Cycling UK has announced the launch of a new long-distance cycling route in Cornwall. The route, called West Kernow Way is a 150-mile loop of west Cor …

By identitizombie

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Cycling UK Launches new Cycle Route in Cornwall

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Interesting that Cycling UK is taking over the development of these Long Distance routes now that Sustrans has basically dropped the ball.

Looks good

Interesting that Cycling UK is taking over the development of these Long Distance routes now that Sustrans has basically dropped the ball.

…meanwhile what is British Cycling doing for ‘us’?

Interesting that Cycling UK is taking over the development of these Long Distance routes now that Sustrans has basically dropped the ball.

Anybody know what’s happening with Sustrans? I understood that they were trying to get away from their responsibilities for some of the old railway lines but I know that they are still fundraising as I was approached by one of their guys in York a couple of weeks ago

Anybody know what’s happening with Sustrans?

They have been recruiting in Scotland this last year.

Sustrans are really only interested in urban transport replacement these days. They’ve been actively de-signing some of the traditional NCN routes if they’re not 100% traffic free, so what we’re left with is a patchwork of non-contiguous sections.

The previous approach was to encourage use of low-traffic roads where necessary to join up dedicated cycle path provision on the basis that increased numbers of cyclists would persuade the authorities to build more cyclepath (we see this on the likes on NCN78 between Oban and Corran). A “new broom” swept that idea away.

Being local, this looks like a good route for locals and visitors to ride. Lots of it form parts of my local rides on the MTB or gravel bike. A few sections will need at least of month of dry weather in the spring before being rideable. Great to see the work gone into researching and using long lost roads/tracks too…that’s a big positive IMHO.

…meanwhile what is British Cycling doing for ‘us’?

Producing a ridiculous number of Olympic and Paralympic riders, which gets media coverage that gets more people on bikes who then find that Cycling UK do all the hard graft for those of us who don’t race.

(Slightly tongue in cheek)

A nice article on it by my neighbour 🙂

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2021/sep/03/how-to-escape-the-crowds-in-cornwall-on-a-bike-west-kernow-way

Interesting. Like Andy, above, this is very local to me and I’m very familiar with (at least the western half of) this route. I’ve been following developments since I became aware of the project last winter.

A lot of this is on small roads, but not quiet roads, which isn’t always a good mix. Be prepared to dodge touring coaches and distracted drivers, on roads which aren’t big enough in the tourist season.

There are only a handful of miles on the western loop which are off road, and whilst they are excellent stretches, there are not may times of the year when the whole route is easily rideable. Late October to mid April there’ll be soul-destroying bog, and late may to mid September bits will pretty overgrown.

I’m not sure what bike you’d choose if you wanted to do it in one multi-day trip. A fairly hardcore gravel bike, I guess, as there’s too much road for a MTB, but you might have to walk sections off road (I would, anyway).

Having said that there are some gorgeous quiet lanes thrown in, too, so it’s a real mixed bag for me. I’m just glad they haven’t gone down the route of sanitising the off-road bits.

I hope it’s successful. It would be good to get more people cycling in Cornwall. I’m definitely going to use it to explore the sections I don’t know so well.

Well the video makes it look great but the local knowledge puts me off. Was thinking I could do that with my kids as a multi day trip.

Will keep an eye on it and see how it develops.

Yes, this image really sells it as a suitable family route… 🙄

From a glance, the eastern side of it should be fairly weather-proof. I’ve not examined the route in enough detail to be sure, but all of the bits I’m familiar with are ridable all year.

Well that didn’t take long. Good mate of mine who lives down there just did the whole thing in a day. Something for you long-distance freaks to aim for 🙂

https://www.strava.com/activities/5906178109

Which kind of bike is best for #WestKernowWay?

A gravel bike with 35mm or wider all-terrain tyres and wide ratio gears is the optimum choice in dry weather. A lightweight hardtail mountain bike is ideal in bad weather.

Visit our website for route FAQs: https://t.co/DqshxyJVhc pic.twitter.com/iwW5PkXZe0

— Cycling UK (@WeAreCyclingUK) September 6, 2021

Looks, err, great.

Yeah, that does look shite. For your moaning above about Cycling UK taking over from Sustrans, having just done a chunk of the Great North Trail put together by Cycling UK I think they don’t put enough thought into the routes they create. There’s a lot of unsuitable trail (I spent an hour carrying my bike down a bog walking through a stream about 8 times) while Sustrans has done the opposite and removed all (or at least most of) the unsuitable sections from their routes. Which would seem a better thing to do than just chuck stuff together based on a map and have people riding up waterlogged paths of cuddling the nettles like in the photos above.

welshfarmer

Full Member

Well that didn’t take long. Good mate of mine who lives down there just did the whole thing in a day. Something for you long-distance freaks to aim for

And promptly got told off on the official Facebook group by one of the route’s creators for encouraging ‘in a day’ racing and anti-social riding, even though he did no such thing and was just providing some helpful info for anyone interested in doing it.

I’ve had a quick look but can’t find anything about Sustrans pulling back from NCN. Is this something that’s happening under the radar or is it an announced change of policy?

I’ve had a quick look but can’t find anything about Sustrans pulling back from NCN. Is this something that’s happening under the radar or is it an announced change of policy?

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/hundreds-of-miles-of-roads-removed-from-national-cycle-network-because-theyre-just-not-safe-enough-460180

Sustrans spent a lot of time and effort lobbying councils for safe cycling routes and when the council finally capitulated and painted some random white lines, Sustrans would claim it as a great success on the rather flawed grounds that “anything was better than nothing”. Which it usually isn’t – shit cycle lanes aren’t used which prompts complaints from drivers about cyclists never using the lanes provided “at great expense”. Same with off road routes involving gravel tracks that turn into a quagmire for 4 months of the year.

What Cycling UK are doing now, in the absence of anything tangible, is to string a bunch of existing BWs, tracks etc together and call it a “route”. Even though it’s not signposted and usually of distinctly variable quality. You cannot market that Kernow Way as suitable for families and then have a section of bogtrotting.

A nice article on it by my neighbour

Please give him a slap from me for use of the word ‘steed’.

He can’t help it. He comes from the Isle of Man 🙂