Ten routes for the new rider, offering everything from easy kid-friendly riverside jaunts to tougher multi-day tours, and all avoiding busy roads
1 Waterside gravel: Elan Valley, mid-Wales
For first gravel forays, reservoir circuits are great because: (a) by keeping the water on the same side, you’re unlikely to get lost (as you might in forests); (b) they’re flattish but scenic; and (c) they’re usually a convenient, logical day-ride length. (And (d): good cafes likely.) Ladybower in the Peaks is a gem, Rutland Water is a family favourite, and there’ll probably be a local reservoir near you to try.
Wales’s chain of reservoirs in and round the Elan Valley (elanvalley.org.uk), by Rhayader, offers experiences from easy tarmac family waterside trundling to satisfyingly challenging ‘wild’ gravel riding through the middle of nowhere.
Head west from Elan village on the north shore of Claerwen Reservoir, whose decent gravel track traces a shape like splayed fingers of a hand. Astoundingly, there’s an isolated farm here somewhere, but nothing and nobody else until you get to Ffair-Rhos village. Barely-trafficked tarmac roads loop back through mountainscapes to your reservoir chain: a day ride to remember.
Like the feeling? Britain’s forests, lakes and moors can offer you a lifetime of gravel thrills.
2 ‘England’s Ventoux’: Great Dun Fell, Cumbria
Get a taste for ‘alpine climbing’ without traffic. Britain’s highest cyclable tarmac is car-free thanks to curious circumstances. A steady one-way, five-mile climb takes you up to a radar station at 850m, where you can admire the Pennine scenery all to yourself – except for lots of other cyclists. It’s a magical long freewheel back.
The road up Great Dun Fell is employee-only access for the air traffic control station at the top and is closed to traffic. But since it’s a bridleway, cyclists are allowed to use it (whatever any home-made signs say). And they do. You’ll be in good company, with dozens of riders hauling their way up, and hurtling back down. It’s a cul-de-sac, unless you’re an adventurous gravel biker.
From Appleby, the nearest town, the peak vaguely resembles France’s iconic Mont Ventoux, of Tour de France fame. However, the superb fells views as you toil up are definitely English–Pennine.
Scotland’s southern uplands have an equivalent: the similarly car-free access road to the similar radar station 725m up Lowther Hill, not far from Moffat, which lies in southern Scotland, 45 miles northwest of Carlisle. But, perhaps surprisingly, Great Dun Fell is higher. So, if only for a few minutes, you can be Britain’s top road cyclist. By altitude, anyway.
3 Mass ride British Heart Foundation: London to Brighton
Riding with a crowd of other cyclists on an organised, signed-route event can give you a buzz that’s like an all-day tailwind. Such ‘sportives’ run all over the country all year. They usually offer a range of distances to suit all endurance levels, often on wholly-or partially-closed roads so you don’t have to worry about mixing it with traffic.
The British Heart Foundation’s annual London-to-Brighton (19 June) is the country’s most iconic one-day mass ride. Over 30,000 riders, many beginners, raise money for charity by doing 55 miles from Clapham to the seafront on partially closed roads. It can be benign chaos at times – some of these bikes have never been further than the local park – and up Ditchling Beacon, outside Brighton, you’ll pass a line of sweaty, cursing pushers. But the real high is at the finish, with the lofty spirits of group achievement.
This ticked off, you’ll be eyeing up the tougher organised-ride challenges. What about the Fred Whitton, a 110-mile climb-fest through the Lakes? Or the epic 950-mile LEL, London-Edinburgh-London? Piece of cake. Talking of which, refreshment stops are offered. You’ll need them. bhf.org.uk
RIGHT: Avoid having to weave around people by doing urban cycles early in the morning
4 Urban explorer: London Thames Route
Britain’s riverside bike paths are generally dismal, muddy struggles compared to Germany’s luxury riparian cyclobahns. But this 20-mile stretch of the Thames west from Putney to Windsor can rival the Danube or the Elbe for sheer pleasantness – and it’s car-free for most of the way.
