OK, we’ve been bitten by the touring bug and I’m already thinking of where to go next year.
Last year we went down the north Devon and Cornwall coasts, then back up the south coast to Exeter then back to the car Bideford on the train, using my own route.
This year we left the car in Manchester, trained it to Walney Island, rode over the southern Lakes and t’Moors to Scarborough, then down to watch some motorcycle racing in Scarborough, then train back to Manc. This is a Sustrans route (And very good it is too)

So where else in the UK could we do something similar? I know there’s the Way of the Roses, but that’s very similar to this year’s ride and I’d rather save that for a while. East Anglia is too flat.

I’m was thinking of maybe Wales or the Scottish borders, but I’m after some suggestions.

We like: Camping. Trains. Quiet roads with grass growing down the middle. Tea Shops. Seeing the sea. History. Views. Farm shops.

We do not like: Big town and cities. Major roads. Campsites with bars, static vans and ‘entertainment’.

Any suggestions for something around 250-300 miles? 🙂

(We don’t mind the odd gravel track or bridleway, but we’re on MTBs with slicks and racks, and pulling a trailer, so there are limits!)

train to oban

ferry to mull

ride round mull and over to ardnamurchen and back to via glenfinnan monument (ie right round loch lihne) to fort william then get the train back to oban (do not ride the a82 unless you wish to die ….)

Check out the Lon Las Cymru, I’ve been wanting to do it for a couple of years, looks like a great ride. I’d be doing Chepstow to Bangor in 3 or 4 days.

+1 for Mull – also ferry to Western Isles from Oban. Quiet roads and awesome scenery.

Coast and Castles. Divert inland from Warkworth and pick up the Pennine Cycleway as far south as you like.

North Sea Cycle Route down the Scottish East Coast?

Think it (or part of it) is also known as coast and castles.

Some good ideas for starters on The Sustrans site
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/what-we-do/national-cycle-network/long-distance-rides
🙂

Scottish island idea is good (see also Harris and Lweis, Uists, Barra and back)

check out Dumfries and Galloway/Solway Firth/Galloway Forest park/Clatteringshaws/Glentrool etc see ‘Forest Drive’ on map ie scenic, on a ‘cart track’ for camping etc, also significant number of ‘forestry tracks’ there that looked useable (for a trailer)

I’ve just been looking at the Hebrides. I’m not sure I can convince Mrs PP to go for that….. It does look good though, I admit.

I’ll have a look at this Coast and Castles route though… 🙂

The cycle touring bug is great 🙂

There’s some fantastic routes of 2-300 miles round north Wales – not ‘named’ routes, but a mix of tracks, cycle routes, ‘grass down the middle’ back roads, and minor lanes.

If you’d like a stunning coastline / mountain scenery combo, I’d suggest starting in llandudno Junction – out round the Orme, along the coast, a circuit round Anglesey, back over the bridge to the ‘mainland’, out round the llyn penisula (stunning!), back inland to skirt around the mountain tops of Snowdonia before dropping back in to Conwy.

Let me know if you’d like more specific details and I’ll see if I can sort out some kind of map

Sue, that does sound good, I’ll have a look at a map!

The problem with Scotland is the lack of trains to get from finish to car, so you end up being forced into a circular route, which limits the ‘journey’ somewhat…..
EDIT
Not looking closely enough 😳

There’s a map here

Need to tick the box by North Sea Cycle route to see the route

Western Isles are OK, did them this year, but the road is flat (apart from north Harris) and can be a bit uneventful, but decent none the less.

For a good few days, how about get to Glasgow, train/cycle to Ardrossan, cycle round Arran, ferry to Cloanig, cycle to Oban, ferry to Mull, cycle round Mull (west coast is gorgeous) Ferry from Tobermory to Ardnamurchan, then cycle to Mallaig via Salen, Glenuig, and Arisaig (go along old coast road, it is simply stunning/breathtaking) Then enjoy the West Highland Line train journey (one of the best in the world!) back to Glasgow via Glenfinnan and Fort William.

This for me is the trip you MUST do. Quiet roads, stunning scenery, brilliant wildlife and a fantastic train journey to end on. Plus 2 of the best Islands in Scotland.

Wallace, that’s actually at least part of the route I’ve been jotting down next to me! We’ve done some MTBing on Arran before.

Train to Glasgow, ride to Ardrossan, ferry to Brodick (Arran) bimble around Arran and get the ferry from Locranza over to the Mull of Kintryre (cheesy singing mandatory).

Hoof it across to get the ferry to Isaly. Go to some distilleries. Maybe do a bit of Jura too then there is a ferry to Oban via Colonsay – it used to be once a week or something, then back down to Glasgow.

Mull would definately be a highlight, has all the things you want. Road to Oban from Clonaig is a bit of a slog, but is not too busy, though has a few lorries.

Other alternative, park at Ballachulish/Corran Ferry, cycle to Oban (can pop over to Lismore) ferry to Craignure, lap of Mull, ferry to Ardnamurchan, cycle to Lochailort (can then go to Mallaig/Arisaig) cycle to Glenfinnan, then on south side of Loch Eil and west side of Loch Linnhe to Ardgour and ferry to Corran (this misses out busy A82).

