Don't think we've had one of these for a while... my job being mainly remote means I can live basically anywhere in the UK, so am considering a bit of a change.
Key considerations are being able to ride from the door to relatively decent mountain biking, and not terrible access to London for when I have to visit there for work (every few weeks, generally for a few days at a time, so longer journeys are fine). Ideally somewhere with a decent biking community, I'd be keen to get involved in local trail building etc. And somewhere that feels pretty safe / not constantly worried whether the bikes are still going to be there in the morning.
Current thought is Innerleithen (fly from Edinburgh or train from Berwick to London), anywhere else come to mind?
Todmorden - some sort of biking stuff happens there - apparently.
Kendal would be a good option . Edge of the lakes, decent town and oxenholme station is on the west coast main line.
Peaks side of Sheffield also works. Whirlow area is great for local trails and access to the wider peaks.
Eastern side of Sheffield. Ticks all those boxes.
In the tradition of 'recommend where you live' - New Mills/Disley/Whaley Bridge area.
- Ride the Peak from the door and a large riding community
- Train to London from Macclesfield or Stockport is great, you can be on be train at about half six in the morning and into Euston at half eight. 100mb broadband on the train and they're modern, comfy and quiet.
- Regular trains into Manchester for big city stuff if that's your thing
- Loads of excellent pubs
Buy a big camper van, fit wireless, load it up and hit the roads as a free man....
West side of Sheffield or out into the Peak
Kendal (less good weather)
Buy a big camper van, fit wireless, load it up and hit the roads as a free man....
I did this and do not regret it.
Although the UK is not the most hashtagvanlife friendly.
South east Wales?
Everyone's going to recommend where they live but the riding and trail building scene around Cardiff is pretty good. Go on the Strava global heatmap, select MTB as the sport and look at all the dense squiggly patches. Those are where the locals have built trails. For local trail building you need elevation, steep slopes and forestry without NIMBYs, and SE Wales has an abundance of all that. And it's 1h50 to London on the train or 2hrs by car.
Wylie, Barry Sidings, Risca are all 20 mins away or even rideable if you're up for it. I can ride to Wylie or Risca from my house - although it takes well over an hour, it's good singletrack and woodsy riding to get there. It's less good for road riding, to be fair, but the gravel is good. And there are plenty of closer spots just outside the city with loads of good riding.
Buy a big camper van, fit wireless, load it up and hit the roads as a free man....
Thats actually part of the plan... a cheap flat/base and then a decent van with Starlink!
I know it doesn’t bother some people, but for the climate impact reasons, planning in a regular flight would not be something I would want to do if I could avoid it.
I do agree with this, hence preferring the train option
Sheffield is an interesting one, and I had looked but there have been a few threads here recently about solo riding and concerns about safety - is it really that bad?
What is the riding like on the west side of the Peak? Whaley bridge etc?
SE Wales also a consideration, the riding there is great, already ride FOD/BPW/Barrys/Risca pretty regularly. Again, some less than desirable areas but I guess just need to pick carefully (can probably be applied to almost anywhere)
Eastern side of Sheffield. Ticks all those boxes.
I meant west….! I really should learn the points of the compass.
Sheffield is an interesting one, and I had looked but there have been a few threads here recently about solo riding and concerns about safety - is it really that bad?
I think the risk is overstated. Yes there have been some issues up at Grenoside but it’s nigh on suburban and near some of the rougher parts of the city. I’ve lived west Sheffield all my life and never had a single issue. The most bother you get is from grumpy walkers.
Again, some less than desirable areas
Yeah, lots of those in SE Wales. To be honest, even though I'm not a city person I would rather live in Cardiff, it has some nice suburbs that are pretty close to the city centre (and train), as in walkable. Not many cities have nice parts near the city centre. And you can ride out to the woods on a big long cyclepath.
If you don't want your bikes to get robbed I wouldn't live anywhere with a 'scene', just seems the obvious place to pinch them all from. What sort of general weather do you want? I ended up ruling out most of Scotland just because the winters are too harsh for my nesh skin.
Kendal would be a good option . Edge of the lakes, decent town and oxenholme station is on the west coast main line.
