Marriott’s Way Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Marriott’s Way is a shared path of 26 miles, linking Norwich with Aylsham via a circuitous route. As you’d expect from a trail on a disused railway, it’s very flat. There are sculptures or benches at every mile marker, and a bike shop inside the old signal box […]
Middlewood Way Traffic-Free Cycle Route
Middlewood Way Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Middlewood Way is a disused railway line, running for 10.4 miles between Macclesfield and Marple. As is the case whenever possible, the route starts right by Macclesfield train station, and ends at Marple station. Do note that to catch a train from one station to the other […]
Bristol and Bath Railway Path
Bristol & Bath Railway Path Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Bristol and Bath Railway Path (BBRP for short) was Sustrans’ very first shared path in the UK. It runs – unsurprisingly – between Bristol and Bath and is 16 miles long. Though most of it is entirely traffic-free, the route shown on the map below starts […]
Cloud Trail Traffic-free Cycle Route
Cloud Trail Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Cloud Trail runs from the close to the Derby town centre, and runs for 13 miles to Worthington. It starts off following the river Derwent, then follows the Derby Canal Path, before joining a disused railway path. I started this route right from Derby train station, meaning […]
The Gloucester Canal Path
Gloucester Canal Path Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐ The Gloucester Canal Path is a 16 mile canal path along the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal in Gloucestershire. It is a shared path and popular with walkers and people fishing. It runs from Gloucester to Sharpness. As is expected from a route along a canal, it’s very […]
Two Tunnels Greenway
Two Tunnels Greenway Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Two Tunnels Greenway got it’s name because (you guessed it!) the route runs through two tunnels. One of those, the Combe Down Tunnel, is just over a mile long, and is the longest tunnel on a traffic-free cycling route in the UK. For the purposes of this guide, […]
Colliers Way traffic-free cycle route
Colliers Way Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Colliers Way is a disused railway in Somerset. Sustrans says it stretches for 17.5 miles from Frome to Monkton Combe. However, from Radstock to Monkton Combe is mainly on-road, albeit mostly on (normally) quiet lanes. As a result, this guide covers just the segment from Frome to Radstock, […]
The Strawberry Line cycle route
The Strawberry Line is a 10.5 mile (mostly) traffic-free route between Yatton and Cheddar, Somerset.
Cuckoo Trail Traffic-free Cycle Route
Cuckoo Trail Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Cuckoo Trail runs from Heathfield to Polegate, passing through Hellingly, Horam, and Hailsham. The trail got its name from an old tradition of releasing a cuckoo at the Heathfield Fair, and offers 14 miles of traffic-free bliss in East Sussex. This is a disused railway, and so […]
Hornsea Rail Trail Traffic-free Cycle Route
Hornsea Rail Trail Cycle Route Overall Rating: ⭐⭐ The Hornsea Rail Trail links the centre of Hull with Hornsea, 15 miles further along a disused rail trail. Just over half of the route is tarred, with the remainder quite decent compacted gravel. This trail forms part of the Trans Pennine Trail, and is signed as […]
Union Canal
The Union Canal, starts by the Falkirk Wheel and ends Edinburgh, 34 miles away. It is a contour canal, therefore has no climbing. There are three aqueducts and two tunnels and the path along each of those is narrow and cobbled, so it’s suggested that you walk your bike along it. Overall, the towpath is […]
Cambridge Guided Busway
The Cambridge Guided Busway was originally built as a service road for the busway. Sadly, when it floods (as it does from time to time) the local authority refuses to do anything about it, claiming it’s a service road. However, when talking about what they’re doing for cycling, they’re quick to call it a cycle […]
Forth and Clyde Canal
The Forth and Clyde Canal links Glasgow with Falkirk, and most of the 35 miles of towpath is tarred. It is a stunning, flat (as you’d expect from a canal towpath) route, but it’s not perfect. For a significant part of the canal, the towpath is only one metre wide. There are also gates along […]
The Granite Way
18 miles (there & back), almost completely traffic-free and mostly flat, family-friendly cycle route The Granite Way is traffic-free shared path, built on the remains of a disused railway, and it’s simply gorgeous. Skirting the high moor, it runs for 9 miles, from Okehampton to Lydford, and forms part of the Devon Coast To Coast […]
DayCycle – Newton Abbott to Moretonhampstead
Up to 28 miles, with the 1st half being almost totally flat and the 2nd half being rather hilly. Especially the 1st half is suitable for closely supervised children and is mostly traffic-free At the very bottom, you will find a link to a PDF version of this article, so you can easily download and […]
DayCycle – Dawlish to Exeter St Davids, 14 miles, mainly flat
14 miles, mostly flat (with a few small hills) and mostly traffic-free. Suitable for children under close supervision When you leave the train station at Dawlish, turn left, but don’t mount your bike yet. A very short while later you will turn right onto Richmond Place – this before getting to the main road through […]
Traffic-free Cycling Route Guide Ratings Explained
Star-rated traffic-free cycle routes As you may have noticed, I started grading the route guides I publish, using a star grading system. This grading system is to give an indication of family-friendliness of a route, which is a grading that will also help new adult cyclists, as well as less confident adult cyclists. Some routes […]
DayCycle – Drake’s Trail
Drake’s Trail is a 20-mile long cycling (and walking) route, mostly on traffic-free disused railways, linking Plymouth with Tavistock, and incorporates the Plym Valley Trail. The entire route guide for Drake’s Trail is now available as a PDF, for you to easily download, print and take along on your ride As ever, thank you for […]
