MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Currently live in the West Midlands And my plan for years has always been to move to Scotland and I’d ear marked the tweed valley but I’m not sure it’s the right choice. The time and cost required to commute into Edinburgh for a job that is challenging enough just doesn’t tally up despite wanting to be able to ride yair after work of an evening.
So where shall I move to?!
Requirements are within a commutable journey of a university as that’s where I currently work and I really enjoy my job.
Fantastic techy riding both MTB and road but MTB most important.
Good riding community as I’d like a bit of a social scene and be able to make some riding mates.
Anywhere in the UK, that’s it!
Standard answer = Sheffield
Bethesda
Commute every day or 2,3 days a week? What's your commute time aim?
Live in Kendal, commute to Lancaster.
Where you get a job at, surely?
/Broken record
If not, Stirling/BofA/Dunblane is the answer.
(Then you can ride at lunchtime on uni property)
/BrokenRecordOff
Lancaster, Bangor (Wales), Sheffield, Buxton, Durham all have unis or a campus and riding nearby
Anywhere in the UK, that’s it!
Maybe not Scotland, if thinking long term. 🙂
Live in FoD and commute to UWE (now that the bridges are free in both directions). Lots of other riding within an hour or so. Good road riding (especially out into Herefordshire), provided you like hills.
The time and cost required to commute into Edinburgh for a job that is challenging enough just doesn’t tally up despite wanting to be able to ride yair after work of an evening.
The train is an hour each way and circa £20 return or you've an 80 mile around trip (and parking) into a city centre. How much cash/time are you wanting to spend?
I'm near Melrose and work (pre-lockdown) in the west of Edinburgh - so well aware.
As previously said, surely it's where a job is available?
It also depends where you want to live ie remote or city. Based on places similar to the tweed valley in terms of facilities and remoteness, I'd say Bangor or Aberystwyth. If you want to be closer to bigger city universities, then I'd say Sheffield, Swansea or Cardiff.
But, as in stw tradition - recommend where you live, I'd say Sheffield. Two big universities, amazing riding, social scene and rural locations close to the city.
Aberystwyth is lovely but tiny with poor infrastructure.
If you lecture then there's no escape from the students unless you go out of town for your pint/meal/coffee (I know someone who worked there for 5 years)
oldtennisshoes
Full Member
Bethesda
Twinned with Fallujah... 😉
Herriot Watt, Galashiels to Yair, Galashiels is not far.
https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/scottish-borders.htm
Glasgow Uni at Dumfries.
UWS at Dumfries.
Stirling Uni at Stirling, is probably the answer.
Northern Peak District for Sheffield/Manchester unis.
Matlock or Amber Valley just below for Nottingham/Derby unis
What @martinhutch said.
I like Stirling area, but mainly because it's really central for getting to other places, the riding is decent, but not 'fantastic' IMO.
Leeds / Bradford very good universities and brilliant riding
Particularly Baildon, Bingley , Guiseley way.
Just the traffic, pollution, crime isn’t great
I wasn’t a fan of living in Sheffield, but I was in Hillsbrough. Just a faff to get to the riding
We have moved from that area to Shropshire. I really miss the MTB stuff.
Anywhere in the South of Edinburgh. Bonaly, Currie, Balerno. All next to Heriot Watt and 20/ 30 mins from Peebles while being on the edge of the Pentlands.
Inverness and surrounding area but South/West Edinburgh is a good call.
^ what he said
Sheffield would work with stereo Uni's
Teeside University. You could easily live in the North York Moors. My mate works in the Hospital in Middlesborough and claims it's the closest in England to a national park. But he might be wrong
Inverness and surrounding area
Aviemore to Inverness is only 40 minutes, and every chance of a few snow days!
I'll do the standard STW thing and recommend what we did and say Galashiels or Tweedbank.
Both have trainstations that'll take you to Edinburgh.
Also close enough to Yair to ride there in half an hour.
With the added bonus of there being quite a few trails in the local woods and miles and miles of XC type hill riding.
Both have trainstations that’ll take you to Edinburgh.
How much longer to travel to Riccarton from Waverley?
. My mate works in the Hospital in Middlesborough and claims it’s the closest in England to a national park. But he might be wrong
Hospital or uni? Westmorland General in Kendal is about a mile from the national park boundary...
Sheffield uni (and hospital) has to be closer to the park edge than that, as well..
