Windermere to Nottingham

[R25]

Thinking of this route (No 6) in the spring of 2019 and wondered if anyone else had thought of it or travelled it. I would be camping along the way so looking for advice on campsites or wild camps along the way. Time is not a issue thankfully.

 

[graham bowers]

I've not travelled that route so can only offer some general thoughts.

I find the NCN routes don't always offer what I'd consider the best routes or riding surfaces. Often they do, but not always.
If I wanted to cycle from Windemere to Nottingham I'd decide if I wanted to visit any particular places in-between, then use cycle.travel to produce a bespoke route. You can also get information on campsites close to the route from cycle.travel. Try the link below. You can edit the route by pulling it and adding waypoints to force it to go through specific places. What I love about cycle.travel is that it routes you down nice quiet lanes where it can. I split the route up in to a series of day rides and use a gps navigator. If this is gobbldy-gook, say so and I'll explain.

https://cycle.travel/map/journey/84667

I guess how you wish to navigate has a bearing. The NCN routes are signposted, although this can be patchy in places.

 

[Blue Hills]

+1 for the general preferability (word?) of cycle travel, which after all selects low traffic cycle friendly routes. It has lead me over some odd surfaces at times but in general far less than sustrans routes. And despite its determination to avoid busy roads (often the most direct between cities) still usually significantly more direct than sustrans. On big rides I preplan and put the route into the garmin as a point to point route - never had any problems yet even on very long rides. And of course relying on sustrans signs can lull you into a false sense of security.

 

[graham bowers]

+1 for the general preferability (word?) of cycle travel, which after all selects low traffic cycle friendly routes. It has lead be over some odd surfaces at times but in general far less than sustrans routes. And despite its determination to avoid busy roads (often the most direct between cities) still usually significantly more direct than sustrans. On big rides I preplan and put the route into the garmin as a point to point route - never had any problems yet even on very long rides. And of course relying on sustrans signs can lull you into a false sense of security.

I've been routed over odd surfaces a couple of times, but nothing a touring bike can't handle, and only for short (pushable) distances - not that I have pushed, and some of those were on NCN route 1 anyway! One reason is that c.t takes account of the surface information that is within the OSM maps, and that is sometimes erroneous. I have edited that data in OSM when I've found mistakes.

For the OP in particular, c.t shows unpaved sections in green on the PC screen, so you can see what it's doing. Also, if you left click on the route, a popup appears that gives you the option to view in google streetview. The unpaved sections won't have streetview images, but it's often possible to look at the ends, or if the unpaved section has road access along its length, such as a bridge or crossroads, it's possible to get a view,

I planned and rode lejog on cycle.travel. I forced it to route me via my home and the in-laws home plus some other personal preferences, then carved it up into dayride length sections and popped them all into the Garmin. I also took paper printouts using the pdf option, by way of backup. Never needed them though.

Edited to add, the hyperlink from the word Garm*n wasn't put in by me and I don't know how to get rid of it.

 

[Blue Hills]

I tend not to do printouts these days but instead dump the GPXs into OSMand running offline on a 7 inch android tab. I never thought I'd say this but it has advantages over paper maps in that you can very easily consult your route on the tablet and see lots of POI info, including stuff you have highlighted yourself (in my case campsites, spoons, old churches etc etc) . As it's a tab rather than a smartphone, and most of the time has the GPS switched off, no problem with battery life.

 

[Blue Hills]

Edited to add, the hyperlink from the word Garm*n wasn't put in by me and I don't know how to get rid of it.

side-note - yes damn irritating it is - damn cheek - next thing these companies will be strongarming into our offline face to face conversations forcing us to spout "available at ....." every time we mention their ****in name. If anyone can tell us how to stop this, please do tell.

 

[R25]

I've been routed over odd surfaces a couple of times, but nothing a touring bike can't handle, and only for short (pushable) distances - not that I have pushed, and some of those were on NCN route 1 anyway! One reason is that c.t takes account of the surface information that is within the OSM maps, and that is sometimes erroneous. I have edited that data in OSM when I've found mistakes.

For the OP in particular, c.t shows unpaved sections in green on the PC screen, so you can see what it's doing. Also, if you left click on the route, a popup appears that gives you the option to view in google streetview. The unpaved sections won't have streetview images, but it's often possible to look at the ends, or if the unpaved section has road access along its length, such as a bridge or crossroads, it's possible to get a view,

I planned and rode lejog on cycle.travel. I forced it to route me via my home and the in-laws home plus some other personal preferences, then carved it up into dayride length sections and popped them all into the Garmin. I also took paper printouts using the pdf option, by way of backup. Never needed them though.

Edited to add, the hyperlink from the word Garm*n wasn't put in by me and I don't know how to get rid of it.

I've been routed over odd surfaces a couple of times, but nothing a touring bike can't handle, and only for short (pushable) distances - not that I have pushed, and some of those were on NCN route 1 anyway! One reason is that c.t takes account of the surface information that is within the OSM maps, and that is sometimes erroneous. I have edited that data in OSM when I've found mistakes.

For the OP in particular, c.t shows unpaved sections in green on the PC screen, so you can see what it's doing. Also, if you left click on the route, a popup appears that gives you the option to view in google streetview. The unpaved sections won't have streetview images, but it's often possible to look at the ends, or if the unpaved section has road access along its length, such as a bridge or crossroads, it's possible to get a view,

I planned and rode lejog on cycle.travel. I forced it to route me via my home and the in-laws home plus some other personal preferences, then carved it up into dayride length sections and popped them all into the Garmin. I also took paper printouts using the pdf option, by way of backup. Never needed them though.

Edited to add, the hyperlink from the word Garm*n wasn't put in by me and I don't know how to get rid of it.

Thanks everyone for all the advice, will take it all on board & see what I come up with. Great forum.

 

[tallliman]

Just seen this, have a look at Tissington and High Peak trails....they are both about 15 miles long and would get you from near Buxton to a lot further south missing some of the lumps

 

[Big T]

If heading for Nottingham, the Tissington trail is taking you in the wrong direction, but the High Peak would be OK. From Cromford (end of the High Peak Trail), you could head south and pick up Route 6 in Derby.