Second that, I've always wanted to live there.
Another option nearby is Lancaster. West Coast mainline so easy access to London and while it's a 30 min drive up the motorway (or one of the Northern services from Lancaster up to Kendal / Windermere / Grange), it's still easy access to South Lakes - bit further up to Keswick obviously. Also means you miss the summer tourist traffic queues from the M6 past Kendal and on up to Windermere.
What is the riding like on the west side of the Peak? Whaley bridge etc?
For 'classic Peaks riding', i.e actually covering some miles with climbs and descents along the way, it's excellent. Really easy to get to Hayfield, either by canal and old railway line or actual 'off road' routes, and from Hayfield you're over the top to Edale. Or your stick your bike on a train/in the car and head over to Edale/Hathersage etc and ride lots of classic Peaks stuff from there.
Plus lots of more local riding too; Mellor, Rowarth, Chimney Churn, Goyt Valley etc.
For 'winch and plummet', if that's your bag, maybe not so much, but then it's not my bag so if it is here I wouldn't know it.
Everyone's going to recommend where they live
I'm not, it's shit!
Another option nearby is Lancaster
Daughter has just started at Lancaster uni, and while I'm not sure what the MTB is like from the door, it is very easy to get to some lovely places. And London.
Riding from the door is pretty limited in Lancaster.
As above - peak district side of Sheffield. Peak district side of Manchester.
Maybe in the actual peak district close to the Sheffield to Manchester train line (eg hope)
Nicer bits of West Yorkshire also worth a look- great riding around here too.
North Yorkshire close to transport links (Thirsk?)
South lakes is good.
But so is north manc. Rammy, rivy etc. Not far to northwales, the lakes or yorkshire.
Im sw scotland its too far out for you but its quiet which suits.
What about northumberland too?
Anywhere south and west of Bristol.
I don't even live in the UK anymore, haha, but if I had to move back there - this would be the only region I'd even consider. Squint your eyes enough and it might just make a believable alternative to NZ, but only barely..
The only trouble is, every other bugger wants to live there, oh and there are no jobs. But that does not seem to be your problem.
Everywhere else is too wet, too cold, too far away from lovely beaches and too full of people (who are often fairly unpleasant and miserable), for me.
Alternatively, I still own a lovely house in Aberystwyth you could buy.
Everyone's going to recommend where they live
On the contrary..... I'm going to provide a bit of balance to what Simon says:
What is the riding like on the west side of the Peak? Whaley bridge etc?
For 'classic Peaks riding', i.e actually covering some miles with climbs and descents along the way, it's excellent. Really easy to get to Hayfield, either by canal and old railway line or actual 'off road' routes, and from Hayfield you're over the top to Edale. Or your stick your bike on a train/in the car and head over to Edale/Hathersage etc and ride lots of classic Peaks stuff from there.
Hmmm yeah.
Cards on the table. Where simon lives is infinitely better that where I live on the Cheshire plains, but we end up on many of the same trails.
I think peak riding is vastly overrated compared to excellent places like the lakes. It's got loads of pleasant rides, but there's huge amounts of tarmac involved, loads of gates, and most importantly of all..... vanishingly little challenging legal riding.
If you're not after techie gnarr then go for it, but if you're after testing trails then it lacks
Just to qualify the above. I don't vastly disagree with Simon. I'd perhaps change it to
For 'classic Peaks mellow XC riding', i.e actually covering some miles with climbs and descents along the way, it's pretty excellent
They're testing enough for me 🙂
I think mellow is underselling it a little (I'm not sure anyone would describe Cavedale as mellow) but it's not 'big' riding like the Lakes though, sure. But then a lot of the 'big' Lakes routes are out of my skill/fitness league anyway.
Different horses for different strokes, innit.
vanishingly little challenging legal riding
But what about the abundant challenging but not exactly legal riding?
And what about the riding which is still excellent but not too challenging? That's still worthwhile!
