UK routes

[ukbushman]

dose anyone have any UK routes for the UK members of this site to try?

[Blackhound]

SSP did this in May and I did it about a week ago [look on right of front page].  I did it in 29.5 hours with some navigation errors, could have done on 24 if I had put more effort in.  Really nice route.

http://www.forestfreeride.co.uk/

I fancy this route:

http://www.scottishmountainbikeguides.com/guided-holidays-scotland/tour-of-the-cairngorms

And some more inspiration here:

http://sevendeadlyspins.blogspot.com/

[flatfishy]

i did the same event as ssp but i did the whole thing. only 76 miles but it was a fairly tough 76 miles over two complete days.(start noon saturday-finish noon'ish monday
i have it straight from the horses mouth that stu'ey the organiser from forest freeride is putting the event on next year(second bank holiday in may) i have already booked my pink ticket with the wife for this long weekend.
i had mobile phone signal once in four days which was bliss.
weather was glorious this year so it's bound to lag it down next year.
see you there!!!

drop stu'ey a mail and find out more, tell him i sent you.

[Blackhound]

As I was riding yesterday I remembererd another route I wish to do, probably next year, which is the two highest pubs in England.  It is only 100-120 miles from Tan Hill Inn to Cat & Fiddle.

I know there is route out of Darlington up to THI though I always thought of getting off the Settle - Carlisle train and cycling to THI.  Some wild country in between. 

The route was a walking route from the '50's so have to look at maps and use small lanes and bridleways.  I prefer to think of it as a journey rather than specific route.  Once you get North of Todmorden you can use the Mary Townley Loop and then Pennine Bridelway for a spell until Edale area.

[MonkeySpacePilot]

The sarn helen trail goes from the north coast to the south coast of wales, I put the GPS route on this site http://www.mtbtrailfinder.co.uk/html/routes/special/special_main.htm

There are some guide packs available here http://www.mbruk.co.uk/mbruk_guides.htm which cover multi day routes, I am hoping to do the scotish trail in the summer.

[qwertybob]

The sarn helen trail goes from the north coast to the south coast of wales, I put the GPS route on this site http://www.mtbtrailfinder.co.uk/html/routes/special/special_main.htm

Im planning on following this route later this year with some alterations in the south where I know the terrain well. I shall be using a mixture of wild camping and campsites.

Is the gps route you uploaded based on the guide pack? I heard that much of the information in the guide pack is wrong/out of date? is this true? would welcome any information you have regarding the route, terrain etc.

cheers

[DoctorRad]

This North Wales Coast-To-Coast looks very good:

http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/north-wales-coast-2-coast-day-1

Also in the process of GPXing Tim Woodcock's Wessex Way with the help of http://www.bikehike.co.uk/ as I'd like to ride it myself this year or next. Will put links to the GPXs when they're done.

[zigrat]

Scotland (my home turf) is full of routes. For starters there's the West Highland Way (and the still to be claimed double) and this can be linked to the Great Glen Way to give approx 170 miles of pretty stunning riding. Also it's possible to ride across to Dalwhinnie from either Fort William or via the Corriearick Pass and then into the Cairngorms and East Coast or out to the Moray Firth via the Speyside Way. There's also the Kintyre Way - if you google bikepacking the Kintyre way there's a good post out there. In the South you could do the Southern Upland Way, rode some of this on Trans-Scotland a few years back and it's more remote and better than you would think.

Just a few suggestions..... 

[baddy13]

I am doing  south to North Wales charity ride in September and this is a provisional route that I've planned...

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/28927960
It might well be subject to change between now and then and maybe during the ride itself so will update it on here if necessary..

[DoctorRad]

I transcribed the Wessex Way from the old 90s book - I believe the route has been revised a little since then, but you'll get the idea:

Part 1: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1279811/Wessex_Way_1.gpx to
Part 6: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1279811/Wessex_Way_6.gpx

Work parts 2-5 out for yourself ;-)

The second half is basically the South Downs Way, so a well-established long distance route.

[NT]

I'm headed to ride a coast to coast trip in Scotland in June. Riding (pushing) from Inverie to Kinloch Hourn, then on to Corrieyairak pass, then up Glen Feshie, over Mt Keen to Montrose. This site has been super helpful in planning the route:
bikehike.co.uk

Here's a cool looking bikepacking loop:
http://www.cairngormsloop.net/map.html

[Dusza]

Hey NT, I'm heading to Scotland in July thourgh West Highland Way, Fort William to Aviemore and down the Cairngorms loop. Any hints or suggestions?

+1 on http://bikehike.co.uk/, best free UK topo maps one can find - very helpful for planning.

Other option is Ordnance Survey's get-a-map, there's a subscription fee of ~20 gbp/year but you can print unlimited topo maps, which saves you loads of cash in the end... and place too! UK topos are as bulky as their are good - very.

[DoctorRad]

For the UK, there's also "Where's the Path?" at http://wtp2.appspot.com/wheresthepath.htm

Very similar to BikeHike, you might get on better with it.

[campbellrae1]

Sorry to resurrect an old topic with my first post but I thought I might be able to contribute a little to this thread!

For routes in Scotland the Tour of the Cairngorms as linked above is a great ride, doable in 3 days if you camp/bivvy and are pretty fit. There is also the Fort William to Montrose coast to coast which is pretty popular. Another(shorter) route at around 70km circumnavigates Ben Avon and is a nice 2 days from Braemar. And there are loads of options in the Galloway forest, have a nice 90km loop from Glentrool that is another good weekend ride when done in 2 days.

Also currently working on a route following the West Highland Way, Great Glen way then onwards up to Cape Wrath but that's not going to be done till next summer so I have plenty of time to plan it! 

[chipps]

I'm planning on doing the East Highland Way some time this year. Off road from Fort William to Aviemore. 78 miles or so...
http://www.easthighlandway.com/section01.html

[NT]

East Highland Way looks great. If you do the off road portion above Newtonmoore, just before getting to Newtonmoore, drop off to the right on the Calder trail (part of their local Wildcat Trail). Short but great singletrack along the river.

My wife and I rode from Knoydart to Montrose last month. I'll put a report up sometime soon.

[chipps]

Thanks for the tip. Has anyone ridden this route yet? I'm just wondering if it's bikepacking monster-cross kind of terrain, or full DH bike and armour...

[campbellrae1]

I've ridden most of it in sections over the years as parts of other routes. Seems pretty similar to the Great Glen Way in that there is a hell of a lot of fire road/forestry track and not much technical stuff. You could spice it up with some diversions/a stop at the Laggan Wolftrax though if you wanted some more difficult riding!

[chipps]

I'm after a big couple of days out with some great scenery. If you reckon it's just miles of dull forest road, then I might reconsider. If it's non-technical, but still a great ride, then perhaps we could do it a couple of days instead of three.

[NT]

I haven't ridden any of those parts, but while researching my trip, the section between Kincraig and Aviemore looks like good singletrack if I recall correctly. Maybe spend some time on one of the map resources above and see if you can spot any possible single or drover tracks near the rest of your route for variety?