It’s a flat, leafy ride of salubrious riverside pubs, trophy houses, parks, locks and bridges, and strong historical interest all the way. This is a route built for dawdling, so stop to smell the roses. Literally, at Kew Gardens. At Shepperton, take the tiny peds-and-bikes ferry, summoned by a bell (though like everything else in these affluent parts, don’t expect it to come cheap). Explore Hampton Court with its maze. Reflect soberly at the War Memorial at Cooper’s Hill. Roam Windsor Great Park’s country estate – and maybe hobnob with the polo players.
Eastwards along the Thames through central London – from the Houses of Parliament via famous bridges past splendid Greenwich to Woolwich’s unique free ferry, say – things are less leafy, and much more crowded. But this east section is one of the world’s great urban cycles, often on near-Dutch-quality segregated paths. komoot.com/ tour/749129608
5 Through the night: Exmouth Exodus
Night riding has a strange fascination of its own. It’s not about the views, for obvious reasons. The landscapes you explore here are purely psychological. Spookily empty ‘main’ roads. Unpeopled, echoing town centres. Glimpsed nocturnal creatures. Starlit skies (or perhaps inky drizzle). Owls.
Somewhere, someone’s on-bike sound system plays. You and companions, in this together.
The annual midsummer ‘Dunwich Dynamo’, from London to the Suffolk coast, is the most famous (and popular). But the South West has its own brilliant alternative: the Exmouth Exodus, a free, semi-organised August adventure that goes through the night from Bath to Exmouth.
There’s something oddly thrilling about following a mile-long line of red rear lights in darkness through a landscape of invisible Mendip and Blackdown Hills that you comprehend only by feel – like night flying. There are two food stops which you’ll appreciate in a woozy, dreamlike way: at Cheddar, where the local Scout group provides cakes, then the main tea stop just after half way near Bickenhall.
Two or three hundred riders; a hundred miles; about 10 hours; no forms, no fuss – you simply turn up and join in. The only tricky bit is having to organise your own way back. facebook.com/groups/129593677114835/
6 Epic scenery: Great Glen, Scotland
The 80-mile trail from Fort William to Inverness, along the mighty canyon of the Great Glen fault, offers awesome loch-and-ben views, but with flat (yes, flat) waterside riding, much of it effectively car-free. It’s essentially a coast-to-coast, from the foot of Ben Nevis and the stupendous western highlands to the agreeable outpost-town of Inverness. And it’s easily accessible either end by train (book bike spaces well in advance though). This is a monster ride – indeed, you ride the length of Loch Ness. Starter for 10
You also do the Caledonian Canal, Loch Oich and Loch Lochy. You could tank it all in a day – or take two and explore: southeast of Loch Ness are empty backroad loops over moors. Along the way you’ll meet plenty of End to End riders, and their stories may well inspire another challenge.
Long stretches of pretty good forest road by the waterside mean gravel bikes are best, though all but the narrowest-tyred road bikes should be OK as well.
If this appeals, Scotland is your playground, with effectively unlimited opportunities for road or gravel adventures in Britain’s most thrilling scenery. Just beware of those midgies… tinyurl.com/CPGreatGlen
7 Weekend wonderwall: Hadrian’s Cycleway, N England
As a largely easy, long-weekend bike-trip tryout – 173 miles all told (Ravenglass to Newcastle), or just 80 miles for the Wall-only section (Carlisle to Newcastle) – this ticks all the boxes: history; characterful towns; good rail access; car-free and flat first and final third around rugged scenery in the middle.
Don’t expect much wallside riding, though. Only a handful of miles of masonry remains, and mostly the official route avoids even that. But do expect some thrilling hillscapes in the middle – particularly around the tourist hub of The Sill, the most Instagrammed part of the Wall. After that, enjoy a wonderful glide down the old Roman Road of Stanegate, usually with prevailing tailwind, miles and miles from Vindolanda (one of many excellent museums en route) to Hexham.
