Recommend a good book of cycle routes (UK) or tours/rides?

[Fab Foodie]

Colleague's son wants a book of good cycle-rides/routes/tours in the UK for his Birthday.
Anyone know of any good guides?

I guess there's Sustrans, but I've no idea what else is out there, maybe that has some suggested routes in different parts of the country.

Cheers
FF.

 

[andym]

Any clues about cycling experience? (eg IIRC the AA do a guide aimed at casual cyclists). Day rides? Weekend rides? Multi-distance?

I don't know if you can still get them but there was a really good series of books by Nick Cotton ( or at least he wrote a lot of them). And there was a similar series published in conjunction with the CTC.

There's the Lonely Planet Guide to Cycling in Britain. EDIT: I was looking at the LP site and saw that a new edition is due in April 2012. So it may be a wee bit out of date, but IIRC it's a good book.

I haven't had a chance to try any of the rides, but 50 Quirky Cycle Rides by Rob Ainsley might be a good choice:

http://www.bike99.com/

 

[funnymummy]

I have the Lonely Planet one.... We've not tried all the rides out yet..But we will!

 

[soulful dog]

The "Bike Scotland" series of books give an idea of routes in Scotland (sadly there doesn't seem to be a Bike England equivalent). Not sure the routes/maps are that detailed as the are only wee paperbacks, but might be useful for some ideas.

There are three in the series related to different parts of the country (the latest only just released this year), not really useful for planning tours but they feature a variety of on and off road rides, and from short family trips to two-day rides:



Amazon - Bike Scotland

 

[corshamjim]

I was given the Lonely Planet book last Christmas. The thing I like about it is that it covers the whole country pretty well and has a good mix of rides all the way from day rides through longer trails all the way up to Lands End to John O'Groats.

 

[marshmella]

Any clues about cycling experience? (eg IIRC the AA do a guide aimed at casual cyclists). Day rides? Weekend rides? Multi-distance?

I don't know if you can still get them but there was a really good series of books by Nick Cotton ( or at least he wrote a lot of them). And there was a similar series published in conjunction with the CTC.

There's the Lonely Planet Guide to Cycling in Britain.

I haven't had a chance to try any of the rides, but 50 Quirky Cycle Rides by Rob Ainsley might be a good choice:

http://www.bike99.com/

Yes, the cycling without traffic series by Nick Cotton (and others) was our cycling bible when we used to do day rides.

 

[Gotte]

http://www.waterston...routes/8176862/

Saw that in Waterstones today (cheaper online here).

I had a skim through it, and it seemed okay, though I don't actually know any of the routes, so can't comment. It's quite big, though, and while on the surface it look nice, it has a certain shallowness lurking in its style of layout and photography. It's all very Sunday suppliment and as such about as substantial. Personally, I find the whole "cool" concept really irritating. It assumes camping and now it seems, cycling, are only worth doing as ammunition in a middle class war of holiday oneupmanship.

Do I sound jaded?

But anyway, you might find the routes okay, though be warned, it's too big to use on a handlebar bag. It's strictly in and out of the pannier, which seems to defeat the object somewhat.

 

[pkeenan]

It's already been mentioned a bit, but I'm going to vouch for the Lonely Planet Cycling Britain book. Informative and compact, which is good!