Best places in the UK to live for a cyclist?

drlodge

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you want to extend the concept to the rest of Europe, then I have to say Germany is the best place to ride a bike. tens of thousands of Km of proper bicycle roads, completely segregated from the main road and occasionally running far away from it make it cycling paradise.
I have not been in any other country with such a developed cycling road network

I must find a way to take my bike with me next time I'm visiting HQ in Munich!

Speckled

has to be Derbyshire - Peak District :P

drlodge

Speckled wrote:

has to be Derbyshire - Peak District :P

Hope to do the Cat & Fiddle at Easter on the way to the Yorkshire Dales. So I guess those two areas must be top of the list as "best places to live for a cyclist". A fellow Rourkie lives in Biddulph, the countryside does look incredible from what I've seen.

markhewitt1978

'course the countryside can be amazing but if it's stacked with cars then it's useless. I did a sportive starting from Langholm (in Scotland North of Carlisle), and the roads were so quiet they might as well have been closed!

il sole

I reckon I'm pretty lucky here in Salisbury. For a relative beginner, there's a great mix of climbing/descending, quiet country roads and lovely countryside. Plus we have the new forest and isle of wight only a stones through away...

Speckled

drlodge wrote:

Speckled wrote:

has to be Derbyshire - Peak District :P

Hope to do the Cat & Fiddle at Easter on the way to the Yorkshire Dales. So I guess those two areas must be top of the list as "best places to live for a cyclist". A fellow Rourkie lives in Biddulph, the countryside does look incredible from what I've seen.

Ive yet to ride the cat & fiddle yet, i did plan a nice ride to macclesfield and back last year but never got round to it, definitely going to this year

rickeverett

Love cycling over to Yorkshire but being a Red Rose fella I would have to say Lancashire!



3 national Parks on the doorstep. Inc Areas of outstanding natural beauty.
Lake District to the North, Pennines, Bowland and Yorkshire Dales to the East, South Pennines and Peak District to the South, Lancashire Plains to the West.
Thats a big range of terrain. On each ride you can take yourself off to super flat speed land right up to some steep winding Pennine trails.
(All of this in riding distance too BTW)

Good choice of urban centres that aren't too far away including bike shops inc brands like Ribble, Beacon, Evans, Planet X (over the Border). GB training hub and Velodrome down in Manchester. Could even take the ferry over to the Isle of Man to do Cavendish routes if the Wiggins ones in Lancashire dont suit.

Not over crowded like some rides I have been on down in places like Surrey etc.

markhewitt1978

Also depends on if you mean there's good riding within reasonable driving distance or good riding to be had just riding out from your house.

dennisn

Bermuda. Where else?

schlepcycling

ugo.santalucia wrote:

If you want to extend the concept to the rest of Europe, then I have to say Germany is the best place to ride a bike. tens of thousands of Km of proper bicycle roads, completely segregated from the main road and occasionally running far away from it make it cycling paradise.
I have not been in any other country with such a developed cycling road network

Switzerland is very similar, lots of proper bike roads, very few cars (except in the major cities) and easy to get to the alps thanks to the fantastic train network with no issues taking bikes

schlepcycling

dennisn wrote:

Bermuda. Where else?

Too small, raced in Bermuda a few years ago and there's only about 3 decent roads on the whole island....got boring quite quickly

ManOfKent

I'm not very well travelled, but I can confirm that Kent isn't the best place to live for a cyclist. We generally have pretty good weather, by British standards, and there's a variety of routes and terrain. Unfortunately the road surfaces are often terrible and it's full of chavs.

dennisn

schlepcycling wrote:

dennisn wrote:

Bermuda. Where else?

Too small, raced in Bermuda a few years ago and there's only about 3 decent roads on the whole island....got boring quite quickly

Well, you were talking year around. Never been there but have heard the weather is fantastic all year long.

nunowoolmez

ManOfKent wrote:

I'm not very well travelled, but I can confirm that Kent isn't the best place to live for a cyclist. We generally have pretty good weather, by British standards, and there's a variety of routes and terrain. Unfortunately the road surfaces are often terrible and it's full of chavs.

Yeah I refuse to ride in Kent now, the roads are the worst I've come across in the UK. It just isn't enjoyable. I feel for anyone who has to ride there! A shame as there are a few good climbs in Kent. Same can be said of Surrey now.

If u really had to choose the best place to ride in the UK, hmmm...I dunno, probably Wales. I've got the Tour of Wessex coming up soon, I'm hoping that will be good riding. I guess it might be dependent on the weather.

team47b

Near an airport?

dilatory

Thanks all for some interesting replies! Am in the peculiar situation at the moment of needing to move but having no specific location required. We've obviously looked at places we enjoy being and a bunch of them overlap with some suggestions in here.

I do think where I am currently is pretty great. Here on Anglesey you can reach the mountains pretty fast, or cycle around the island.

