National Cycle Network - offshoot!

[lane]

Some good well surfaced NCN routes in and around Derby. Some are tarmac and some are gravel. Some are very muddy when it rains. Some have loose gravel on steep sections. Some still need to be completed. I have cycled a fair few around the country and they vary massively. In Cornwall of course the Camel trail is good but we also tried a family ride on a NCN route to Mevagissey which was ludicrously steep in places and completely flooded / quagmire in others - we did get there and back though.

 

[Brandane]

Are we talking here about exclusively traffic free cycle paths? Or NCN routes which combine off road routes with their own brand of on-road routes which they dream up, using every available hill for miles around just to avoid 100 yards of innocuous "A" road?
If the former, then probably the same as @Bobby Mhor and others - from upper Port Glasgow following the disused railway lines to Kilmacolm, Bridge of Weir, Johnstone, Lochwinnoch, and Kilbirnie where it reverts to minor roads again. Mileage about 20.
If the latter, it was probably The Way of the Roses, about 170 miles.

In my experience, some NCN routes are great. Others are utterly unfit for purpose.

 

[Edwardoka]

As @Pat "5mph" says we've done NCN7 North which is best described as "variable" in quality, but is overall pretty good - but it isn't purely on separate cycle paths.

Did Gourock to Leith on NCN75 before they closed the section between Airdrie and Bathgate. Think that worked out at about 70 miles all in, but it was so long ago that I can't remember if much of it involved riding on the road.

 

[andrew_s]

The furthest I've done exclusively on NCN was Tongue to Thurso (nearest bike shop) and back, which is about 85 miles.
It's entirely on road though.
I've also done Dingwall - Culloden - Carrbridge - Boat of Garten - Aviemore (58 miles), though I don't guarantee I managed to find the entire official route through Inverness.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

In total I think I've cycled 2000-3000 miles of NCN - haven't added it up for a while. Longest continuous journey would have been the Pennine Cycleway (NCN 68) at 350ish miles!

 

[mjr]

I'm a fan of the idea of the NCN but I think the current implementation is flawed and this sums up why, really:

The longest continuous NCN journey I've made is probably just 31 miles, Holkham Hall to King's Lynn. If I've gone further south on the same journey any time, I would have left the NCN to cross King's Lynn on more direct cycle tracks and quiet streets, rather than do an inverted L just to push through the 400m no-cycling section (which was suspended for a few years but I don't think I cycled through as part of a long ride during them). Heading any further east than Holkham would be impeded by the unsurfaced detours it makes - even if you're happy with gravel, there are shorter/easier ways east than the way the NCN goes.

Westwards, I've only cycled on NCN as far as Wisbech and only once on the NCN route because it makes two unnecessary awkward detours in just 10 miles. Any further west than Long Sutton is reached much more easily by cycling directly to Long Sutton and then joining the NCN.

Southbound, I've always avoided the detour and sand in Downham Market, so that's only 14 miles on that section. Even if the sand gets replaced by parallel tarmac alongside a housing estate in the next year or two as expected, I might do the town centre detour to go further only on NCN, but it'll still probably max out at 51 miles for the forseeable because the route to Cambridge is still not complete - even then, I'd be tempted to cut off the Welney and Wicken wiggles to shorten it by 4 miles.

Where I used to live near Bristol (home of Sustrans!), I think the longest NCN ride I did was maybe 10 miles. I have ridden a route which has since become part of the NCN but even that's only 14 miles, although it goes the opposite direction from the same start point.

 

[T4tomo]

In total I think I've cycled 2000-3000 miles of NCN - haven't added it up for a while. Longest continuous journey would have been the Pennine Cycleway (NCN 68) at 350ish miles!

Slight thread resurrection - how that to cycle navigate etc. Was Thinking about doing at least the southern section if time permits, on a CX bike, lightly loaded as would be B&B for overnights, no hardcore camping mularky.

 

[mjr]

Slight thread resurrection - how that to cycle navigate etc. Was Thinking about doing at least the southern section if time permits, on a CX bike, lightly loaded as would be B&B for overnights, no hardcore camping mularky.

What do you mean how to cycle navigate? Most Sustrans routes should have red-white-and-blue arrow signs, but that's a big should, as it depends heavily on volunteers, post positions and vandalism. If you use a sat nav, you can download GPX files for some of the ones that are in good order at https://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org (move the map, click the Routes button bottom right, then pick GPX) and I'll slowly fix any suggested ones that aren't! So far I think I've got NCN11 fixed, as well as the Local Cycle Network K routes around King's Lynn.

 

[T4tomo]

I mean exactly that. Is it a nice route? Is it cycleable on a CX bike or does it turn into a quagmire after a heavy dew etc. Some NCN routes are fine, some you could do on your best road bike, and some are only good for full sus MTB or a Land rover. So my enquiry is to where on that scale it is.

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

I wrote up my journey at https://cycle.travel/route/pennine_cycleway . It's certainly doable on a CX bike - I did it on a hybrid. There's a couple of bits where you might be best advised to divert onto the road - from memory, over the top of Woodhead, and the odd section in Northumberland. But it's a cracking route, in my opinion one of the two best long-distance NCN routes (the other being Lon Las Cymru).

 

[contadino]

I tend to do the majority of my riding on ncn routes. Currently got a 50-ish mile route along 67, 6 and 648. There's about 15 miles at the end to get me home.
I do the 67 around rother valley park maybe 3 times a week.

Quality is good.

On one of my rides from Italy to england I used cycle routes from Dover all the way to Derbyshire. It was pleasant enough but added about 2 days to the ride.

 

[bladesman73]

Compare the NCN with the node network in Netherlands. Around where I am you need sherlock holmes style intuition to firstly locate the NCN and then stay on it for a reasonable distance.

 

[contadino]

Compare the NCN with the node network in Netherlands. Around where I am you need sherlock holmes style intuition to firstly locate the NCN and then stay on it for a reasonable distance.

I can't say I entirely understand the issue. The maps are all on openstreetmap. They show up on plotaroute and osmand, so can't you just follow the line?

 

[bladesman73]

I can't say I entirely understand the issue. The maps are all on openstreetmap. They show up on plotaroute and osmand, so can't you just follow the line?

Im talking about signs when you are out and about, sporadic and sometimes non existent. Also the route is not joined around the uk. I dont want to spend an evening on apps plotting a route.

 

[contadino]

Im talking about signs when you are out and about, sporadic and sometimes non existent. Also the route is not joined around the uk. I dont want to spend an evening on apps plotting a route.

Oh. Okay. Each to their own. IME not many countries lay it on a plate like that for you. The sustrans network isn't too shabby.