London to York Cycling Route - Any Advice?

buckmulligan

Hi, I'm planning on a mad solo-expedition to cycle from London to York (in a single day) in the coming weeks, whilst we still have days just barely long enough! I've scoured various forum threads and come up with a route that looks doable and on pleasant roads for as much as possible. However I'm not familiar with any of the roads beyond the Chilterns, so any input on my chosen route (or any suitable alternatives) would be greatly appreciated!

ugo.santalucia

Your route seems absolutely fine... I am not familiar with it either, but you have avoided A roads, which is the main issue.

Make sure you have enough juice in your GPS to guide you through the route and tentatively I would carry an OS map of the northern part of the route, just in case.
Most decent GPS have enough battery to last 12-14 hours, but you never know.

Obviously if you re-route towards Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire it will be flatter... Leicestershire is quite deceiving and I recall Rutland being quite lumpy... that said, I see the point of getting a pork pie in Melton Mowbray too... :-)

buckmulligan

Thanks for the reply!

I strongly suspect my Garmin Edge 820 won't last my estimated ~14 hours of ride time (especially whilst navigating a course and all that jazz) so I'm going to take a small portable battery pack and give it a boost at each rest stop; this should also serve for my phone and lights if necessary, so seems like a sensible shout.

I had considered a more easterly route through Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, like the London-Edinburgh-London route, but it seemed very difficult to avoid the A-roads; having driven out that way on a few occasions, my abiding memory of those roads was that they were packed with fast-moving lorries due to all the agricultural industry around there.

If anyone has any alternatives out that way that don't add a lot of distance (i.e. <= 350km) I'd be interested to hear.

benjamess

I don't know the route at all but when planning routes unfamiliar to home i always use stravas "global heatmap" feature in their route builder, if a road has hardly been ridden there is normally a good reason for it!

we did something similar riding from liverpool to london and it worked out more or less fine on the day! my garmin 510 lasted 16 hours I think but that was without navigation, that cuts battery life down a lot.

good luck, I hope the wind is not blowing from the north

letap73

I know most of that route very well, just a couple of points:
1. The A roads north of Doncaster upto entrying York can be very quiet - (A19 from Selby to York excepted) - there should be much less traffic then the Edgware road A5 in London.
2. From Selby - I would personally go via Cawood into York.
3. It is very flat after Long Clawson - which sounds awesome, however, a nasty headwind can be really soul crushing from Long Clawson onwards.

buckmulligan

letap73 wrote:

I know most of that route very well, just a couple of points:
1. The A roads north of Doncaster upto entrying York can be very quiet - (A19 from Selby to York excepted) - there should be much less traffic then the Edgware road A5 in London.
2. From Selby - I would personally go via Cawood into York.
3. It is very flat after Long Clawson - which sounds awesome, however, a nasty headwind can be really soul crushing from Long Clawson onwards.

This is brilliant, many thanks!

I chose the more direct, A5 route out of London because I'm hoping I can knock those kms off early in the morning before the traffic builds up too much and that it'll be more free-flowing with regard to junctions and traffic lights etc. I certainly wouldn't call that my preferred kind of road! It's good to know the A-roads up there aren't too bad in general, as I have a few stretches on them at various points to link things up.

I've amended the route to go via Cawood instead of the canal path; I was a bit reticent about that section as I wasn't sure how quick going it would be along the canal, especially given that it might be getting dark by that point. I've somehow managed to trim a couple of kms and ~100m off the elevation too, which is a bonus!

I have a couple of weekends to choose from, so I'm watching the weather forecast eagerly! Rather cynically I'm hoping to pick a day with a roaring tailwind to help me along a bit; this is going to be my longest single ride by a long way, so I don't feel too guilty trying to exploit a bit of "natural assistance"!

tight_git

The Selby to York stretch along the A19 is a cycle path which then picks up the old railway line and crosses the river at Naburn. It's perfectly fine on my road bike with 23 tyres.

That's the route - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23807346

York is good for cycling, apart from being pretty flat!

buckmulligan

Ahh yes, right you are. I think I was getting that section mixed up with a section of canal path just north of Doncaster that I originally had in the route.

Good to know that section is suitable for road bikes, would it likely be crammed with pedestrians and dog-walkers on a weekend evening? The B-road route through Cawood only adds on an extra 2k so I think I'll plot a route with both options and see how it goes.

Thanks for all the feedback!

letap73

Depends when you hit the Selby - York cycle path - in daylight in summer there are a fair few people on it. The Cawood route is very quiet - pain in the ass with a head wind though - excellent with a tail wind. There is some shelter on the cycle path

The A19 from roughly Askern to Selby is fairly quiet outside of peak hours and very quick with a tail wind - if you wanted to use it - I have never used the canal path north of Doncaster.

svetty

BuckMulligan wrote:

, would it likely be crammed with pedestrians and dog-walkers on a weekend evening?

Yes, especially at the York end

gimpl

So I know the route from Hockliffe up to Moulton. You're ok up to Woburn Sands (you'll go through the deer park at Woburn Abbey which is really nice) until Horton. Although only A/B roads they are quite busy. I don't really have an alternative for you as your route is quite direct and I have cycled most of those roads, just be careful.

Also do make sure you take the right turn in Horton or you'll be trying to navigate through Northampton which will not be nice.

laurentian

Looks like you are on some main(ish) and busy roads as you skirt Northampton. The section between crossing the A45 and getting to Moulton - difficult to ge around this without veering off east and it isn't very long. From Moulton to North of Leicester, you're on some lovely roads. Great coffee/cake stops at the Buddhist centre in Kelmarsh (near Harrington) and the Nevill Arms in Medbourne. I never pass either without stopping!

Good luck

mouth

letap73 wrote:

Long Clawson

Go and find the creamery in order to invest in some of their white stilton. It's truly incredible and possibly my favourite cheese, although I must admit Ugo's suggestion of a MM pork pie tickles my fancy too. Choosing between one or the other would be heart breaking.

kayakerchris

You could just use the London edinburgh London routes which have all been risk assessed pretty thoroughly and ridden last week by 900 people. can be a while between food stops but lovely safe roads all the way to the Humber bridge

chrisǃ

Cawood bridge is currently shut to all traffic, and might not be open depending on when you do the ride. You could divert from Selby via Barlby and Riccall then back on to your original route. Good luck!
https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/news/arti ... ood-bridge