To make sure I stay in our area under Tier 3 I want to do a gravel ride round Leeds as it’s a bit flatter than my area (got a bad back) and it’s only a short distance away. Not bothered about cafes or anything but can anyone recommend some routes or trails in East or North Leeds? About 20-25 miles would be perfect.
Lots of very tame bridleways out that way around Scarcroft, Thorner, Bramham Park, Aberford, Barwick.
Just look at the OS map layer on Bing Maps and join up the dashed lines
East Leeds is my neck of the woods - a gravel bike is ideal round here (the areas mentioned above and further south too). Where are you coming from? Parking up somewhere or coming over on the bike?
Do you have to stay in your area or your tier?
Tier 3 is quite a big area!!
You could have a look into the Wetherby Red Kite trail, I haven't done it myself, but knowing what most of the bridle ways are like round this side of Leeds I reckon it'll be gravel bike type stuff.
As above though, check OS maps and join up the bridle ways. One of my local routes is Woodlesford along the canal to St Aidens, Allerton Bywater, up to Garforth via the lines then back through Temple Newsem and canal again but this can be extended easily in about every direction....
What Ads678 said,can easily be extended by exploring a bit too
Parking up somewhere or coming over on the bike?
Probably parking up somewhere. I’d like to come on the train but want to avoid that right now and don’t want to be stuck in Leeds and can’t get back.
Are you on Strava? Taking a look at my history woudl give you loads of good ideas. PM me if you want some further help!
Snownrock has the answer I think. There may be some Leeds gravel paths Ton doesn’t know - but I doubt it.
I came up with this route when I got my gravel bike - worked out quite well !
https://www.strava.com/routes/25780710
Red Kite Trail is a nice few hours of gravel riding.
Look up Half Day CC. I rode with them in the before times and that was fab for finding new routes. There's some on their Komoot page that are worth a look.
Re Wetherby red kite. Great route, muddy in places, advice on here about muddiest bits which might be worth an avoid this time of year: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/wetherby-red-kite-trail-slop-or-not/#post-11475068
Thanks @snotrag, I used one of your rides on Strava as a base for a route and we had a nice 26 mile ride. Very very muddy in places which slowed things down a bit but other pleasant - was happy to have mudguards on for sure!
We did ride for a while on a proper off-road footpath for a while by mistake and it was mega muddy!!