The only problem with the Scottish suggestions is the paucity of decent tea shops / cafes and farm shops. Well that and the traditional Highland welcome.

Start from Plymouth, hop across to Roscoff on the Brittany Ferry, turn right, head around the coast keeping the sea on your right, go inland once you’re past Brest and travel along the Canal de Nantes a Brest until you’ve had enough, then head north until you reach the sea again, then back to Roscoff and home.

Start from Plymouth, hop across to Roscoff on the Brittany Ferry, turn right, head around the coast keeping the sea on your right, go inland once you’re past Brest and travel along the Canal de Nantes a Brest until you’ve had enough, then head north until you reach the sea again, then back to Roscoff and home.

+1

Or Barra to the Butt

Wallace how do you get from your car at corran to oban without going on a82 at all ?

Sorry, not France. They don’t understand vegetarian, which mrs PP is!

Sorry, not France. They don’t understand vegetarian, which mrs PP is!

🙄

I thought you were camping ? . . . bread, cheese, cider . . . sounds pretty vegetarian to me ! 😉

trail_rat – Member
Wallace how do you get from your car at corran to oban without going on a82 at all ?

You cant. But it is only a few miles from Corran Ferry to the Ballachulish Bridge where you take the A828 (with a cycle path on a lot of the way). There is pavement most of the way (Corran to Bridge) if you are not confident on a main road. Also most of it is in a 40mph zone.

fair enough – i did fort william to corran ferry earlier this year and it was the single scariest thing ive ever done on a bike on a road – including nearly going under a tractor on the north deeside road and riding my bike up the a9 on the friday of world cup weekend (after my car broke down)

Trail Rat, I agree, it is not a nice piece of road, quite enclosed and narrow with a load of trees at the side. Would rather cycle Glen Coe and the Rannoch Moor than the Fort Bill to Corran road. But Corran to Ballachulish is OK

I just went to North Norfolk, and it was surprisingly nice. Flattish, but not Lincolnshire flat, and really rather pretty. Lots of nice farm shops and the like, very nice beaches, nice food etc. I’m not sure about particular routes – I only did some fast head down road biking on main roads, but there are surely some decent routes for more country lanes type riding. Tons of campsites varying from all out ‘holiday parks’, to things more at the field + toilet end of things.

Also, about France, the French vegetarian thing is a slight pain, but I’ve always managed okay, even if sometimes I’ve had to eat a few more omelettes than I’d like to. Most places will do something like an omelette even if it isn’t on the menu. Plus cooking for yourself there is brilliant – easy to get lovely fresh fruit & veg.

Joe, to be fair we’ve been to France a few times on the motorbike, and it’s nice and all that, but we think the UK is nicer. 🙂

North Norfolk is very pretty, yes, but eventually you end up in the Fens/Broards We thought flat would be nice, and we just bought a new motorbike and took it for a few days round there, with a view to cycling round there at some point…… That’s when we decided we prefer hills 🙂

IMG_1518 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

IMG_1611 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

IMG_1494 by PeterPoddy, on Flickr

PeterPoddy – Member

Sorry, not France. They don’t understand vegetarian, which mrs PP is!

Ah, great place to cycle for routes, scenery and attitude of locals to you. Millie and I both are veggie, and we do OK in the motherland France. Actually Normandy and Britany not too bad as you get to add a few varieties of crepes to the rather short list of veggie options. We managed by rotating pizza, crepes, omlettes and sandwiches. We also had curries in restaurants that were just like curry houses in britain, in fact the staff in one were british asians and used to take a transit van over on the ferry for a lot of their stock!

[EDIT] blimey, loads more postsage on France whilst i was typing this one. Never mind. Highlands and Islands plus ferries is what i would do if they banned me from France.

How did a vegetarian manage to get past border control in France?

PP – show the Missus some of these photos of the Outer Hebrides and see if it’ll help change her mind.

http://www.scotroutes.com/Slide%20Shows/Barra%20to%20the%20Butt/default.htm
http://www.scotroutes.com/Routes/Road/Report.htm

LOL! 🙂

Eating out isn’t a problem, but when we camp we cook on one stove. In the UK you can get loads of veggie stuff very easily, but French supermarkets have very little apart from cheese. And you can’t exist on cheese sadly.

Is that one of those bob imitation trailers from ebay? Apologies if it’s the real thing and I’m accusing you of being a cheapskate like me.

Lots of possible scottish routes and the train is feasible

I’d go north west coast mainland myself in your position. say train to Garve, ullapool, inverpolly lochinver, Durness, east to hope, south to altnaharra east until you pick up the train again. I have done few varients on routes like this – its a couple of hundred miles.

Train to Berwick on Tweed and ride back to Derby (or other way around) on the Pennine cycleway, 355 miles and it goes through some of the best scenery in Englandshire. http://www.pennine-cycleway.co.uk/