(I'm including some stuff close to, but not actually in the peak district here, as well as some stuff that is in the actual peak)
If remote working was a thing when we were trying to find a place to locate ourselves for family life then I'd quite fancy Hathersage as a rather nice spot, West of Sheffield. Had a few walking trips up there with friends in the last several years so can't comment on the riding but it's a cracking village with great access to moors and crags. Must be some biking around. We drove up but I'm led to believe it's on the train line between Sheffield (20 minutes) and Manchester (40 minutes) so access to London is possible.
Hmmm yeah.
Readinh this again it looks like I'm being sarcastic/ taking the piss. That wasn't my intention. I was trying to mainly agree with Simon but not completely.
Different horses for different strokes, innit
Yep deffo. I'm just chucking a slightly differing viewpoint into the mix in case the OP either
- Has a wife who refuses to ride footpaths or
- Really likes rocky gnadgery tech
But what about the abundant challenging but not exactly legal riding?
Yep. If you're into loamy steep forest trails winch and plummet stuff then there's a fair bit of that. I just prefer rocky gnadgery tech
And what about the riding which is still excellent but not too challenging? That's still worthwhile!
Yep. Agreed. I've done loads of great rides in the peak. But almost none of the truly mind blowingly good.stuff has been there.
I'll say again, it's pretty good at what it does. But it's not amazing.
I'd quite fancy Hathersage as a rather nice spot, West of Sheffield. Had a few walking trips up there with friends in the last several years so can't comment on the riding but it's a cracking village
It’s a great place to live, I rented there for about 7 years and really enjoyed it as it’s got everything you need without having to get in a car. But, there isn’t actually much great riding straight out of the door, you’ve got to ride along to Hope or up to Stanage for that really. And be prepared to pay a lot for the property as it attracts a lot of cash buying retirees so it’s very hard to get something without a fight (trust me, been there, gave up). Oh and you’ll definitely need allocated parking as any on street is at a massive premium and in the summer it’s chaotic.
Having said all of that, I’d still move back given half a chance,
I love Hathersage, but for the reasons above, not sure I'd want to live there. Or in much of the Peak, tbh.
@tomnavman...do you have a specific budget? Some of the suggestions have rather salty prices. (Obviously that's relative..to where you're moving from)
Another 'where you live' recommendation.
I travel to London or Southampton area most months at the moment, rest of UK regularly. Trains from Scotland are long in duration and (west coast particularly) be flakey. That said, I'm door to London while working in relative comfort in around 6 hours. I sometimes travel down at end of day and stop just short of London for the night (cheaper and nicer hotels) and just hop in the following morning. I do fly on occasion, and the wee propellor planes are not as polluting as the bigger jets even on short runs.
I live in Dunblane, about to move into Stirling, regular office at the University in Bridge of Allan. The riding is immense and there is a strong local social scene and trail building. It's a safe, green, well resourced place, great schools, all the shops you need, decent cultural stuff going on. You're also able to access a lot of places 'up north' for mountains and rinding. Aviemore, Oban, Braemar all under or around 2hrs. Hebrides one weekend, Golfie the next, padding the Spey the next is very doable.
We recently considered leaving with my new job and mrs_oab retired/ill, but life here is too good.
Depending if the riding suits the either East of Thirsk/Northallerton for riding straight up onto the NYM or on the West side for heading to the Dales.
Direct trains from both to London and at least 2 an hour if you change at York.
For weekends York or Newcastle are a short train ride and direct to Leeds or Manchester if you want city, the Moors and Dales are on the doorstep (although you may want to drive to ride some of the time) and the Lakes is only about and hour and a half in the car.
I know a few people who live in the area for this combination of transport links and outdoors.
Probably here - Curbar, Derbyshire/Peak. I have no desire to move far from the area I'm in. Furthest I'd go would be the Whirlow/Totley side of Sheffield.
Can anyone lend me £1.7mill?
East/West Sussex near to the South Downs! Miles and miles of intertwined bridleways and woodland singletrack heaven at both Friston Forest and Stanmer. Loads of mtb 'built' singletrack but low key and no woodwork as its tolerated rather than official.
I can ride out my house and have over 70km of scenic/elevated bridleways without crossing a road of any type, and thats not including byways, lanes, footpaths or just plain cheeky bits. (I went and rode them all in one go during covid, 85km with minimal overlapping, and 1700m of ascent) And in both directions there is a 100's of km's more just by crossing a road...I don't know why I haven't done 'all the bridleways without crossing a road' to the East and West yet) Loads of nice road riding too, although being in the hectic south east the lanes can get a bit busy as rat runs during rush hour.
