(by 5 people)
(Still under construction!! More to come)
Cycling is an amazing way to travel around the UK. There are over 10,000 miles of cycle routes and several forests with extensive mountain bike tracks.
More and more people are choosing to cycle every year (100% growth every 3 years in London) With this comes more and more events to take part in and clubs to join.
Here a quick top-five to tempt you!
1. New Forest - 200miles of cycle trails through woodland that has barely changed for 1000 years. Also see Grizedale forest and Box Hill for MTB tracks
2. Commuting in London - the only reliable way to travel. I'll be hiring out bikes at Heathrow come the Olympics!
3. Cornwall - stunning coastlines and fishing villages. Cycling is the only way to avoid all the bus tours, horrendous families and traffic jams.
4. Central wales - cycle route 4 winds it's way through the valleys towards Brecon and on to the really mountainous areas
5. All over Scotchland - has like real mountains and stuff. And quiet roads and empty beaches and wild cycle challenges. Shame its so far away.
Windsor to Bath
100 Miles of English countryside, castles and roman remains
Start at Windsor early in the morning and head out west. First stop is Henley-on-Thames for coffee, this is a pretty but absurdly rich market town and hosts posh rowing festivals.The route then loops around the city of Reading, past some gorgeous villages along the river Thames and then heads up into small small hills, through quiet country roads.
Eventually you reach Marlborough, a perfect example of a small market town full of historic buildings and surrounded by rolling chalk hills.
From here there is a reasonable hill climb but as you head down the other side you get fine views across the hills and to a white horse carved into a hillside. The route is then flat to Bath - this roman city is one of the most popular towns to visit in the South of England.
Trains back to london take about 2hours.
A "route" is provided in the awful "Rough Guide: Cycling Britain" book.
Pennine cycleway
Hill climbs and cream teas
Starting at the city of Derby (2hrs train from London) this 350 mile route runs through 3 national parks - 2 of them are the most unspoilt in Britain. The Peak District national park contains rugged hills, deep valleys and stylish victorian spa town resorts to relax in. The Yorkshire Dales are iconic of northern England with villages of white-washed cottages, sheep, teashops and ancient Inns. Northumberland is unspoilt by tourism but contains the most rugged of scenery, Huge castles and thunderous waves swept down from the arctic circle.On this route the scenery will competely change every 30miles, the buildings will look different, the beer will taste different and the people will talk differently.
80% of the route is on quiet country lanes
This is a national cycle trail. Publicly available on various websites
London to Windsor along the Thames - 25miles
no hills, 50% offroad, 40% quiet roads
Start at any point west of Putney along the thames path. The route is off-road all the way to Hampton court. There is a quiet road through Sunbury along the river to Staines.Staines is nothing special so continue via Datchet to Windsor which is the reason we've cycled all this way. Lots of nice pubs and places to eat all the way along.
Can take trains on the train back to London all day weekends.
Route available in various places and in the "rough guide: cycling Britain" book
Kennet and Avon Canal
100 miles of waterside cycling
Start at Reading, Berkshire and cycle along the canal for 100miles through the countrside to the hip, cool university city of Bristol. The route can be done in 2 days and is fairly hill-free, there are some stretches on quiet roads.The route is tranquil, full of canal-side pubs and great places to stay. You also ride through the roman city of Bath
Seer Green to Oxford
45 miles so can be made a round-trip
Seer Green is a beautiful old village in the hills and has a Youth Hostel. Oxford is one of Englands most stunning and most visited towns. In between them there isn't that much unfortunately but once the route is easy, quiet and not very hilly.This route is in the Lonely Planet book "Cycling in the UK" and is therefore extremely hard to follow. After 5 miles of dull, busy roads you pass through some very nice villages such as Cookham, then though lots of ancient forests. After Christmas Green the route goes mostly through farmland until you reach Oxford.
Cycling events in 2007
Here are some cycling events in the UK this year.
