Way of the Roses - Road surface?

Bullet1

A small group of us are looking at doing Way of the Roses from Morcambe to Bridlington. We are looking at doing this with some friends driving to support us with bags and food on route.

Looking at the terrain there are few 'traffic free' sections, in particular the first 8 miles between the coast at Morcambe and just the other side of Lancaster - are these suitable for all out road bikes or would it be advisable to take a detour?

durhamwasp

We did the WOTR on road bikes a few years back, all on Road bikes. We took a more road bike friendly route out of Morecambe to miss the miles you are talking about, then rejoined the official route around the 10 mile mark. From then on, it was all fantastic cycling roads.

Flâneur

If it is the stretch I think you are talking about, you can do it on the roadies without question but you do risk a puncture (i was lucky when I lived out there and never got one, but i use the word lucky) Go for the detour.

blackpoolkev

I did this route 3 years ago. I rode from Blackpool and joined the route at Lancaster, so I can't say about the roads out of Morecambe.
I will point out a section of the route that I found a bit dodgy. Just after you come out of the East side of York you come to Dunnington. As I remember it the road from there tuned to a lane then turned to a track across a farm. In places the track was an 18 inch wide strip of bare soil through a field.
I was riding a road bike and the weather was pleasant and the track was dry and firm. I managed okay but if I was to ride the route again I would avoid this track especially in the wet.
This track seems to be included as a way to keep you off the A166, I don't know if the main road is unsuitable for cyclists but there seem to be some lanes north or south of the A road that will re-join the Way of the Roses a few miles later.

ex-pat scot

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19637937#p19637937]blackpoolkev[/url] wrote:

I did this route 3 years ago. I rode from Blackpool and joined the route at Lancaster, so I can't say about the roads out of Morecambe.
I will point out a section of the route that I found a bit dodgy. Just after you come out of the East side of York you come to Dunnington. As I remember it the road from there tuned to a lane then turned to a track across a farm. In places the track was an 18 inch wide strip of bare soil through a field.
I was riding a road bike and the weather was pleasant and the track was dry and firm. I managed okay but if I was to ride the route again I would avoid this track especially in the wet.
This track seems to be included as a way to keep you off the A166, I don't know if the main road is unsuitable for cyclists but there seem to be some lanes north or south of the A road that will re-join the Way of the Roses a few miles later.

The A166 is not a pleasant place to cycle - either in rush hour or in the dark. It's a curvy single carriage A road, but a main commuter/ link road and very heavily driven. It's all at 60mph.
I've cycled it a few times but it's not terribly safe