I biased because I am Sheffield born and bred but honestly I wouldn't live anywhere else even given the choice.
I live north Sheffield and to the eye it looks a pretty built up area; Hillsborough stadium a 2k down the road, the main Sheffield Uni about 4-5k away and then into town. But, I can walk from my doorstep and within a 800m walk I am essentially in the countryside and wouldn't have to hit civilisation proper until I hit Manchester or beyond. In fact I can pick up the TPT within 1k. Did a 12k round walk the other day and was on roads for less than 1500m.
Greno and Wharncliffe woods (Steve Peat's original stomping grounds) are 3k up the road and again carry on as far as you like from there out into the Peaks. Road riding is as good as the trails and again in not much time at all you are off the main roads and out onto the good stuff.
And then you have all the conveniences of living in an actual city too but with friendly folk and plenty to do when the pubs, clubs and shops re-open.
I live in Sheffield and work at the uni. Happy to chat privately if you want to know about the uni or surrounding area.
Sheffield would work with stereo Uni’s
There's only one university in Sheffield, and then there's that other Hallamshire Poly thing... 😉
Twinned with Fallujah… 😉
The atmosphere always reminds me of the build up to The Gun Fight at the OK Corral
Peebles is 20 min from Edinburgh. Nowhere in the Tweed valley is a bad commute to Edinburgh really.
Prices tumble once you get to Penicuik / Gorebidge .
Richie_B
Full Member
Twinned with Fallujah… 😉
The atmosphere always reminds me of the build up to The Gun Fight at the OK Corral
🤣
Bethesda 🤣🤣
Although my favourite answer on one of these type thread recently was Stockport! Plenty of unis neaby in Manchester, not so sure that I'd fancy living in Stockport like!
The atmosphere always reminds me of the build up to The Gun Fight at the OK Corral
Yes, not a very welcoming place....
brads
Full MemberPeebles is 20 min from Edinburgh. Nowhere in the Tweed valley is a bad commute to Edinburgh really.
By helicopter? It's 22 miles centre > centre
Peebles is 20 min from Edinburgh.
Well, it's 20 mins to the bypass, outside of commuting hours.
By helicopter? It’s 22 miles centre > centre
Motorbike lol. Travel from the outskirts of Edinburgh to the city centre cannot be measured. It's a ballache minefield that is different every day and I'd rather sacrifice a ball that have to do it.
I meant this.
Well, it’s 20 mins to the bypass,
I suppose a bit more if Penicuik is busy, but it's still hardly a bad commute.
Well, it’s 20 mins to the bypass, outside of commuting hours.
And at least the same again to get into the uni area.
Nowhere in the Tweed valley is a bad commute to Edinburgh really.
Probably not when you consider some of the commutes in SE England. My BiL commutes from Gattonside to Edinburgh, it's not a commute I'd want to have to do tbh.
As noted above, if you want Tweed Valley riding but a quicker than 45-60min commute then you might want to be looking at Mid Lothian. Somewhere like Gorebridge gives you quick access to the City, quick access to Tweed Valley and good valley housing. The compromise, and there is always a compromise, is a lack of riding from the door.
despite wanting to be able to ride yair after work of an evening
I commute home through Yair. Doesn't help, just thought i would mention it:-D
.
Used to commute to Edinburgh, I'm just north of Galashiels. 26 miles of mostly the A7 and it was quicker by bike than by car, anything passed Newtongange is a nightmare at rush hour.
If you can WFH a lot or do weird hours and miss rush hour or get a job at Herriot Watt in Gala then go for it, lovely place to live
Depends what you're tolerance for commuting is really. As mentioned above commuting from the Borders is fine until you get near the bypass then it grinds to a crawl. Bus services are pretty good and we have a train station option. If I'm going to the valley after work it takes 45-60 mins to get from Blackford/The Grange to Glentress. I live in Newtongrange, I like being relatively close to the city for work, socialising, kids activities etc. In normal times my son is at the Commie pool 6 days a week so living in the valley would be irrelevant as I'd have no time for riding. I grew up in the Borders and I'm sure it's better now and Peebles is it's own wee world but it can be a bit claustrophobic. I have pretty good xc riding from the door in all directions although the woods are pretty muddy just now and there are some nice quiet roads if that's also your thing. Had some really good wintery rides in the Pentlands recently and they're only ten minutes drive or 40 mins on the bike.