I suppose it sounds silly to consider the quality of cycling when looking at places to live. The weather is important too, wind and rain are fairly commonplace here, when I look at weather reports and see mid/south having warm weather with low wind and we've got 30-40mph and clouds is the norm.

ugo.santalucia

dilatory wrote:

Thanks all for some interesting replies! Am in the peculiar situation at the moment of needing to move but having no specific location required. We've obviously looked at places we enjoy being and a bunch of them overlap with some suggestions in here.

I do think where I am currently is pretty great. Here on Anglesey you can reach the mountains pretty fast, or cycle around the island.

I suppose it sounds silly to consider the quality of cycling when looking at places to live. The weather is important too, wind and rain are fairly commonplace here, when I look at weather reports and see mid/south having warm weather with low wind and we've got 30-40mph and clouds is the norm.

Isle of Wight is a good place to move to... weather is decent, you've got the sea, house prices are cheap and there are enough roads to make interesting rides, as well as nice paths for walks... some good climbing too.

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

dilatory wrote:

Thanks all for some interesting replies! Am in the peculiar situation at the moment of needing to move but having no specific location required. We've obviously looked at places we enjoy being and a bunch of them overlap with some suggestions in here.

I do think where I am currently is pretty great. Here on Anglesey you can reach the mountains pretty fast, or cycle around the island.

I suppose it sounds silly to consider the quality of cycling when looking at places to live. The weather is important too, wind and rain are fairly commonplace here, when I look at weather reports and see mid/south having warm weather with low wind and we've got 30-40mph and clouds is the norm.

Isle of Wight is a good place to move to... weather is decent, you've got the sea, house prices are cheap and there are enough roads to make interesting rides, as well as nice paths for walks... some good climbing too.

But you've got ferry hassle if you want to go somewhere else and it is too small for much variety of cycling.

As far as rain goes, just make sure you are on the Eastern side of the country. EG it rains less in Leeds than it does in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire!

VmanF3

Love cycling on the IOW. I've sailed the RTIR many times, but cycled it for the first time a couple of years ago on the same day as the sailing event, great day out and in the pub earlier too!

sigorman85

Weymouth & Portland dry some times nice views big hills up and down and flats loads of routes

ednino

Aberystwyth

doesn't matter if you've got a mountain bike or road bike, the area has the best of both. I did a lot of sportives last year, all around the UK. The best 3 were in Aberystwyth, Chepstow & Wrexham. I found anything on the East of the UK very boring. Lake district & Cumbria is very nice but was far too busy when I was there

phreak

Funny isn't it? I doubt many would describe London as being particularly good for cycling, yet when I was out for my ride this morning I was passing a cyclist nearly all ride. Barely a minute would go by without someone riding past.

When I ride on the Isle of Wight whilst visiting my folks however, despite the infinitely better environment for cycling, I can quite often ride around the whole island and not clap eyes on another cyclist.

dilatory

phreak wrote:

Funny isn't it? I doubt many would describe London as being particularly good for cycling, yet when I was out for my ride this morning I was passing a cyclist nearly all ride. Barely a minute would go by without someone riding past.

When I ride on the Isle of Wight whilst visiting my folks however, despite the infinitely better environment for cycling, I can quite often ride around the whole island and not clap eyes on another cyclist.

That's a population density thing though, rather than quality of riding I'd say.

phreak

For sure, there are obviously many more people in London, still not sure there are equal numbers though. I mean I reckon I must have seen a good 500 cyclists out today, which considering there were no sportives on that I know of is pretty good going. Even account for the population difference, which is 55 times greater in London than the Isle of Wight, I should see maybe a dozen riders when cycling down there. Yet I haven't even come close.

As you say, quality of riding in London is pretty poor really. The roads are poor quality. Traffic extremely dense. Terrain nothing special. Yet still an enormous number ride. I wonder if British cycling have done any kind of research into active cyclists per head of population in different parts of the country?

Moonbiker

Just being cycling in Snowdonia today why do you have to move from Anglesey are you feed up living there or something?

dilatory

Moonbiker wrote:

Just being cycling in Snowdonia today why do you have to move from Anglesey are you feed up living there or something?

Hah no, job related unfortunately. I do love it here, we've got all sorts of brilliant cycling so close. If this weren't my thread I'd rank it as the places to live for cycling. Were you on the road or off it?

Moonbiker

On road from near penysarn on anglesey to caenarfon cycle track drws y coed then pen y pass then back to anglesey was about 90 miles feel knackered now :oops:

dilatory

Oh nice, I often head around the coast that way. Usually cut over Parys Mountain and loop home, last few weekends it's been all headwind back home for me! Not got the legs to head down into the mountains in the same ride yet, maybe come summertime. Do you live on Anglesey or just on holiday?

Moonbiker

Live 8)

dilatory

Ah nice. Would like to do one of those routes across the island and up Llanberis Pass way, but am the furthest end of the island for it so will be a while before I manage that! Longest rides so far have been around 60mi. Got a road bike in January, sad that the year I move away is the year I discover all the cycling. Plan to do the Tour de Mon in August before I vamoose.