First cycling holiday planning

[13 rider]

If your considering York . For the UCI world championships in 2019 we stayed at Chestnut farm Alcaster Malbis in some lovely self catering accommodation just south of York . The area is well served will traffic free cycle trails and you could drive into the Dales and do a shorter hilly ride in stunning countryside and perhaps do some of the world championship course

 

[Amac]

+1 For N Norfolk, spent many happy days on the coast & inland. Would highly recommend Baconsthorpe site nr Holt if camping

Cheers, I will go and have a look, as we do camp as well....thanks

 

[Amac]

If your considering York . For the UCI world championships in 2019 we stayed at Chestnut farm Alcaster Malbis in some lovely self catering accommodation just south of York . The area is well served will traffic free cycle trails and you could drive into the Dales and do a shorter hilly ride in stunning countryside and perhaps do some of the world championship course

Cheers, we have narrowed it down to Norfolk, York or Cotswolds, its great getting so much good advice

 

[graham bowers]

When you come to plan your rides I'd suggest giving https://cycle.travel/map a go. It's strength is that it uses traffic census data to pick quiet roads. No association, other than an enthusiastic user.

 

[Ralphbostie]

Hi guys,
I am just starting to think about either later this year or next year.
We currently go for leisure rides locally, only 25-30 miles, and always stop for a bit of snack to enjoy the country side.
We are thinking of trying a cycling holiday, I think on our own, rather than in a group, so we can go at our own pace and stop at interesting places.

I am doing more miles than my wife at the moment, as she is chief grandchild child carer at the moment
I am probably a keener cyclist than my wife at the moment, so I want her to enjoy a cycling holiday, normally we are hikers.

She is pretty good on the miles, its the hills that take it out, she ok few a few ups and downs but not too many!

So at last my question
I am looking for suggestions for cycling areas for holiday, more on the flattish side, perhaps with with villages and all that to ride through.

We are based in Reading Berks, so areas you think, if any that might be suitable please five me a heads up.
I think I would try to pick one place, and stay there, then plan my own rides from there.

Either that, or try self guided with someone like Skedaddle....

Sorry if its one of those impossible questions to answer, just thought I would pick your brains

Hi Amac, Chesterfield offers a great base for cycling, it lies on the Southern section of the Trans Pennine trail. The old railway lines and the Canal links up offering access from Chesterfield to Staveley, Poolsbrook Country Park onto Rother Valley Country Park which links up to Sheffield and then on to Leeds. The opposite way you can go towards the Five pits trail, which requires a little road cycling and slight hills to reach, but worth it in the end. If you’ve got the car you can take your bikes to Clumber park and Sherwood Forest for the day out as well, offering miles of easy cycling. Also you have the Peak District on the doorstep of Chesterfield offering the Monsal trail, at Bakewell, tissington trail and High Peak trail, but you would need your car to travel to these places.

 

[Amac]

When you come to plan your rides I'd suggest giving https://cycle.travel/map a go. It's strength is that it uses traffic census data to pick quiet roads. No association, other than an enthusiastic user.

Hey thanks for that, just had a quick look, tried putting in one of my regular villages to ride through, it picked almost my route, very impressive....cheers

 

[Amac]

Hi Amac, Chesterfield offers a great base for cycling, it lies on the Southern section of the Trans Pennine trail. The old railway lines and the Canal links up offering access from Chesterfield to Staveley, Poolsbrook Country Park onto Rother Valley Country Park which links up to Sheffield and then on to Leeds. The opposite way you can go towards the Five pits trail, which requires a little road cycling and slight hills to reach, but worth it in the end. If you’ve got the car you can take your bikes to Clumber park and Sherwood Forest for the day out as well, offering miles of easy cycling. Also you have the Peak District on the doorstep of Chesterfield offering the Monsal trail, at Bakewell, tissington trail and High Peak trail, but you would need your car to travel to these places.

Cheers for the tips, I had never really thought of that area, so I will go and have a look at the maps, thank you
Ha ha I have got enough for a few years of holidays now , great stuff....

 

[SteffieLou]

Hi

You mention, in other posts, a "centre based" holiday, by that, I assume you mean, staying in Hotel, B&B, or, self-catering accommodation?

We typically do something similar (although, our accommodation is a Motorhome).

We have enjoyed, what I call gentle cycling, in UK, and, mainland Europe, usually, but not always by seeking out Canals, or, coastal areas. Rivers also often provide an "easy" cycling valley to follow.

So, for example, in UK, we have cycled around:

Staveley area, Derbyshire, giving access to Lancaster Canal

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hexham, etc, giving access to Hadrians Way Cycle Route, and, if you are up for a few hills, the Northumberland Coastal Coast and Castles route.

Peterborough, well served with dedicated cycle routes

York, well served with dedicated cycle routes

Brighton / Littlehampton area

Hanley Swan, Worcester, rather more hilly than we usually tackle, but, we managed to enjoy it!

Denham, Buckinghamshire, access to the Grand Union Canal.