Peebles is not 20 mins from Edinburgh. You could get to Penicuik in that time, but driving to central Edinburgh is anything from 45mins in the middle of the night to three hours when it rains on a Friday during the Festival and there is an incident on the bypass.
You could get ti Penicuik in 20 mins, the only drawback there is that you will be in Penicuik.
South West London; Epsom, Kingston, Wimbledon that sort of way.
Motorbike lol. Travel from the outskirts of Edinburgh to the city centre cannot be measured. It’s a ballache minefield that is different every day and I’d rather sacrifice a ball that have to do it.
A bit of a daft claim it's only 20 minutes if the endpoint of the commute is not the destination. So you need to be Peebles to Riccarton, Peebles to Craiglockart, Peebles to Kings Buildings. None of those are particularly reliable journeys, and I'd not choose to do that every day.
However, I think MOAB has the right answer - surely if you have a restriction on working only for a University you have to find the job first, then you work out where to live? He's also right though that Stirling is an obvious choice if the work lines up. Heriot Watt had a lot of staff who could cycle from their front door to the Pentlands, and if you want more unusual then there will be good riding close to many of the UH&I campuses.
Maybe not Scotland, if thinking long term. 🙂
I think there's some sense in that comment! IF you would be very concerned about Scotland spending the next 3-4 years arguing about independence referenda or horrified if we were to leave the UK then you need to have a pause for thought. The arguments about referenda are virtually guaranteed. Some sort of referendum is very likely. Its a bit of a coin toss which way that could end up. If you don't really care - then you'll be very welcome.
Dundee. 2 x Unis in town and another nearby, just over the water.
Sidlaws / Ballo / Lundie / Dunkeld / Kinnoull for neighbourly riding.
Live to the NW of town for easy access & exit. Better access from the city to proper mountain riding than anywhere else in the UK, with the possible exception of Inverness.
Potential for return to the EU in the medium term.
not so sure that I’d fancy living in Stockport like!
Plenty of decent areas to live around Stockport.
If you are keen on Scotland, had the Tweed Valley in mind already and can afford it, then Edinburgh. Having done both regularly, I would much rather live in Edinburgh and travel to ride than live in the Borders and have to commute in to Edinburgh regularly. Also worth noting that Edinburgh is obviously closer to other riding locations.
Personally I would always say live in the centre if you can afford to, but I realise that everyone is different in that regard.
Stokesley edge of North York moors, close to Teeside Uni but far enough away.....
Coast close by Saltburn Whitby, Yarm is nice for food and drink.
Close to Dalby Forest, not far to Hamsterley and Swaledale
Dundee still an hours drive from proper mountains, that's gonna be the same or worse for pretty much every city though.
A bit of a daft claim it’s only 20 minutes if the endpoint of the commute is not the destination
A dafter claim would be to give a time for getting into the city centre from outside the city.
Did we speak about this before in PM? Not sure... Worked at Heriot-Watt, live in Currie, drove to the borders a LOT. I often thought it'd be nice to relocate closer to the best riding, but in the end I would never trade a 5 minute commute for that, since the riding is still easily driveable and I do that 1 or 2 times a week while I commute every day. The maths was just pretty definite tbh.
Though right now I wish I lived a few miles south and was officially in the Borders for lockdown reasons!
Edinburgh is obviously well located and has the 4 unis and big college, but, they're also super spread out so what works well for hwu or some of the edinburgh college or napier campuses, isn't good for UoE or QMU. In fact from my house in rush hour I reckon Stirling is pretty much as convenient as the last 2. And as soon as you involve the bypass in a commute things get unpredictable- it can be great one day and a disaster the next, which is a bummer as the whole "to the south of edinburgh" pretty much requires it. It shouldn't be a dealbreaker but it basically makes the "live close to work and commute to the riding" a bit stronger.
(otoh, on a bad day it'd definitely take me less time to get to Stirling than it does to get to QMU, or even to get into george square for UoE and find parking when we've done events there)
There's a lot of cheaper living to the west of Edinburgh- Linlithgow, Broxburn, Bathgate, places like that where you get a 3 bedroom house with garden for the price of a cardboard box in the city but that all adds 20-30 minutes to the borders, which might or might not bother you but is a psychological thing for me. Which is a bummer as it's got a lot of advantages to trying to find similiar south of the city, where it's generally more expensive but also there's just a lot less choice.
