transpennine trail - great for a first tour

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

DLB

Senior Member
On Saturday night i finished the last leg of the TPT which i started in the summer holidays. My friend and i were delayed finishing the trail due to family and work commitments but we've now completed the 216mile from Southport to Hornsea over a series of 6 days.

If you are thinking of doing a tour you could do much worse than the TPT. The vast majority is off road and the gradients for 99% of the time gentle. Detailed maps are availablefor sale although much of it is very well signposted.

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip although the Widnes to Glossop section knackered me out!!

DLB

p.s. any suggestion what we could do next year? Nothing too long and preferably in the North of England.
 
The Mary Townley loop? Although it can be done in a very long day...
What was your route btw?
 
OP
OP
D

DLB

Senior Member
where's the Mary Townley loop??

i'm not sure what my favourite bit was. The easiest bit for me was the Hull to hornsea bit -very flat and straight on tarmaced paths. I though the bit on teh Liverpool loop line was a bit boring as most of it was enclosed. I guess the most interesting bit was the pennines section (glossop - home)

Have you done the TPT?
 
No but i've done part of the pennine cycleway on the road.
The Mary Townley loop is basically the pennine bridleway so it's an all off road tour of the pennines. You can get on to it somewhere near Todmorden - it's more for MTBs than touring bikes, I don't know what you ride. Just google it - plenty of mtbers I know have done it.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
DLB said:
where's the Mary Townley loop??
It passes between Hebden Bridge (where I live) and Todmorden (West Yorkshire and Lancashire, by the way). There are a few sections that only the very fittest and most skilled riders could ride, but most of it is okay for riders of average to good fitness. It has just a few short road sections, but the rest is South Pennine mountain-biking at its best. I would take about 10 hours to do it but I think the record is under 5. If you have a go, pick a dry spell because there are a few sections that get boggy after a lot of rain, unless of course you like mud! Be prepared to deal with a lot of gates in the section round Waterfoot. There are a couple of technical rocky descents where you could get hurt if you made a mistake - I prefer to walk them. Of course it depends whether you do the route clockwise or anti-clockwise - some bits are rideable one way, but not the other (for mere mortals, such as myself).

You could base yourself in Hebden Bridge and do the loop over two days. If you fancied that you could ride out 4 miles on the canal towpath to Todmorden for an easy start, then climb the steep lane behind the railway station and follow that over Sourhall before descending to Portsmouth on the A646. Ride up Cliviger Gorge to Holme Chapel where the MTL crosses at the Ram Inn. Go left one day and do that half anticlockwise. Go right the other, and do that c/w.

All you want to know here!
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Kirstie said:
No but i've done part of the pennine cycleway on the road.
The Mary Townley loop is basically the pennine bridleway so it's an all off road tour of the pennines. You can get on to it somewhere near Todmorden - it's more for MTBs than touring bikes, I don't know what you ride. Just google it - plenty of mtbers I know have done it.
Actually, the Pennine Bridleway starts in Derbyshire, south of the MTL and joins it near Rochdale. If you were riding the PBW you would probably just do one half of the MTL and then continue northwards or southwards. Eventually the PBW will continue north from the MTL but most of that section isn't finished yet.
 

P.H

Über Member
The C2C is justifiably the most popular Sustrans route, tough in places, the rewards are worth it. As it’s so popular you meet lots of other cyclists along the way and all the businesses are geared up for cyclists, cafes, pubs, B&Bs… If you wanted something longer you could use the Rievers route to make it a circular tour.
Lon Las Cymru in Wales (surprise) is another I really enjoyed. Not North England I know, but easy to get too both ends. Holyhead to Cardiff, around 260 miles, mostly on quiet roads with a few off road bits and very little urban cycling. Apart from the last 30ish miles there’s plenty of hills, Sustrans say it’s their most challenging route, though I think sections of the Pennine Cycleway are harder.
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
P.H said:
The C2C is justifiably the most popular Sustrans route, tough in places, the rewards are worth it. As it’s so popular you meet lots of other cyclists along the way and all the businesses are geared up for cyclists, cafes, pubs, B&Bs… I

I disgree with the above sentiment. The W2W - Walney to Wear and Hadrian's Cycle Route are both more scenic and offer advantages over the C2C.

If you are short of time the Hadrian's Cycle Route can be truncated at Bowness on Solway for a short 100 mile 2 - 3 day crossing with only one nasty hill which is short anyway. Great scenery plenty of accommodation at hand. Nice quiet route. Not a lot of Hadrian's Wall to be seen but there again it is called Hadrian's Cycle Route and not Hadrian's Wall etc.... There some decent ruins to look at along the way.

W2W is worth doing if only to use the highest pub in the country at the Tan Hill. Camp fees £2. Opening times for the bar 08:00 - 03:00 with off license facilities to bridge the five hour closing time ;)

Googel them up and have a look and compare them to the C2C - it is OK as a ride but the other two are unjustifiably quiet...

Congratulations on the completion of the TP route. I intend to do it some time possible next summer.
 
I did this on a Recumbent in July!

Although I "abandoned" at Pensitone due to the flooding problems in Doncaster and Bentley, rejoining at Selby.

Woodhead_Pass.jpg


Longnedale_Trail.jpg


It can be muddy and wet, but is certainly a good route. I would hesitate with a racing bike, but a tourer or hybrid would be fine.
 
Top Bottom