Apologies that they are mostly long-distance events!
Apologies that they are mostly long-distance events!
- Isle of Wight Randonee
- Sunday 6th May 2007
Wonderful big event without the hassles! 3 routes from 25 - 75 miles, well organised, beautiful variety of scenery. Can't recommend it enough.
Can take bikes on the ferry from Portsmouth free of charge. Book accomodation early - London to Brighton
- 17th June 2007.
Probably the most famous annual event in the UK and the biggest cycle event in Europe. Suffers from being so popular but with a bit of planning you can make it work for you. - Oxford to Cambridge
- 24th September.
Linking two beautiful cities but rather spare on beauty in the middle. 85miles, fairly flat
May not be repeated in 2007 - Lake District MTB challenge
- 16th September 2007
Any chance to go wild in the lake district should be jumped on! Especially the overnight challenge on these MTB routes. Never done this but i'm v tempted - Ten under the Ben! (Ben Nevis)
- 09 June 2007
10 hours of gruelling MTB action around the highest mountains in the UK. 500 participants, pasta night, ceilidh and pubs that stay open late.
Makes you want to leave London...
Cycling links
- Bikes and spare parts online
- Cheap bikes and spare parts, delivery in the uk
- London cycle campaign
- Campaign group for London
- transport for london
- Contains a tool to plan routes through london by bike.
Find the tour de france route through London. - Sustrans
- Download the national cycle network. Over 10,000 miles of cycle routes throughout the UK covering towns as well as national parks
- British cycling homepage
- Cycling's governing body in the UK. News, races, UK team news
- Route Maps for Scotland
- This site is simply the best cycling website i've seen. Search for routes based on area or level of difficulty, see route profiles, maps and an interactive accomodation map!
Now you can plan a tour of Scotland or a one-off ride for free.
Sadly the opposite exists in England and Wales...no strategy, a multitude of organisations with poor website and SUSTRANS charging for every route map. - Treehugger enviro-blog
- Fantastic resource for all things green. Updated each day with news, articles, products and events.
- Round Berkshire Cycle Route
- This map isn't detailed enough so you may need Ordnance Survey maps. Useful for discovering Berkshire if you have just moved there. Cookham is beautiful and there are good mountain bike tracks close to Bracknell.
- Free cycle maps of London
- Order free cycle maps of London here.
New Forest - weekends away
Tips for visiting the New Forest
Train from London to Brockenhurst are very fast, regular and simple. There is even a bike hire centre in the train station car park. (£8+ a day) This provides small maps of routes through the forest.The cycle shop in the main village has better maps for £1.
Forest paths do need an off-road bike but there are no steep hills. Traffic on main roads can be busy in summer. The forest changes with the seasons and spring and autumn are the best times to visit. I went on a warm january weekend and it was great even then!
There are wild ponies everywhere so take your camera.
Try to fit in a trip to the village of Beaulieu which is a picture postcard village of duck-ponds, thatched cottages and country houses.
Also worth visiting is "Bucklers Hard" which is a National Trust ship-building village and has a nice pub.
New Forest hotels and B&Bs often serve a "new forest breakfast" - almost all ingredients are grown locally and very high quality - enjoy!
Cycle routes, advice and big tours
Unfortunately books containing day ride and longer routes are few and usually v v poor!
Lonely Planet cycle books have appauling maps, lack of detail and any points of interest and seem to be simply the top 10 Sustrans routes.
There are a few books of regional cycle routes for families. I've tried to find some well researched books for a more experienced cyclist.
Lonely Planet cycle books have appauling maps, lack of detail and any points of interest and seem to be simply the top 10 Sustrans routes.
There are a few books of regional cycle routes for families. I've tried to find some well researched books for a more experienced cyclist.
The Ultimate C2C Guide (Two Wheels)
Amazon Price: (as of 12/02/2008) 
Cycling in London - advice
Like most things it's good and bad!
