Has Anyone Completed Sustrans Route One

[Ticktockmy]

As most of the Sustrans routes are overseen by unpaid voluntary rangers, who check routes in there own time, it would help if people using the NCN routes contacted Sustrans to tell them of problems, rangers can check a route and all is OK, with our weather a week later tthe same route can be overgrown or washed out. when I am riding the NCN 20/21in my area if i find problems I just give a few minutes of my time to email Sustrans and West Sussex County Council, and often things get fixed quite quickly.

 

[HLaB]

They've thankfully rerouted route 1 through Fife. It used to go straight up Binn Hill at Burntisland; it was only 12% but it was 12% off road and through the woods so it never dried out

 

[doughnut]

South of Berwick on Tweed is horrible, even on a Krampus. God knows how you're supposed to ride it on a road bike.

Its passable on a road bike, but don't forget to take your snorkel and hold your breath for the really deep bits.

 

[mjr]

As most of the Sustrans routes are overseen by unpaid voluntary rangers, who check routes in there own time, it would help if people using the NCN routes contacted Sustrans to tell them of problems, rangers can check a route and all is OK, with our weather a week later tthe same route can be overgrown or washed out. when I am riding the NCN 20/21in my area if i find problems I just give a few minutes of my time to email Sustrans and West Sussex County Council, and often things get fixed quite quickly.

As most Sustrans officers are paid, it would help if they monitored the crowdsourced open websites like fixmystreet and openstreetmap instead of expecting everyone to email them as well as reporting it to councils and sharing it with riders! Also, when I email Sustrans, I get replies less than half the time, which isn't encouraging.

 

[NorthernDave]

As most of the Sustrans routes are overseen by unpaid voluntary rangers, who check routes in there own time, it would help if people using the NCN routes contacted Sustrans to tell them of problems, rangers can check a route and all is OK, with our weather a week later tthe same route can be overgrown or washed out. when I am riding the NCN 20/21in my area if i find problems I just give a few minutes of my time to email Sustrans and West Sussex County Council, and often things get fixed quite quickly.

Ultimately, in my area at least the issues with surfaces, drainage and overgrowing foliage aren't something that should be taking them by surprise.
Parts of R66 are rocky, lumpy bridleway - they've always been like that, they were like that when the route was planned and they are like that now. Why detail on this couldn't have be incorporated into the route info is a mystery?
Equally one particular section is fairly low lying and is susceptible to water gathering and being very slow to dry - it even has a little stream of run off water running alongside it most of the year. It will have very muddy sections and several inches of standing water on it throughout the winter making it only passable by determined MTBer's yet there is nothing to warn the unwary who will have just come off a fairly long 'on road' section regardless of the direction of travel.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I've done multi-thousand mile tours in both the UK and on the Continent and the difference in cycle routes is like chalk and cheese ........

On the Continent, the long distance paths are normally designed/built to get you from A to B reasonably quickly while trying not to use main roads. If there is a main road then there will be a proper cycle path to use. They also tend to be reasonably easy to follow without a map.

In the UK, the long distance paths look like they are designed/built to keep on the quietest roads/tracks no matter what. It doesn't matter if you cover an extra 5-10 miles as long as you keep off main roads. Plus you can only follow them successfully any distance if you have a map of the area/route.

Call me cynical but ........
I'll only follow a Sustrans route only as long only as it's going in my direction.
But as soon as it diverges to stay on minor roads then I stop following it unless I'm going that way.

Ps. I've done that bit of NCR1 south of Berwick on my recumbent trike and it's hard work ........

 

[Brandane]

Sadly, the NCR is plagued with bad surfaces.

That just about sums it up. A few years ago I attempted to ride NCN 4 (??) from west of London to Bath. The start was encouraging on all the nice canal side paths through Reading but then it takes a convoluted, off road in parts, route to Henley on Thames - but still quite pleasant. It wasn't until I got to somewhere around Hungerford that I had finally had enough of endless gates that I couldn't get through without first removing panniers; then "paths" which were no more than a narrow trail through a rough field. Plus the usual random, ambiguous signage and seemingly nonsensical choice of routes...... I got a train back to London from Hungerford, found a cheap hotel near Heathrow, and spent the rest of my allocated holiday time doing more pleasant cycles around the Chilterns.

