Flattest cities in the North of UK?
shankly
Posts: 8
Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows how flat these cities are: Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester? Or other places? I'm mainly interested in the city centres and about 2-3 miles radius outside it, i.e. the closest suburbs and student areas outside the centre. I currently live in Sheffield and it's very, very hilly.
Cheers!
Cheers!
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Chester is flat and the outskirts are relatively flat.
Leeds is hilly but not as hilly as Sheffield.I wouldn't class Manchester as particularly hilly.
Glasgow is relatively flat in the centre but quite lumpy to the North.
I live in Sheffield and it's the hills and surrounding area that' make it what it is!0 -
My recollection from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was that the men's road race had a fair amount of hills to tackle in the road race...0
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York and its outskirts are pancake flat, have to head in to the Wolds and further north for it to get hilly.0
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Glasgow isn't flat, even slightly. Also its a dreadful place to ride a bike.
Absolutely the flattest city and surrounds I've found in the UK is York.0 -
York definitely nice and flat, vale of York is the surrounding area. Last time I visited there was a lot of cyclists. Some good bike shops and IIRC even one that sells recumbent bikes and trikes for those with alternative cycling tastes. If you want to live in a northern city then you could do a lot worse than York.0
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If you want flat then it's Hull aka Gotham City. Cycling wise the only hills in the city tend to be bridges, to the north and west you have the wolds which is generally rolling hills with some steeper ones if you search them out. To the east flat towards the coast. Across the river in to Lincolnshire rolling and flat.
City of Culture these days with a popular university, still a shithole though
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Manchester is flat in the city centre at least.
Leeds is hillier.
Glasgow has very steep hills.0 -
Might help -= viewtopic.php?t=126882000
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Cheers for the replies - Manchester it is then.0
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Why do you want to know ? Are you set on moving to the flattest place ? Flat isn't the be all and end all.0
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Manchester is the place thenleft the forum March 20230
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Manchester's flat in the centre which makes getting around on a singlespeed easy but also has easy access to the Peaks. Not a bad combo.0
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The city centre of Leeds is sat in the bottom of the Aire Valley. The city centre is on a slight gradient, with the north part of the city centre where the hospital and university are, higher up than the south part of the city centre.
To get out the city centre involves cycling up some long hills. Armley Rd, Kirkstall Rd, Otley Rd, Scott Hall Rd.
To cycle anyehere north of Leeds, towards Otley or Harrogate, there's a huge ridgeline you need to cycle over that runs east to west."The Prince of Wales is now the King of France" - Calton Kirby0 -
It's a slog up from Otley right enough.0
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Admissions Tutor: Why do you want to study basketweaving at Manchester University?
Shanky: Some random people on bikeradar say the city is really flat0 -
Sounds like Barrow in west Cumbria. They're still waiting for global warming to happen so their webbed feet will make sense!Andcp wrote:
I had a friend who theorised that due to its location, Hull was similar to the Galapagos Islands - evolved on it's own, separate from the rest of the world....Webboo wrote:..still a shithole though
There was talk of building a causeway from Barrow to Heysham area with a tidal generator too. It got nowhere in the planning stage because why would you want to make it easier for Barrovians to get out?!!! Seriously you don't want that!0 -
Tangled Metal wrote:
Sounds like Barrow in west Cumbria. They're still waiting for global warming to happen so their webbed feet will make sense!Andcp wrote:
I had a friend who theorised that due to its location, Hull was similar to the Galapagos Islands - evolved on it's own, separate from the rest of the world....Webboo wrote:..still a shithole though
There was talk of building a causeway from Barrow to Heysham area with a tidal generator too. It got nowhere in the planning stage because why would you want to make it easier for Barrovians to get out?!!! Seriously you don't want that!
Hey, don't say that - I'm moving to Ulverston soon!
But you're right though
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Until the recent crisis in the Middle East and the influx of Eastern Europeans, the largest ethnic group other than white British in Hull was Chinese. The people who ran the takeaways.Andcp wrote:
I had a friend who theorised that due to its location, Hull was similar to the Galapagos Islands - evolved on it's own, separate from the rest of the world....Webboo wrote:..still a shithole though
So you can imagine how culturally diverse it is, more people have been to Spain than Sheffield.
It is flatter than Manchester though by a long stretch.0 -
Fenix wrote:Why do you want to know ? Are you set on moving to the flattest place ? Flat isn't the be all and end all.
It is when you're a full-time bike courier
Not just for that though; I've finished uni and want to try a new city. Sheffield's a nice and safe place but it's very bland in terms of culture and economy - no graduate jobs, nothing going on really. Thought I may as well pick somewhere flat too.Mad_Malx wrote:Admissions Tutor: Why do you want to study basketweaving at Manchester University?
Shanky: Some random people on bikeradar say the city is really flat 0 -
shankly wrote:Fenix wrote:Why do you want to know ? Are you set on moving to the flattest place ? Flat isn't the be all and end all.
It is when you're a full-time bike courier Not just for that though; I've finished uni and want to try a new city. Sheffield's a nice and safe place but it's very bland in terms of culture and economy - no graduate jobs, nothing going on really. Thought I may as well pick somewhere flat too.Mad_Malx wrote:Admissions Tutor: Why do you want to study basketweaving at Manchester University?
Shanky: Some random people on bikeradar say the city is really flat
Do you want to be very central or slightly outside?
I've lived in centre and various suburbs, moved here when I was looking for a graduate job.
