I’m potentially moving back up north soon with a job based in Leeds. I’ll be in the office every day so need to be close’ish (<25 miles).

Thought about living in Hebden Bridge but willing to consider most places. The biggie for me is being able to have good riding out my front door. Want to be able to ride straight after work in them there hills. Any ideas?

Little London.

Hebden Bridge would certainly match your criteria, but I suspect in reality you have more than just the riding as a criteria? Hebden’s a great place, and one that definitely has its own, distinctive and unique vibe. Some will like it, some won’t, you might want to spend a bit of time there before making any huge decisions..

Little London.

Not great riding round there though?

If you want plenty of biking on doorstep and short commute by train, then Bingley / Baildon

Cool- I’ve been to Hebden before and quite like the place. Just wondering what else is about. Will have a look at Bingley too

hebbers, todmorden, mytholmroyd, luddenden foot, brighouse, sowerby bridge, halifax, keighley, oakworth, denholme, queensbury, elland, ilkley, otley…….basicaly anywhere but leeds. 😀

Otley or a little further out Ilkley, which has a train.

Bingley etc (Aire Valley) If you have less money, but want good biking, good train link and canal commute/access.

Otley / Ilkley (Wharfe Valley) and Harrogate if you can afford, altho the biking isn’t as good IMO, rail links not as good generally, no canal towpath links.

Personally, for some reason I’m not that keen on Hebbers, Todd etc (altho the biking is great), they always feel a bit depressing to me, compounded by the immediate countryside always looks heavily scarred with old industrial ruins and scrap.

<stuck record mode>

Marsden though, that does rather assume you
a. like driving – the M62 can be a real pain in rush hour
b. job is city centre’ish = train from the station in the village, though you have to change at Hudds…

the important stuff – good riding, great pubs / eateries = all the stuff I’ve said before 😉

</stuck record mode>
🙂

You should have a look at Skipton, where I live. Brilliant riding in all directions with Malham, Settle, Stainburn and Gisburn only a stones throw away. Not as built up or as rough as Keighley, Bingley etc. Not as expensive as Ilkley, Harrogate etc. Road links straight to the Lakes, Dales and North York Moors (inc Dalby). Oh, and it’s on the train line to Leeds with trains every 30 mins or so. There’s also a Leeds bus but that’s rubbish and takes ages. 😉

There are many worse places to live than Harrogate! Expensive though.

This sort of area –

North Leeds is a decent area with some reasonable riding………..but most of it has been a bog-fest for the last 8 months or so. 😐

Not great riding round there though?

I was joking. 🙂

Lived in Leeds as a student in Hyde Park but I dunno where’s nice now TBH. Roundhay and Chapel Allerton always seemed nice but I’m guessing they’re expensive.

As an unashamed middle-class faux hippy I love it in Hebbers and I will be moving there within the next 6 months hopefully.

Roundhay & Chapel Allerton are ok to live in with lots of places to eat and drink
but the local riding is the North Leeds death-by-clay when there’s any moisture in the air. In winter you need to head further afield

Little elondon will be good for training!!

All the places north & west of leeds are good for riding but theres also peaks as well. My wife used to do rothwell/LS26 area to bradwell (i think) valley in about 45 mins when she was working down there.

Theres no decent riding in LS26 though 🙁

Again folks, thanks for the replies. Need to get on rightmove and start looking at places I think!

OP – where abouts in Leeds are you going to be working? This makes a big difference as to where you can live.

If its city centre ie you can get a train in then this opens up many options. If you need to drive, then good luck. The traffic from the west side of Leeds ie the Aire Valley or M62 is trully awful.

If the tain is an option then any where up the Aire Valley is good (apart from Keighley). Plus you get the most amazing commute in to Leeds on the Leeds Liverpool Canal.

I live close to the the middle of Toxicsoks map and can confirm it’s pretty good for riding, and the train to work is an added bonus that means no commuting on the A65 for me 🙂

I will (hopefully) be based in LS11 so south Leeds? I suppose Sheffield is in spitting distance too

I live in Alwoodley, which is nice enough, but Bramhope would be my preferred location (not cheap though!) Otley seems okay and I see the (riding) benefits of Baildon/Bingley but know little about the areas.

Ilkley,
Bingley,
Harrogate.

I work in LS11. Live in Chapel Allerton, ride in most days (20 Min) and can mountain bike from the house (with some roads), also great road riding (of which I have been doing a lot this year, due to aforementioned mud.