Cycling in London can look extremely dangerous however most cars, motorbikes and taxis expect cyclists to be on the roads and the traffic usually isn't fast enough to seriously injure you.
Exceptions are vans and lorries. 2/3rds of fatalities happen from lorries turning left and cyclist being on the inside of the lorry. Drivers of smaller vans are often lost and drive irratically. The rule is to expect the unexpected and ride pro-actively.
Ironically, it's safer to be a fast cyclist and behave like a car than a slow one and be scared of the traffic. Be aware of the traffic at all times and don't skip lights.
Free cycle maps can be ordered from www.tfl.gov.uk quiet roads do exist in London, there are lots of dedicated cycle lanes, and routes through parks and along rivers and canals.
The quickest way to have your bike stolen is to have a brand new bike. If you have one make it look old! Use a £30+ D lock and a smaller chain one for the front-wheel. Park it with other bikes in brightly-lit areas.
Two other important things to own and actually use are pollution masks and high-vis clothing. Pollution masks really do work but must be replaced after 100 days or so. High-vis clothing is essential in low light and darkness.
There are few hills in London and it's never very windy. The roads however can be awful and a hybrid or MTB is best.
You can take a bike on some tube lines. It's quite possible to cycle from Heathrow and City airport. Other airports are 30+ miles away but are served by trains.
Exceptions are vans and lorries. 2/3rds of fatalities happen from lorries turning left and cyclist being on the inside of the lorry. Drivers of smaller vans are often lost and drive irratically. The rule is to expect the unexpected and ride pro-actively.
Ironically, it's safer to be a fast cyclist and behave like a car than a slow one and be scared of the traffic. Be aware of the traffic at all times and don't skip lights.
Free cycle maps can be ordered from www.tfl.gov.uk quiet roads do exist in London, there are lots of dedicated cycle lanes, and routes through parks and along rivers and canals.
The quickest way to have your bike stolen is to have a brand new bike. If you have one make it look old! Use a £30+ D lock and a smaller chain one for the front-wheel. Park it with other bikes in brightly-lit areas.
Two other important things to own and actually use are pollution masks and high-vis clothing. Pollution masks really do work but must be replaced after 100 days or so. High-vis clothing is essential in low light and darkness.
There are few hills in London and it's never very windy. The roads however can be awful and a hybrid or MTB is best.
You can take a bike on some tube lines. It's quite possible to cycle from Heathrow and City airport. Other airports are 30+ miles away but are served by trains.
Cycling and Mayor Livingston
Good, bad or other
London's mayor (Ken Livingston) has made radical changes to transport in London but what has been done for cycling in the city?In his manifesto of 2000, Ken said that the London Cycle Network would be completed by 2004. The revised (and smaller) programme, now called LCN+, also has a revised projected completion date of 2009. Senior London borough cycling officers privately predict a completion date of 2015, given Ken's current level of funding for it.
Took 4 years to agree the Cycle Action Plan for London.
Failed to give sufficient support to Safe Routes to School, thus allowing the likely completion date to slide to beyond 2015.
Allowed TfL to become involved in a futile and wasteful copyright wrangle with LCC over the LCN maps.
Has frozen the existing LCN+ budget for 2004/5.
In 4 years Ken has spent more on strengthening road bridges around London so that they can take the weight of 40 ton HGVs (£56.9m) than he has on cycling and Safe Routes to School combined (£45.95m) and nearly double what he spent on Road Safety (£30.7m)
Ken has the support of Assembly Member and Leader of the GLA Labour Group Lord Toby Harris, who in a recent GLA budget debate described a proposed increase in funding for cycle projects 'another £8.5 million to cycle fascists'
London Member of Parliament and close friend of Ken, Diane Abbot claimed £2,800 last year in expenses for taxi journeys because she "can't drive or ride a bike". If anyone wants to teach Diane
Abbot how to ride a bike then please email glennc@parliament.uk
or write to
Diane Abbott MP
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
(stats from the UK green party)
