Hi not done much riding south of the border so thought id sample the best of the rest over a week in the summer. So probably camping, recommendations needed but at moment plan is.

Day1 lakes,
2 south west, corwall need some ideas
3 London for oh sightseeing, parking and camping near centre, well have our kit and bikes in car so is security an isue?
4 really should try wales or Yorkshire ill leave stw to decide.

Seems like most of your time will be spent driving! Keswick Cornwall you’re looking at 6/7 hours behind the wheel. Also… London? Is this a mtbing trip or sightseeing? I’d probably suggest one or the other. Why don’t you try 3 days in the lakes then 3 days in north Wales, sampling natural & trails.

Hi not done much riding south of the border

Or driving by the sounds of it!

Day 0: Edinburgh to Keswick – 2:40
Day 1: Keswick to Exeter – 6hrs + traffic
Day 2: Exter to London – 3:30 + traffic
Day 3: London to Yorkshire Dales – 4:30

I would at least try and stick to the west or east to reduce the travelling, if set on Cornwall, miss out the lakes as they are close enough to visit another time. If you really want a ‘multi-stop’ how about hoofing it all the way to Cornwall (8hrs if you are in Southern Scotland and not wanting to go to deepest darkest Cornwall), 3 days, then a shortish hop into South Wales, 3 days then back out to the M4/M5 to get home.

Or Yorkshire Dales etc and London, a short drive south to the North Downs (Peaslake for google mapping) for some riding near the capital.

Wales isn’t englishland you dullard

Thank you for your enlightening interjection.

Your welcome

Too much driving for a week imo. Jekkyl has it.
Besides,London is closed for summer. 🙂

Personally I wouldn’t be leaving a car full of kit/bikes in London, but having said that I haven’t ever had anything stolen either.

If you feel up for the challenge, London can be great for cycling in. Despite what the naysayers might say, as long as you are sensible and keep alert it’s fine.

But, as other have said, a heck of a lot of driving!

I live in Sheffield. Cornwall and Scotland both feel like a long way.

If you want to actually ride your bike then I’d stick to Midlands and north (Lakes, Peak, Yorkshire) only. Relaxing your criteria to include Wales is also a good call but I’d aim for two locations max.

Camping in central London?

Daft concept for a trip.

Camping in central London?

Hyde Park – very popular – especially around Marble Arch. 😉

Camping in central London?

Not a problem. 🙂

I’d agree with the above. Loads of driving there.

Personally I’d hit the Lakes on the way down, then perhaps either Peak or Wales, or Dales if you’re more XC orientated.

For London, you could always have a top day out by taking a very early fast train from somewhere Yorkshireish on the East Coast Main Line and getting a very late one back.

You need to factor in around 50% extra to the normal driving times to allow for England’s massive traffic congestion. For example: Manchester to Birmingham should take you a couple of hours but can take between 3 and 5 if the M6 in Cheshire is being used as a temporary car park, as it usually is.

….and camping in London?

Best stick to Lancashire and Yorkshire for the best cycling in England; empty roads, spectacular scenery, affordable beer and food, plenty of camping, not too much theft.

Don’t go further south than Kendal.

Don’t forget – south of the border, small children are not considered a free-range foodstuff

… unless you do go to Wales (or Lancs, obvz)

cornwall has some fun riding but not worth driving from the other end of the country. surf + beaches maybe but not riding.

Devon and somerset are pretty good. Dartmoor, exmoor, quantocks could all give you an epic all day ride each.

That sounds incredibly hard work. I present here a car-free odyssey to the places on your list, making use of the sleeper trains to remove the unpleasant journeys and cut down on hotel bills:

Overnight – Edinburgh to London on the Sleeper.
Day 1 – London
Overnight on the sleeper from London to Penzance
Day 2 – Penzance
Overnight on the sleeper from Penzance to Reading (4am), then 6am train to Windermere arriving about 11am on Day 3
Day 3 – Windermere
Day 4 – Train Windermere to Penrith, then cycle C2C from Penrith to Durham (60 miles, fair going)
Late train Durham to Edinburgh.