There is good riding all over of course- in lockdown I've been riding the Pentlands more than I have in years, west of the city has its own options like Beecraigs, and from where I am Dumyat and a bunch of stuff around there is easily doable in a day- again currently messed with by closed council borders just now but don't target focus on the valley.
TBF none of the unis seem to be recruiting much right now which pushes the "live where you work" vs "find work where you live" thing around a lot. Looking for both a move and a job at the moment so it's been on my mind.
Yes Northwind indeed we did, you kindly replied then and again now. Need to properly look through everybodies answers and look into the places to see what i think and have a virtual look around but wanted to clarify a few responses.
South West London; Epsom, Kingston, Wimbledon that sort of way.
I can hand on my heart say I'd rather quit biking!
I'm very much a work to live person rather than live to work. I'm on circa 24k and very happy to be on that wage and I've no intention of trying to get more money just to trade off what makes me me and thats life outside of work. For that reason Gala and going into Edinburgh just isnt cutting it once I'd looked into it. 1 hr commute and £20 a day on the train, NO! Work doesnt have to be a Uni as being a course coordinator I basically do all the admin for the students and the course, exam boards, uni systems etc. so its very transferable but Uni is a nice place to be with so many departments to transfer into and seems pretty secure, more so than further education which i did before.
I don't think life is going to stay as it is now, despite most employers being shown that working from home can work so I don't want to make the assumption that it'll be okay because I can work from home for some of the week. I've been at home constantly working for almost a year now, jab on thurs woop woop, but before that I was working in Edgbaston so taking around 40 minutes and not costing much on my 125 bike. I did wonder about using a bike to get into Edinburgh but I reckon a chunk of winter would be too cold and snowy to consider.
I think ideally we would want to be somewhere that feels remote but in reality isnt. Neither of us are going outters, we'd rather be out in the countryside in the day and hide inside in the evening. Part of the appeal of Peebles etc. is that everyone dresses the way we do and enjoys the sorts of things we do, rather than being surrounded by people who arent like 'us'.
The area around Lancaster is a great place to live. Fantastic uni (I’m told, never went there, I’m to thick 😂) great access to rail and motorway networks and brilliant riding. For roadriding you have the choice of the hills of the Bowland fells or the flatlands of the Fylde coast both from your doorstep. Then there’s the fantastic Lake District for mtbing less than 45mins away by car.
Simply to suggest somewhere different to what has been suggested already, somewhere near Petersfield.
Close to Rogate, QECP and South Downs Way for mountain bike riding.
Loads of the best road bike climbs on mainland Hampshire and West Sussex on your doorstep.
Train station as a commuting option.
Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, Reading unis as possibles, probably others too.
North Sheffield is good (Wharncliffe, Greno in easy reach) or west Sheffield (more pricey but better access to real Peak riding) are very safe bets. Tram from Middlewood in to town right outside the Uni or a few minutes walk to Hallam would make a good commute. Or bike in from west Sheffield (lots of people do that already).
Obviously I’d say all of that given I live here but the riding I do from my doorstep is bloody great. And a really good biking community in Ride Sheffield.
Bristol - two large (and seemingly ever expanding) unis and a couple of large further education colleges. Great road riding in most directions. A few areas at the edge of the city for mountainbiking (Ashton Court, Leigh Woods, 50 Acre Woods and a couple of others), but really well positioned for acceessing Mendip Hills, Quantocks, Cotswolds, Forest of Dean, and Welsh hills and trail centres. Great city to live in, but housing is relatively expensive.
Lancasters a good shout actually, I spend a fair chunk of time nearby and have found some really good fairly undiscovered countryside.
Uni and hospital, proposed super hospital planned near Preston.
Best thing is the mainline station so London in 2 hours 30, Manchester in 60 mins but letter service is crowded, or was pre covid.
Clearly towards the lakes you will pay premium prices but some nice villages in the lune valley.
I think you have to be very honest with yourself about how often you will ride after work across the whole year. WE decided to live near work and travel to ride rather than the other way round because under normal circumstances its less travelling.
Our theory was to live near riding means an hours commute each way. So our honest question is how often would we ride having been out the house from 7:30 am to 7pm every day? On a lovely summers evening then yes we would love to ride. But most of the year its not a lovely summers evening......
Peebles to riccarton is 40 to 45minutes every single day. If it's bad an hour but that's unusual. I have twice in 5 years sacked it off when an accident has halted the bypass completely.
