoreham on Sea to St Martha’s hilltop pilgrims church, most of it is old railway track and quite rideable on a road bike.

To the north in Surrey we have the Northdown’s way and a good amount of that is rideable track or minor roads. And to the South we have the Southdown’s way. We have lots of quaint pubs, for that lunch time break and tearooms tucked away is little towns and villages, plenty old historic houses and castles to visit during your ride if that is your thing.

I'd second all of those comments and recommendations. the only reason I didn't recommend Kent, Sussex etc was the time needed to get to and across London across or around it. Mind you if the OP is in south Essex, then Kent and Sussex are definitely within relatively easy reach (eg there's a shuttle service for bikes across the Dartford bridge).

 

[tice18]

Thanks for all the advice guys, yeah we are South Essex, I'm gonna check out a few of those locations

 

[efrog]

Hi
A soft option I know but for our first couple of tours we used a cycle holiday company in Suffolk,
As it was our first time they arranged the routes, maps, tour notes accommodation and in our case transferred our bags.
We used small hotels and b&b's and the guys there were so helpful I'm sure they could come up with something.
As its a forum not sure if I can mention there name so i'll send the details on a p.m.
good luck

 

[russett]

Sorry, forgot to mention. We're from Essex so something within about 3 hours driving would be preferable.

Hi there -

last year I went on two 4 day B&B trips with my husband, down to Kent. We took trains from London Bridge both times - first time to Deal, where we stayed in a great B & B facing the sea, and put our bikes in their shed. Lovely people. From there we cycled all round the coast on various cycle paths, to Dover, Sandwich etc. and once went to a great country park with a cycle track for roadies and woods for mountain bikes. It was deserted in Spring - but not the best of weather.

Last autumn we took the train to Canterbury, then cycled out to Stodmarsh, a gorgeous place with lots of bird-watching etc. We stayed in a rather idiosyncratic pub, but it was great fun, and cycled miles round the East Kent coast and inland through lovely villages. Kent County Council publish a great booklet with all the cycle paths in. You can't go wrong!

This year we hope to try Brittany!

Good luck!