Bearbones bikepacking had an 'event' during covid where you got paired up virtually and planned a route for someone else in their area. I got someone in the Peaks, and was struck by how limited the legit/mapped routes were, when I ride I can do countless variations, I only have one 'regular' route which is a shorter night ride that I can fit in between work and dinner.
And good train/road links to London and London Airports.
I got someone in the Peaks, and was struck by how limited the legit/mapped routes were
I think it depends which area of the Peak, and there is a local knowledge aspect - there's quite a bit of footpath riding, which no-one really GAS about (apart from Alex's wife 🙂 )
As for Hathersage and, indeed, most of the Hope Valley - nice places to visit but wouldn't want to live there, as they're nice places to visit so get lots of visitors...
Probably here - Curbar, Derbyshire/Peak. I have no desire to move far from the area I'm in. Furthest I'd go would be the Whirlow/Totley side of Sheffield.
Can anyone lend me £1.7mill?
Curbar is lovely (I ride through it regularly on my commute) but there is bugger all there. No shops, cafes, pubs, public transport, nothing. It's a collection of (very nice) houses and some nice views, I'm sure it's a lovely community and all that but there's a hell of a trek to go anywhere useful.
As for Hathersage and, indeed, most of the Hope Valley - nice places to visit but wouldn't want to live there, as they're nice places to visit so get lots of visitors...
Yep, anywhere along that sort of corridor is just a tourist village, next door to some bigger tourist attractions like Fairholmes, Eyam, & Chatsworth.
In the tradition of 'recommend where you live' - New Mills/Disley/Whaley Bridge area.
I liked living in Glossop a lot. All the stuff around Hayfield/New Mills is accessible from there, but its also easy to head out in the Longdendale direction, Holme Moss etc, which is great if you like road/gravel riding / Cut Gate etc. Plus Ladybower is a short-ish drive away over the Snake. It's 30 minutes into town on reliable trains. Plenty of half decent pubs, restaurants, shops etc.
People get animated by the traffic, but it's only an issue if you insist on driving in and out of the place in the to and from Manchester direction, if you want to head out into the Peak or down to London via Chesterfield and the M1, it's fine. Or train into Manchester then down to London by rail.
The plus point over somewhere like Innerleithen is easy access to a large city with culture, shops etc if that's a consideration. I think the riding's better on this side of the Peak compared to the Sheffield edge - the rock climbing is the other way round. It works for me, particularly if you throw in footpath tech, but if you want proper mountains then the Lakes is better.
Downsides? It rains quite a lot being in the rain shadow of the Pennines. People who drive through Glossop from Manchester en route to the Peak District whinge about the traffic, heads up, you ARE the traffic. There are a lot of hills, so you'd better like climbing.
As per IHN, I wouldn't particularly want to live in the centre of the Peak District, it's hideously over-touristed in the summer and increasingly year-round at weekends and other than riding bikes, climbing - when it's not raining - or walking up hills, there's not much else to do. Tbf, I have a mate who lives in Hathersage and he loves it there, proper local community.
I think peak riding is vastly overrated compared to excellent places like the lakes. It's got loads of pleasant rides, but there's huge amounts of tarmac involved, loads of gates, and most importantly of all..... vanishingly little challenging legal riding.
You can bypass most of, it not quite all, of the tarmac tbf, I can do a pretty big 90km route out of my front door with barely any metalled road surface at all. Been putting routes together in my head for when the dog is old enough to run with me on the mountain bike - next summer basically 🙂 I'm also increasingly not bothered about the legality of trails and neither is anyone else I meet except the odd militant old skool fell runner.
It's not the Lakes, but then I don't really want to live in that particular overpriced, tourist-infested hell hole. Quite happy to visit and ride there occasionally and just appreciate that it's different and special in its own way.
I liked living in Glossop a lot.