I am am unsure of your age profile, but, we are 72 and 73 years old, and, typically 20-30 miles per day cyclists

Interested to know about your trip to Northumberland. Since the Great North Run has been cancelled, me and hubby are thinking of still heading up North if possible and taking the bikes instead, staying in the Alnwick area. We are both fairly new to road cycling and we’re probably looking at around 40k routes with a lunch stop halfway. I‘ve looked up the routes in the area and they seem to travel along coastal paths but I can’t find any information as to whether they are suitable for slicks or not. Do you know if they would be okay or are we better off looking at the routes along Hadrian's Wall instead? Thanks

 

[BoldonLad]

Interested to know about your trip to Northumberland. Since the Great North Run has been cancelled, me and hubby are thinking of still heading up North if possible and taking the bikes instead, staying in the Alnwick area. We are both fairly new to road cycling and we’re probably looking at around 40k routes with a lunch stop halfway. I‘ve looked up the routes in the area and they seem to travel along coastal paths but I can’t find any information as to whether they are suitable for slicks or not. Do you know if they would be okay or are we better off looking at the routes along Hadrian's Wall instead? Thanks

Hi.

We are "leisure" cyclists, on hybrids, also, we are 73 years old, so, talk of "slicks" all seems a bit too fast for us!

We actually live near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so, at the southern edge of Northumberland, Alnwick about 50-60 miles north of there. I have recently bought a book of rides from Sustrans, which includes routes for Road, MTB and Byeways/Wagonways (old colliery rail routes). May be worth a look?

The book is called 33 Cycle Rides in Northumberland and Tyneside.

There are a few long distance routes, Hadrians Way, which travels across country from Tynemouth to Carlisle, and, is mainly tarmac path, or quiet roads, Reivers Route, and Sandstone Route, more rugged and gravel bike suitable I would think, and Coast/Castles routes, which, as its name suggests, goes along the coast from Newcastle to Edinburgh. My younger brother has ridden that on a Scott Road bike.

If you are on FB, there is a local Cycling Club, South Shields Velo, who have aa FB page, you may get some information from members there?

Don't know how you will actually be travelling or what accommodation (car/train/BB/camping/etc), but, my immediate thought is to be more central, ie Hexham, Wylam, Haydon Bridge, or, if you like more remote, (and hilly), Bellingham, Kielder.

Looking at the book I mentioned above, routes appear to concentrated around Bamburgh, Warkworth, Morpeth, Tynemouth, Wylam.

Hope that has been helpful?

 

[RoMeR]

When you come to plan your rides I'd suggest giving cycle a go. It's strength is that it uses traffic census data to pick quiet roads. No association, other than an enthusiastic user.

I too would recommend cycle travel,easy to use, saves your routes and does what it claims.

 

[sheddy]

Norfolk has a few routes (and some seaside) https://www.visitnorthnorfolk.com/see-and-do/cycling.aspx

 

[Amac]

When you come to plan your rides I'd suggest giving https://cycle.travel/map a go. It's strength is that it uses traffic census data to pick quiet roads. No association, other than an enthusiastic user.

Hiya,

I was just thinking today of buying a bike rack for my car, to try some new places nearer to home.
I have just tried cycle.travel.map. I picked Windsor, and tried the "suggest a route", which all worked, the gpx file loaded into my gps Active 20 with no problems

How have you found the routes that it has auto selected, I am guessing it stays away for the busier roads?
All looks, pretty straightforward and easy to us

 

[SteffieLou]

Hi.

We are "leisure" cyclists, on hybrids, also, we are 73 years old, so, talk of "slicks" all seems a bit too fast for us!

We actually live near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so, at the southern edge of Northumberland, Alnwick about 50-60 miles north of there. I have recently bought a book of rides from Sustrans, which includes routes for Road, MTB and Byeways/Wagonways (old colliery rail routes). May be worth a look?

The book is called 33 Cycle Rides in Northumberland and Tyneside.

There are a few long distance routes, Hadrians Way, which travels across country from Tynemouth to Carlisle, and, is mainly tarmac path, or quiet roads, Reivers Route, and Sandstone Route, more rugged and gravel bike suitable I would think, and Coast/Castles routes, which, as its name suggests, goes along the coast from Newcastle to Edinburgh. My younger brother has ridden that on a Scott Road bike.

If you are on FB, there is a local Cycling Club, South Shields Velo, who have aa FB page, you may get some information from members there?

Don't know how you will actually be travelling or what accommodation (car/train/BB/camping/etc), but, my immediate thought is to be more central, ie Hexham, Wylam, Haydon Bridge, or, if you like more remote, (and hilly), Bellingham, Kielder.

Looking at the book I mentioned above, routes appear to concentrated around Bamburgh, Warkworth, Morpeth, Tynemouth, Wylam.

Hope that has been helpful?

Thanks you, that has been really helpful. I may have slicks on my bike but I don’t go particularly fast 😆 A little faster than on my hybrid but not as fast as my husband sadly. We currently have a Premier In booked in South Shields plus one at the Airport but they can be cancelled and I can look elsewhere. We will be driving up so can pretty much go wherever. I had looked up the Sustrans routes and liked the look of the coastal ones, I just wasn’t sure if they were proper pathways or more loose. I will certainly look up the local club on fb, thank you 🙂

 

[Saracenlad]

Thanks for the Cycle.travelmap. Never seen that and it is a great resource. New to us.

 

[mikeIow]

When you come to plan your rides I'd suggest giving https://cycle.travel/map a go. It's strength is that it uses traffic census data to pick quiet roads. No association, other than an enthusiastic user.

Another thanks for pointing this out: had a quick look, it does appear to do a decent job picking quiet roads!
Need to do more research, but having spent an hour or two down the rabbit-hole of https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Routing/online_routers, your suggestion feels like a relatively easy option for me to dig further into!!