The final two dozen miles is all on flat Tyneside paths with no traffic except for local walkers, cyclists, pram-pushers and joggers. It climaxes with the gritty, thrilling sequence of bridges into Newcastle centre, and encores with the smash hit of Gateshead’s car-free Millennium Bridge. Carry on along the riverside paths to Wallsend and you can ride through the remarkable Tyne Tunnel, with its cycle-only branch. That’s another big ride conquered then. tinyurl.com/CPHadrians
8 Car-free coast to coast: Glasgow to Edinburgh
Britain’s longest traffic-free path is the under-celebrated 60 miles of delightful towpath tarmac connecting the centres of Glasgow and Edinburgh, along the Forth & Clyde Canal and Union Canal. While the natural scenery is modest – the most striking ‘mountains’ are actually Martianesque spoil heaps outside Linlithgow – there are plenty of man-made things to enjoy en route, not least the one-off engineering wonder of the Falkirk Wheel halfway along, which joins the two canals at different levels.
Perfectly flat, it’s a route for all the family, and children will enjoy the few spooky short tunnels and precarious aqueducts between Falkirk and Edinburgh. Good paved surfaces apart fron a few short bits of cobble mean you can do it on any type of bike, even the most delicate, in one medium-to-long day, or two leisurely ones.
At the western end you could extend things to take in Loch Lomond; at the eastern, Edinburgh has a decent network of railtrails that could take you to, and over, the old Forth Bridge. Like the canal shtick? Liverpool to Leeds might be the next step, but you’ll need a sturdy bike except for the surfaced final third to Leeds. The rest of Britain’s towpath network is usually a rougher, messier, muddier story. tinyurl.com/CPEdGlas
9 Classic Climb: Box Hill, Surrey
Under an hour’s train ride south from central London is the capital’s staple hill-climb. At less than two miles and barely 5 per cent it’s more winding country lane than alpine pass, but the views are grand and there are cafes for refuelling.
Box Hill featured prominently in the London Olympics’ road races, though you don’t need to be an Olympian to cycle it – you just need a ticket to Box Hill & Westhumble station outside Dorking. Conveniently, there’s a great little bike shop right at the station. Passing a roundabout with cycle-monuments to those heady 2012 days, you purr steadily up smooth tarmac, round the odd near-hairpin, amid a steady stream of road cyclists out for a spin.
The top is no wind-blasted mountain peak – there’s a National Trust cafe and gift shop – but there’s also a surprisingly lofty halfpanorama over the North Downs and down towards Brighton. Bask with a nonchalant ice-cream in the admiration of the families relaxing on the grassy slopes (‘Gosh! You cycled up here!’) before your downhill reward back to the station.
Still got some energy? We challenge you to turn around and do it again! You’ll then want to try the hard stuff. And we don’t mean ice cream. nationaltrust.org.uk/box-hill
10 Cross-country odyssey: Way of the Roses, N England
A first, achievable, big-views, big-ride challenge? The three-day, 170-mile coast-to-coast from Morecambe to Bridlington has become a must-do cycle experience. It has cycling variety, plus plenty of cool stuff en route to see, do, and take selfies at.
Start with a smile at the Eric Morecambe statue by the beach, but after the deceptively flat start come the Yorkshire Dales’ punishing climbs (the 20% clamber out of Settle, for instance) as well as whooshing downhills (such as the plummet down Greenhow Hill into the sanctuary of Pateley Bridge’s cafes and pie shops).
The raw, panoramic, open scenery is often terrific. But once past the weird natural sculpture park of Brimham Rocks, things flatten out towards super-visitable York and its riverside paths. After the literally groovy dry chalk valleys of the Yorkshire Wolds – all gentle climbs but rich landscapes – the trend is downwards on quiet lanes to Bridlington, whose beach and train station complement those of Morecambe.
Hardcore roadies sometimes do it in a day. You don’t need to. But with this under your belt, Land’s End to John o’Groats will be no problem. It’s only the Way of the Roses times five, after all. wayoftheroses.info