Public transport aka the bus is great every twenty minutes, modern comfortable bus with tables and bike racks. But and it's a big but. The shitness of Edinburgh bus* routing drags you right to the centre if you need another bus to get you to your final destination. It takes 1.5 for me to cycle the whole way, it takes two hours on the bus (bus stop outside my front door, a decent walk from alot of Peebles just to get to the nearest bus stop).
I'd say hels was about right for driving to the city centre 45 minutes to an hour on a good day if you happen to be on a main route through the city it's surprisingly clear running compared to coming in from the west.
Cycling that road in winter commuting time. Not A Chance. In summer it's great if you set off early doors and come through penicuik. The off-road route is a non starter in the morning but makes a cracking gravel ride return.
Part of the appeal of Peebles etc. is that everyone dresses the way we do and enjoys the sorts of things we do, rather than being surrounded by people who arent like ‘us’.
I think you might be a bit disappointed in that mindset. Peebles has two halves, lots of cyclists but it's a rural Scottish town in the most consistently Tory voting constituency with a big ole' bunch of miserable bastards.
My commute went from 1.5minute down hill blast to 15minute cycle to what it is now. Do I sometimes regret it? Yep but nowhere near as much as I hated everything being a drag across town to get clear of people etc.
I think ideally we would want to be somewhere that feels remote but in reality isnt. Neither of us are going outters, we’d rather be out in the countryside in the day and hide inside in the evening.
If you look at Edinburgh direction, move to Penicuik, it ticks all the boxes, close to Edinburgh, close to the Borders, the Pentlands on your doorstep. There is very little to the town centre so it'll make you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere and if you want to go out in town it'll cost a fortune in taxi fares to get home.
Outside rush hour I'm 7 minutes to the bypass, at rush hour..... Well that's anyone's guess as the A702 used to get busy.
A dafter claim would be to give a time for getting into the city centre from outside the city.
That's nonsense unless you want IKEA or the forge or the airport you're going in one way or another.
So our honest question is how often would we ride having been out the house
Current answer is 3 times a week at 20 miles a pop on the winter road bike!
That’s nonsense unless you want IKEA or the forge or the airport you’re going in one way or another
I've no idea what that means, but just to let you know, this thread isn't about me.
As @FunkyDunc says, there are a lot of stw folk NW of Leeds which suggests it’s not totally rubbish - including stw’s Tom Hill and Benji wrote the local guidebook. Gives you access to three Unis in Leeds, plus Bradford. And potentially York and further afield by train if needed.
As you know, HE is financially under a lot of pressure as a result of COVID so jobs are few and far between, so it might be a case of having half a dozen target areas and keeping an eye on jobs at all the respective Unis you are interested in.
I really love it in Yorkshire - loads of variety of riding. The person who suggested Durham made me chuckle - after 13 years there I can confirm the riding here is much better though I do miss the old railway lines. Otherwise I’d personally consider anywhere in Scotland just so I know I could get into the highlands at the weekend.
I went to Uni in Leeds for three years, not really keen on the idea of moving back to that area. For whatever reason I don't see it as match to my biking and outdoors requirements. Maybe I saw it with different eyes at the time (I've been T total for 38 years though so never had beer goggles!).
I think you're right about keeping an eye on a few places and striking on what pops up. There's really no rush for this as we were supposed to move September time so it's already been put on the back burner. We've just hired 3 new members of staff within my team so everyone should be applying with my Uni clearly! Sent an email this evening about a job in Lancaster but with Cumbria Uni. Good to know of a few areas that could work, I like the idea of Stirling for a central point to access things further afield. Would like to have good enough biking from the door to be happy but then not to far for more epicness I guess!
Cardiff's pretty good. Caerphilly closer to more tech riding though but not as nice of a place to live. Cardiff uni is in town, the MTBing is 20-30 mins ride from the city centre and there's oodles of big tech within a 3-4hr ride or a short drive/train ride.
Kendal just don't expect great boozers or nightlife most of the riders I know that live in Lancaster are slowly moving to Kendal 🙂
Once my daughters leaves home I,m heading to Aveimore way 🙂 to retire
I actually dont want great boozers or any remote semblance of a night life so fine by me!
If you are looking for tech riding, check out the Strava heat map. You can see all the squiggly home-made bike park type locations on there easily.