Never again will I rely on Sustrans to provide me with a long distance touring route. Having said that and in the interests of fair reporting - The Way of the Roses is very good.

 

[mjr]

@Brandane - don't worry, Buckinghamshire county council seems determined to let the Chilterns back roads degrade to worse than many Sustrans routes, based on today's cycling

@Tigerbiten - try Portugal. Its cycle routes could have been British!

 

[screenman]

Its passable on a road bike, but don't forget to take your snorkel and hold your breath for the really deep bits.
View attachment 372492

That looks like the bit outside my backdoor at Bardney.

 

[growingvegetables]

Plus the usual random, ambiguous signage and seemingly nonsensical choice of routes.......

... you forgot the local yoof who think it's fun to move the signage . Few years back, following scrotes' "adjustments", the WYCR signs around Woolley dumped you in a cul-de-sac in the middle of bloody nowhere!

 

[Hill Wimp]

I can tell you that Deal through to Sandwich or visa versa is a lovely ride on route 1

 

[doughnut]

That looks like the bit outside my backdoor at Bardney.

it's the bit that @oldstrath was talking about, just south of Berwick. If I remember correctly there were signs for an on-road detour for road bikes which we ignored.

I'm a big sustrans fan. Weather wise, we picked the absolutely worst time to ride from Durham to Edinburgh, but my wife who had never ridden more than 25 miles before loved it and wants to do more. Quiet rambling roads and paths are what make it for her.

My favourite is the Bay Cycle Way in Lancashire/Cumbria.

 

[screenman]

it's the bit that @oldstrath was talking about, just south of Berwick. If I remember correctly there were signs for an on-road detour for road bikes which we ignored.

I'm a big sustrans fan. Weather wise, we picked the absolutely worst time to ride from Durham to Edinburgh, but my wife who had never ridden more than 25 miles before loved it and wants to do more. Quiet rambling roads and paths are what make it for her.

My favourite is the Bay Cycle Way in Lancashire/Cumbria.

I known what bit is in the photo, just adding that the bit outside my back garden looks the same. Difference maybe is the track here was topped up with road chippings that contained a lot of broken glass.

 

[snorri]

Has anyone actually completed this route and what do they think of it. I did LEJOG a couple of years ago along the West Coast and thought this might be an interesting East Coast bottom to top variation?

I've cycled most of it, but not in one trip, and it was interesting because it took me to places I'd never been before and I had plenty of time to travel at a relaxed pace. I was on a tourer so not too worried about poor surfaces. Although I remember the bits near Berwick and Whitby(?).

 

[MiK1138]

Too many stretches like that on NCN1 Just North of Beal there's a muddy field which is part of NCN1. Totally impassible other than in drought conditions and then only on a very good MTB.

I was a Ranger for NCN for 5 years and gave up because:-
A. Their idea of a cyclable route and mine were poles apart.
and
B. They were enthusiastically blocking access to off road sections of the routes with barriers that will stop a loaded tourer or anything larger, like a trike or wheelchair, 'In order to deter kids on motorbikes'. This stopped all but unloaded bikes and motorbikes from getting on the routes as the first could squeeze through the stupid barriers and the second merely smashed down a couple of fences and rode across ploughed fields to get onto the route!

Just back from Haggerston Caravan park and have to agree Sustrans should be done under the trade description act. the stretch from Berwick upon Tweed to Cheswick was nothing more than 2 wheel ruts I as on a hybrid with 32 tyres and found it totally unpassable and the stretch from Haggerston to Beal was full of potholes, Took me over an hour to travel from Berwick to Haggerston on Monday via NCN 1, took me 25 minutes today using the A1