West coast of cumbria/lakes

I’ve done all the northern test pieces, and there is great cycling there (although I’d echo comments re: traffic above). However, I’ve been really impressed by the road riding in the SW (Somerset, over to Exmoor and down into Dorset and Devon). There’s a dense network of minor roads that you rarely encounter traffic on, and it’s beautiful right now. I just pick stuff off the map, sometimes linking up marked Sustrans traffic-free routes as a framework. Different ride almost every time. You can make it as hard as you want, taking in some surprisingly steep (if short) hill climbs. Weather is significantly better than in the north, and the pubs are great…

Kent is nice – surprisingly quiet off the main roads too

6700feet climbing in 70 miles

Routes

strangely no one has suggested that Surrey is good for road biking!

I imgine as there are too many road cyclists there doing loops and shuttles of the climbs

I spent a year writing a book about road cycling in the UK and the answer to the question is all of it. But if pushed, the area around Lochinver wins hands down.

^Dave’s book is fab and since he’s too humble to plug it, I will 🙂

DavidB – Member
I spent a year writing a book about road cycling in the UK and the answer to the question is all of it…

From the limited riding I’ve done south of the border (a long long time ago), I’d agree with that. There were some smashing climbs in the North of England, but maybe they have been sanitised since then.

There was a beauty somewhere between Carlisle and Scotch Corner that curves up a hill which was a real test with a load of camping gear, a close ratio 5 speed block and a 48/52 up front. Only just made it – a bit of a surprise for a boy from the Highlands who thought he could climb anything. (Didn’t have a map so no idea where).

I also loved the Hampshire Downs, although I reckon they should be called the Ups. 🙂

But like DavidB I’ll take Wester Ross over anywhere else.

Sutherland. All of it(apart from maybe the A9)

Jurassic coast for me. Stunning views, lovely villages to stop in and almost deserted lanes.

There’s good riding to be found pretty well everywhere really.

Something not mentioned so far is that even though areas like the Dales have a low population there are also comparatively few roads so traffic is concentrated on those. An example would be heading up Wharfedale from Skipton, there’s basically two roads one of which is a small country lane so everyone from locals to tourists uses the B6265.

Edit: one of the routes in Dave’s book goes past the end of our lane 😆

Why isn’t there a road equivalent of “the woods behind Nationwide in Swindon”?

We like to keep quiet about it.