Ls11 is good for the station though 🙂

LS11 makes the Aire Valley look less promosing as it looks like your definately a car commute to there. I used to commute from Saltaire to Domestic St in LS11, and it used to take 1hr + for 12 ish miles by car. It was sole destroying 🙁

Sheffield – I can comment on this too as I used to commute there too. On a good run I could get from Meadowhall are to the centre of Leeds in 30 mins leaving Meadowhall area at 5pm. However most traffic goes the opposite direction ie the direction you would travel. In the morning the ques are from Wakefield in to Leeds centre…its not fast! and besides if you wanted to live Sheffield you would have to look around Grenoside area as South Sheffield (ie white peak) would take you ages just to get to the motorway.

Ls11 is good for the station though

really? only the very inner edge of it.

LS11 definitely rules out Aire Valley in my view etc. How are you planning/hoping to commute – bike, car, public transport?

Planning on riding in as much as possible. At the moment my commute is 25 miles each way on the bike and its a bit of a killer. Somewhere around half that distance would be great. I suppose thats my answer really isn’t it!

Calverley LS28 Leeds nice, and bang in the middle of some nice riding. Easy to Leeds with a new station coming to Apperley Bridge as well.
Just not too close to the Ravo side !

Flange I used to commute on the Leeds Liverpool Canal Saltaire to just past the city centre and it took 45mins. As I say above equivalent car journey will be 1hr ++

If you are definately committed to cylcle commuting, then the Aire Valley can not be beaten, but you need to be the closer end of LS11 to the city centre than further out.

I would look at Saltaire, Baildon (up the hill bigger houses), Bingley, Crossflatts. (all commutable along the canal to Leeds) + amazing riding on your doorstep.

Calverley would have been my first thought as well. Any further out would be miserable. Avoiding the ring road, it isn’t going to take long to get over that way.

Thanks FunkyDunc, much appreciated.

I’m pretty committed to biking, one of the reasons for moving north is just to do a lot more and less ‘sat in a car in traffic’ type stuff. If I can just ride down the canal then even better.

One nice thing about the canal commute is it’s so easy to add some singletrack in Calverley, Esholt, Thackley and Shipley Glen so after a rubbish day you can bung in a half hour thrashing around the woods to cheer yourself up.

You can also easily get out to bingley and on toward Haworth and beyond to make for some good, long “doorstep” rides. Edit: e.g. http://app.strava.com/activities/13377326

I wouldn’t personally recommend Hebden. Working in Leeds will mean you’ve got about a 1:15-1:30 commute.

I do Halifax (motorway side of town) to Leeds and it takes me 45 mins to an hour each day. Hebden into Halifax will easily add to that.

I’d look at Halifax, Brighouse, certain areas of Bradford and Huddersfield. Good riding and a sensible commute.

I wouldn’t personally recommend Hebden. Working in Leeds will mean you’ve got about a 1:15-1:30 commute.

I do Halifax (motorway side of town) to Leeds and it takes me 45 mins to an hour each day. Hebden into Halifax will easily add to that.

Is the train no good?

When I was going to move to Leeds, we’d pretty much decided on Otley.

Ilkley would also be do-able on a bike, and you’d have a bit of a warm up before you hit the big hill just out of Otley!

More expensive, but I get the feeling you might not be short of a bob or two.

I live in Huddersfield. It’s an easy commute to Leeds. Twenty minutes on the train or 40-60 minutes on the M62. I used to get the train to Leeds in the morning then get the train back to Halifax in the evening and commute back from there. There are a load of good off road options between Huddersfield and Halifax.

Property in Huddersfield is good value, its handy for everywhere, Leeds, Manchester, Halifax, Bradford etc… It has some cracking Ale pubs and a healthy mountain bike scene with lots of local challenges that are great fun. Google Colne Valley Challenge, Holme Valley Challenge, Pennine X to get an idea.

Seacroft is nice

“Seacroft is nice…”

Troll, you wouldn’t have your bike for long there….

Anywhere South West of Wakefield, Flockton, Clayton West, Denby Dale, Shelly, Skelmanthorpe……..

Calverley
Pudsey
Rodley
Horsforth
Cookridge
all within easy reach of the Leeds Liverpool canal for your commute to work with riding more or less on the doorstep , I live in my last suggestion and am into countryside within 5 minutes of leaving the front door (or the local wood in 100 yards)

Going west:
Calverley, Buck & Esholt Woods all good spots and near canal.
Open spaces: Baildon Moor (my home), Ilkley Moor(when dry) Harden/St Ives.
Got a friend who swears Shibden Valley (between Halifax & Shelf)is great biking too.