I’ve never had the use of a proper sustrans cycle path before. Now I’ve moved I have them on the doorstep and they cover a lot of my commute. They are rather bloody good (can make progress away from the busy road), however it would be nice if they told you if the path is on or off road (or does it and I’m being thick and not spotted it online) in places. One of the routes I can take, the path goes into a singletrack really rough and unsurfaced muddy lane (not road bike friendly). I imagine a few people have been caught out by that one!! That’s my only gripe in my brief use of them. I’m glad they are there, as the road option is a bit chaotic (and I’m used to being on the road).

on their map the offroad bits are coloured green iirc. They are a great resource I agree. They’re always after volunteer wardens if you wanna give something back. I’m one and all they ask is to keep an eye on your local bit and help out now and again if needed.

Sounds like a plan to me. I’ll get in touch with them.

Road and off-road are differentiated by different colours I think. The do have some proper off-road singletrack sections though. On the ground they’re sometimes signposted as an alternative off-road route. Not sure how they’re marked on maps, if at all.

agree they are a fantastic resource, i have one near me i use recreationally, its brilliant.
dunfermline to alloa, fair bit of horseshite if its damp, but hey ho.

I don’t think there’s any way of telling from the maps how bad/muddy the off-road sections will be. Could be anything from smooth tarmac to thick mud. But yes, in general they are a great way of getting to places – I know, I’ve helped build a few 🙂

They are good but the local one to me, route 55 between Chorley and Salford is signed completely randomly and just stops.

There’s a section along a disused railway that just leads to some steps with no signage and towards Salford, two separate routes use the same signage, one along the canal and one along two disused railways.

Whether signs have been installed and stolen or damaged, I don’t know but it’s very hit and miss, one section on the online map is about 3 miles away from the signed route and is on an old railway that is under 6ft of water.

Email and tell them simmy, helpful if you attach a map where the signing is missing. They love people to tell them as they really want the paths to be used. Those signs can quite easily be turned around to point in a different direction by random ne’er do wells.

sustrans.org.uk, has interactive mapping, that shows where the routes are and where thy go all colour coded, lots of councils also produce free ccyling maps of their areas, and again colour coded, you may well wasnt to sign up as a volunteer and do some volunter signing of routes, tidying, cutting back vegetation.

Cheers lads

Yeah I was thinking of contacting them about it. I got talking to a lady back in the summer who, I guessed, was a Sustrans volunteer as she was going on about all the new signage that she had put up.

On their website, they just say route 55 when completed so guessing its still a work in progress.

Route 55 is part of my route Telford way. It was route 81 near Shifnal where the signing was a bit sparse (or maybe I missed it in the dark)

Check out bikehike.co.uk
On the course creator page, switch between ‘osm cycle’ & ‘Satellite’ mode to get alternate views that give you a good idea about the type of ground covered.
No substitute for just getting out and having a look, though, but this is probably best done on something other than a road bike.

The colour coding on the map is for “Traffic free”, meaning there’s no motor vehicles allowed. There’s no way of knowing what the surface is like.