Durham to Darlington

pthompson73

Does anyone have a route that covers Durham City centre through to Darlington that takes in some rideable roads that they could provice a link to?

Alternatively does any one have the 2009 Tour of Britain route for Stage 2 which went from Darlo to Gateshead via Durham (ish) that they could link up?

Meeting some friends at Rockcliffe Hall Hotel next Saturday and would not mind biking it.

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers

dmch2

I could make one up for you... But basically anything east of the a1 (apart from the big roads a689, a66, a68 and a19) is nice in my experience.

pthompson73

That is a very generous offer and would be much appreciated.....what about the a167

dmch2

the 167 has bits of dual carriageway and busy multilane roundabouts so not ideal. Keeping further east you get loads of much quieter and more interesting roads.

Jessica\'sGrandad

Use the 167 to get you through Ferryhill and into Chilton, turn left at Chilton and make your way East to Fishburn, from there go into Sedgefield and past the racecourse, a lovely back lane should take you on your way to Darlington.

I use these roads for training and apart from some parts of the 167, they are extremely quiet, and even on the 167 there are a variety of cycle paths along the way, if you do need to avoid the 167 at all costs head out of Durham towards Bowburn and pick up the climb after Tursdale up to Ferryhill, again quite quiet apart from short stretches after Bowburn.

pthompson73

Cheers guys for the advice.

I will use google earth/maps to get the jist of the direction and turns I need to get to Darlo.

Paul

plowmar

Direct - straight down the A167 - Roundabouts at Newton Aycliffe and over the A1 are doddles only iffy one being at Rushyford.

Plenty of cycle lanes to use except. as per usual, where you really need one.

If fairly experienced should have no problems.

dmch2

I've only driven the second half of this but have done the first half a few times:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4027510

If the climb between 4 and 5 miles is a bit steep (I got my speed record going the other way down it) then go via the more direct route on the A177 instead. It's got more stuff through towns though (Bowburn and Coxhoe)