🙂

Titter. 😀

Starting in Scotland, it’s hard to see any reason to go south of the Dales, or perhaps Peak District at a stretch. The M6 is a completely different road N vs S of Preston.

it’s hard to see any reason to go south of the Dales

I’m not saying the riding is better in the North Downs than it is in Scotland, but the atmosphere and feel (say) of a North Downs ride is very different to either Scotland, Peaks, Lakes or Dales. They’re all somewhat different sorts of places, if seeing different sorts of English places floats your boat.

Trying to traipse round all of them in a week like some deranged “5 Mediocre Hilly Areas Challenge” sounds hellish though. 🙂

Starting in Scotland, it’s hard to see any reason to go south of the Dales

Living in Devon, I find it hard to see any reason to go north of the Quantocks…

Yorkshire isn’t englishland you dullard

Come down tut Dales lad.

What sort of riding do you normally do? Trail centres or “natural” stuff?
I presume you are looking for something different?

You’ll discover that in England (and Wales) we have handy “red dashed lines” on our OS maps, indicating bridleways which are often suitable, and sometimes excellent, for mountain biking 😉

So is it right I cant just plan a route off an OS map?

For riding purposes[ and to avoid massive driving] i would stick to the lakes/ dales/ peaks/ north wales

Pick from that as they are all 1- 2 hours apart

TBH if you live in scotland there rally is no need to leave to ride you lucky sod

Whilst we envy your “Right to Roam”, I find it much easier to plan routes where bridleways (and BOATS and Restricted Byways) are marked. However, just because they exist legally, it doesn’t mean they exist on the ground.

Choose your areas, and STW will recommend the best routes for you to enjoy.

So is it right I cant just plan a route off an OS map?

yes. but you might get tutted at.

Wales isn’t englishland you dullard

It’s only a principality though, not a real country is it……… 😉

Camping in central(ish) London here:

Crystal Palace camp site.

If you wait until 15th August, you can go to the football too, Palace v Arsenal!

APF

Surely this whole thread is a joke by a disgruntled Scotlander in response to the person who wanted to do the whole of Scotland in an afternoon.

It’s only a principality though, not a real country is it………

Only out of spite 🙁

Oh I don’t think that the good Dr is disgruntled.

Just stay in the Lake District. Best riding I’ve found in England and there’s so much in a relatively small area – go during the week to avoid the weekend crowds.

A troll surely? Got to be a troll!

Good work though, lots of bites..

Maybe I’ll do a thread about wanting to cover the Alps, Pyrenees and Appennines in four days in a Robin Reliant.. 🙂

Reliant Robin!

Nothing wrong with a bit of driving, i’ve done Birmingham to Scotland for a long weekend enough times, and a week in the alps is a day each way with 3hrs driving each day sometimes more.

I’d personally bypass the lakes and head further down, you could do the lakes in a long weekend easily enough so although the lakes and yorkshire are some of england’s best riding i’d crack on past personally.

Start in North wales, South wales, devon/cornwall, across the south coast then back up to the midlands and do a weekend in the peak district on the way home.

Plenty of guidebooks for those areas, loads of trail centres & gps online options. Grab a days uplift at Stiniog or Bike park wales if you can. Penmachno, Coed-y-brenin, Llandegla, Cwm Carn and Afan are the obvious welsh ones but check out the black mountains, berwyn mountains, Machynlleth as well. I could spend a week just in wales 😆

http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/

Sleeper train to london for a weekend another time…

😀

i’m with the ‘subtle troll’ group.

but i’ll play along.

North Wales, South Wales, Quantocks. More than enough great riding for a week.

Leave London and The Lake District for separate weekend trips.

and now the bomb:

The Peak District isn’t worth the drive from Scotland. it’s pretty enough in places, but the riding is mostly a bit pants.

Lots of good advice but we’ve decided to alps instead.