Round trip of about 120 to 140 miles in England

lozfuller
lozfuller Posts: 8
edited January 2019 in Tour & expedition
Hi,

Trying to organise a round trip on hybrid bikes over 3 to 4 days (around 35-40 miles per day), somewhere in England. Would like to see a bit of the coast and nice countryside, but preferably not too hilly, and initial thoughts were Suffolk or Sussex, but open to any suggestions.

Has anyone discovered any nice routes in those or other counties. We'd like to stay in B&Bs/hotels, so would like to have overnight stops at some nice and reasonably sized towns.

Any recommendations gratefully received!

Thanks,

Loz

Comments

  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    I have cycled around the Isle of Wight, that is a great route. Hilly but doable. It's also a beautiful island.

    It's probably not the distance you require being circa 60 miles but you could ride the first 60 to 80 miles from wherever you live down to Portsmouth and then get the ferry across to Ryde.

    Being a holiday destination i would avoid the peak times but the bonus is that there are loads of hotels, B&B's etc plus cafes and places to stop along the way.

    We rode it early October and it was a really enjoyable ride.

    I have a three minute edited video of the trip if you are interested.
    FCN = 4
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,235
    This route in North Wales is amazing and surprisingly easy... there is one big climb, but it's not too steep and the descent is exhilarating.
    A lot of it is on segregated cycle paths. From Harlech, you can extend it down to Barmouth and the famous wooden bridge

    https://ridewithgps.com/events/6095-rhos-audax-rides
    left the forum March 2023
  • lozfuller
    lozfuller Posts: 8
    Many thanks for these suggestions - I'll do some further research!!
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    A lap of the new forest is about that far?
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    You could do the course of this event.
    https://www.yorkshirewoldscyclechallenge.org.uk
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,235
    I have found the file of when we did it as an Audax... as you can see the metres of climbing are not many and the average speed is fairly high, so not a hard route, despite being Wales.

    https://www.strava.com/activities/1074990618

    The route passes several lovely towns with plenty of accomodation for the night... and of course as the name suggests, it is a tour of the castles of North Wales. Don't be put off by some main roads, like tha A470... they are quiet and safe to ride on. The Harlech mini loop is probably best done the other way round, to avoid the nasty 25% climb to the castle and as mentioned, if you want you can continue down to Barmouth and spend the night there

    It is by far the most scenic route I have ever done in this country
    left the forum March 2023
  • borisface
    borisface Posts: 273
    Sussex quite a bit hillier than Suffolk.
  • steve1965
    steve1965 Posts: 16
    I'd recommend coming to Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire as a base.

    To the north you can do endless lovely miles through the south Worcestershire villages with delightful riverside towns such as Pershore and Upton upon Severn and the vale of Evesham. To the south and south east you have the Cotswolds area with its unparalleled views and sites and towns like Broadway and Stow on the Wold.

    If you want some hill climbing (again to enjoy all these views!) you have the Malverns to the west and the Cotswold escarpment to the south and east. And there is also the Royal Forest of Dean for some great back roads and climbs.

    I can do 5,000 miles a year here without touching city traffic!
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    Cheshire is about as flat as it gets and you can take in lots of nice villages, large towns and even cities like Chester. You could also just nip into the western edge of the Peak District which is still Cheshire, if you fancy some lovely hills...

    A full loop on the Route 70 is 176miles, but you could modify that easily. We are blessed with a myriad of lanes so it is quite easy to do many, many miles with virtually no main road.

    PP

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