General Category > Rides and Touring

Route Planning

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mrcharly:
You are going to have to come inland a bit to avoid the industrial stain of Sunderland -> Middlesborough - see bobb's ride report.  The North York moors coast is nice - but there is only one road running north-south and it is busy+hilly.

Lady Cavendish:
Oh and where might I find a LEL routesheet? Are there any storage places online for such things?

And thanks Mr Charly- local knowledge very useful :)

phil d:

--- Quote from: matthew on June 21, 2012, 12:27:11 PM ---See if you can find a route sheet for London- Edinburgh - London. It may have some useful hints for the southern half.

Otherwise Enjoy

--- End quote ---

This is available as a .zip file on the AUK website, under John Hamilton's permanents.  http://www.aukweb.net/perms/detail/JHA09/

Deano:
The A68 isn't a bad road to ride - if you just want a simple route, and don't mind a bit of traffic. It's not as busy as any other trunk road I know, but it still gets a fair bit of traffic. I like the road - it's damn hilly, but the descent from the Windy City (that's Tow Law to you lot) to the Wear on a summer's evening is one of those things that remind you why cycling is so damn good. If you don't have much time, it'll get you to Darlington pretty easily.

Don't go along the A66 if you then want to get to the coast. Either head south down the A167 (not much fun, but does the job), or if you want to follow the coast, take the A167 to Yarm and follow Ladgate Lane through Middlesbrough to Saltburn. DO NOT ride along the A174 until after Redcar. It's a horrible dual carriageway haunted by Corsaboys from Teesside racing each other.

My favourite route south from Edinburgh is over the Lammermuirs to Duns. You can follow minor roads from there to Berwick and down the Northumberland coast. Some of the paths on NCN1 are a bit iffy, but there are enough minor roads dipping in and out of the coast to keep you interested, and it's fabulous. Mind you, so is the rest of Northumberland.

Come back inland to Newcastle if you want to avoid the Durham coast (I'd say you shouldn't, but as a Durham lad I would say that, but I've yet to find any really satisfactory roads down the coast to Hartlepool), then you can cut into the Pennines a bit by following the old railway line to Consett, then you can go as far into the Pennines as you like, or nip back to Durham City and come south towards Yarm (Slowcoach knows a good route for this), from where you can cut across to Stokesley and head into the NYM. 

If you do follow a coastal route in Yorkshire, the A174 (Coast Road, as opposed to the A171/Moors Road) is an ok road to ride, and it's worth visiting the towns just off route - there's a road down to the lovely village of Staithes (guess how that's pronounced), and lots of side trips to beautiful bays, though it usually means a 1:4 climb back up. I especially love Runswick Bay. 

If you were feeling particularly adventurous, you could ride along the cliffs from Saltburn to Skinningrove, and follow the road from Skinningrove past the police mast to the A174. You can follow the coastal path all the way to Staithes, but I wouldn't fancy riding along Boulby Cliff, myself. 

From there you're into Whitby and can just keep going south, eventually over the Humber Bridge. 

Lady Cavendish:
This is great info thank you so much :)

'Hilly' is a relative term, its hard to know how hilly is hilly!!

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