If just outside, I think you would enjoy Chorlton if you can still get a decently priced houseshare there - pretty easy cycle to the centre if that's where you'd be couriering. I lived there for nearly a year after uni when we were looking for graduate jobs, and would have stayed but we ended up both working central so went for Green Quarter (north side of the centre) for a few months, then in Castlefield (central MCR). Currently live in Didsbury but not for much longer as I'm just about to move to another suburb (will be SK postcode though this time :oops: ). I also hear Prestwich is quite cool these days, did consider moving there but it didn't help my commute so decided against it.
If centre, Green Quarter has loads of flats and there's been some new good bars etc pop up recently but when we lived there (I think 2011?) it was really dull so we didn't stay for long. Castlefield was better. Northern Quarter is where all the trendy stuff is in the centre but I don't think flats there are very cheap.
Anyway good luck - happy to answer any Qs.0 -
I moved to Greater Manchester from Sheffield. Biggest mistake I ever made - Sheffield is great, Manchester (all of its big ugly sprawl) is sh!t. I've lived in quite a few cities in the north of England and Scotland and Manchester is the sh!ttest by a long stretch.....More problems but still living....0
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amaferanga wrote:I moved to Greater Manchester from Sheffield. Biggest mistake I ever made - Sheffield is great, Manchester (all of its big ugly sprawl) is sh!t. I've lived in quite a few cities in the north of England and Scotland and Manchester is the sh!ttest by a long stretch.....
Whereabouts in Manchester? Not my experience.
Although I mainly live in Didsbury and Chorlton these days, I rarely foray into the centre any more since I no longer work there.0 -
shankly wrote:Fenix wrote:Why do you want to know ? Are you set on moving to the flattest place ? Flat isn't the be all and end all.
It is when you're a full-time bike courier Not just for that though; I've finished uni and want to try a new city. Sheffield's a nice and safe place but it's very bland in terms of culture and economy - no graduate jobs, nothing going on really. Thought I may as well pick somewhere flat too.
Are you just limited to the north of the UK ? If you fancy a move after uni for cycling and jobs, how about Amsterdam or Berlin ?
Hills just take getting used to. Helps if you're slim with a big cassette and see hills as a personal challenge to overcome "The Prince of Wales is now the King of France" - Calton Kirby0 -
Sod the UK. Get the hell out, learn another language and get some culture.0
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You clearly need to do more research before moving. Here are a few pics of a really awful Scottish city centre cycle route, one of my dreadful commute to new New Town, and some traumatic shots of my weekend loop.amaferanga wrote:I moved to Greater Manchester from Sheffield. Biggest mistake I ever made - Sheffield is great, Manchester (all of its big ugly sprawl) is sh!t. I've lived in quite a few cities in the north of England and Scotland and Manchester is the sh!ttest by a long stretch.....
City centre
My commute
Weekend loop.
Doesn't seem THAT much worse than the rest of the UK, to me.0 -
bobmcstuff wrote:
Whereabouts in Manchester? Not my experience.
Although I mainly live in Didsbury and Chorlton these days, I rarely foray into the centre any more since I no longer work there.
I live outside Manchester, but work in and around (including at The Christie). Can't think of much to like. It's just a big sprawl of angry motorists, yet going anywhere by bike within the city (excluding the odd segregated path) is pretty unpleasant. Couldn't be more different to Sheffield - 10mins into the Peaks and onto empty roads like the Strines.
Of course, you could say why don't I live near the Peaks then, but then I'd have to waste more of my life on the M60 to get where I need to go for work.....More problems but still living....0 -
amaferanga wrote:bobmcstuff wrote:
Whereabouts in Manchester? Not my experience.
Although I mainly live in Didsbury and Chorlton these days, I rarely foray into the centre any more since I no longer work there.
I live outside Manchester, but work in and around (including at The Christie). Can't think of much to like. It's just a big sprawl of angry motorists, yet going anywhere by bike within the city (excluding the odd segregated path) is pretty unpleasant. Couldn't be more different to Sheffield - 10mins into the Peaks and onto empty roads like the Strines.
Of course, you could say why don't I live near the Peaks then, but then I'd have to waste more of my life on the M60 to get where I need to go for work.....
Yeah, I don't really cycle in the city centre. The segregated bike paths are puncture traps - I bike toured from the Lakes back to Manchester, got a puncture on the Oxford Road one right in front of Yates's in the p!55ing rain. I cycle up to Chorlton or the Heatons from Didsbury a lot and its totally fine though.
There is the annoying 10km at each end of a ride where there's traffic but there's some good riding in easy access - the club I ride with is pretty much exclusively hilly rides in the Peaks in the summer. I can do Blaze or Brickworks in a ~50-55km ride from my house. Aberdeen was better for cycling in some ways (5-10 mins and on country roads, and some good climbs), but there aren't the same route options as in the Peaks. England has a better density of lanes.
I agree that Manchester centre is a bit soulless, but Manchester has many positives beyond that (lots of routes from airport, easy train to London, good motorway access, access to Lakes/N Wales/N Yorkshire/Peak District etc etc etc). It's a good balance for me - and I like the bit I live in!0 -
Webboo wrote:
Until the recent crisis in the Middle East and the influx of Eastern Europeans, the largest ethnic group other than white British in Hull was Chinese. The people who ran the takeaways.Andcp wrote:
I had a friend who theorised that due to its location, Hull was similar to the Galapagos Islands - evolved on it's own, separate from the rest of the world....Webboo wrote:..still a shithole though
So you can imagine how culturally diverse it is, more people have been to Spain than Sheffield.
It is flatter than Manchester though by a long stretch.
No not really, there has been Chinese Seamens Mission in Hull for a long time, more to do with it being a port than a love of takeaways.0 -
I wouldn't say York is pan flat - it does go up and down here and there but not much. Probably even flatter though is Peterborough. But you wouldn't want to choose that over York for a few fewer feet of elevation.Faster than a tent.......0