Yeah, I should have added Glossop to my list (plus, I guess to a lesser extent, Chapel-ELF and Chinley)
Yeah, I should have added Glossop to my list
Glossop is just a traffic sewer and it's going to get twice as bad when that new Mottram bypass is completed.
Depending if the riding suits the either East of Thirsk/Northallerton for riding straight up onto the NYM or on the West side for heading to the Dales.
Direct trains from both to London and at least 2 an hour if you change at York.
For weekends York or Newcastle are a short train ride and direct to Leeds or Manchester if you want city, the Moors and Dales are on the doorstep (although you may want to drive to ride some of the time) and the Lakes is only about and hour and a half in the car.
I know a few people who live in the area for this combination of transport links and outdoors.
Good suggestion. There is a LOT of riding on that part of the western edge of the Moors with everything from rolling XC rides, gravel epics and amazing tech stuff and like you say, its a very short car journey into the Dales in the opposite direction, Hamsterley is a short drive north etc. I'm a bit further south in York and if you look at it holistically from all aspects, its a flippin ace place to live. The city itself is small but has everything going for it from tourist stuff to climbing walls to a massive sports scene to ace pubs and places to eat and some amazing places to live. Road/gravel from the doorstep is great too with Dalby/Yearsley/Sutton Bank/Helmsley etc all little more than 30 minutes away in the car. And as you say, direct 2 hour trains are as regular as clockwork from York.
I've previously lived in Halifax. For riding from the doorstep its off the scale. Direct trains to London via Grand Central albeit slow and nowhere near as regular as being on the East Coast or West Coast mainlines. Cheap housing but if I was looking in that area again I'd be looking at some of the villages between Halifax and the M62 - Barkisland, Stainland, Greetland etc.
If riding is important to you, I'd prioritise somewhere with good local trails where you'll meet people and be able to get involved with a riding and building community. Most places in England and Wales have a tolerable commute to London if you're not having to do it too regularly.
I'm not sure how Dunkeld would work for commuting, but somewhere that direction would appeal if possible. I'm not sure what Innerleithen would be like as a place to live, but I could certainly cope with those trails on my doorstep and there's a very active scene round there.
A couple of shouts for Kendal above so I'll add my comments as someone who moved there having been in a similar position to you. It's ok, but I'm not convinced it was the best choice.
Pros:
Hourly London trains (from Oxenholme - 15 mins ride). Close to the Lakes - a summer's evening getting into the Lakes after work is what swayed it for me and there's loads of footpaths and nice walks from town.
Lots of remote workers and a few good cafes (and a dedicated remote working cafe was due to open this year but not sure if still happening).
A couple of pubs and breweries that do regular pop up events. Good climbing wall and decent gyms. Seems to be a strong roadie scene.
There has been a few targeted bike thefts but on the whole I'd consider it a safe place.
Cons:
I think people expect it to be good riding to so proximity to Lakes but there's zero MTB from the door. There is a couple of good spots in reasonable driving distance but attitude from Forestry towards the trails wouldn't give me any confidence they'll be there long term. No decent bike shop, pump track or riding scene (although there are good shops elsewhere in Cumbria and some Lakes based groups). It's still best part of an hour's drive to proper Lakes riding and nearly 3 hours for Inners or Revs.
Avanti west coast line is awful. No internet. Peak times are packed and train home is regularly delayed/cancelled/stops unexpectedly at Preston. Morning train to London is generally reliable but eye wateringly expensive.
Housing is expensive and good ones (garage, parking and doesn't flood) are few and far between.
Nightlife has deteriorated - there's no pub music scene and Arts Centre seems to be nothing but folk nights now. Very few good pubs and options for eating out are pretty limited.
I think the riding's better on this side of the Peak compared to the Sheffield edge - the rock climbing is the other way round.
That's interesting. I totally agree on the rock climbing front, but had assumed/concluded that biking was also better east. That view was pretty much based on the stuff at Stanage/ Burbage so not comprehensive by any means.
Got any route suggestions to educate me?
If the weather was better, I'd say North Wales, express train Chester to Euston is ~2.5 hours. Lovely and rural away from the coast.
Petersfield area near Hampshire/West Sussex border gives you options like nice tarmac lanes/hills; Rogate and South Downs to name a few.
