Discover the UK’s best traffic-free cycle routes

Below are some of the most recent route guides, but be sure to visit the UK-wide map, showing all the route guides. All routes have a custom WillCycle map, from which you can download the GPX for the route, and where you can see the route profile in detail.

The route guides include an up-to-date weather forecast, and lots of information about the route. It even tells how how long it would take to cycle, at your preferred speed.

Featured routes

These are just some of the stunning routes I have highly-detailed guides for. Refresh the page to see more routes.

Whitehaven Rowrah Cycle Trail

Whitehaven Rowrah Cycle Trail Overall Rating: (Colour explanation: blue = good, yellow indicates some warning, and red indicates issues to be aware of) Built along the route of the Whitehaven, Cleator & Egremont and Rowrah & Kelton Fell Railways, this 11 mile route is traffic-free along most of its length....
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Grand Union Canal – Paddington Branch

GUC Paddington Branch Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Originally built to link Paddington with the Grand Union Canal, the Paddington Branch is 13.5 miles long, and offers surprisingly serene cycling in the heart of London. It can get very busy at times, and further along can get rather narrow. Of course, when...
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The Swiss Valley Trail

UPDATE: Due to a landslip just before Tumble (roughly 10.5 miles into the route) the Swiss Valley Trail is partially closed. You can still cycle the 10 miles to the closure, but to continue beyond that will require some on-road cycling. This is a long-term closure. Mostly following the old...
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Great Central Way – Leicester to Cossington

This route guide actually covers more than just the Great Central Way, and includes some towpaths, and other traffic-free paths, to extend the route to 11.7 miles, ending in Cossington. It makes for a gorgeous, almost entirely traffic-free day out. Great Central Way cycle route overall rating: (Colour explanation: blue...
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Basingstoke Canal – Saturn Trail

Basingstoke Canal Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Saturn Trail is a 9 mile trail along the Basingstoke Canal towpath, in Woking, Surrey.It’s a largely a straight line trail, and as you’d expect from a canal towpath, flat but with gentle increase in height east to west. It is secluded and peaceful,...
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Even more value

WillCycle Supporters gain even more value, including achievement badges, and more, as well as Strava integration.

These route guides are all made with 🚲 in Devon.

Latest from the blog

  • Central Park
    No, not that Central Park. This route runs through Central Park, in Plymouth. The land that forms Central Park is held in trust, and may only be used for leisure facilities, for the people of Plymouth. Started in 1928, and formally opened in 1931, despite what the local legend says, Plymouth’s Central Park isn’t older … Read more
  • Fairy Trails
    Fairy Trails
    Do you ever go cycling, or walking, with young kids? What if I told you that you could easily add a bit of magic to those outings? How? By doing Fairy Trails! Fairy Trails are being embedded into more and more of the traffic-free cycle routes listed on WillCycle. To play, simply visit the route … Read more
  • Treasure Hunt: A Cycling Adventure You Can’t Plan For
    Somewhere along some of WillCycle’s traffic-free routes, there are stickers hidden. Those were been placed there deliberately, in a spot that requires effort to reach. It won’t appear on any map. Nobody is going to tell you where it is. And the first WillCycler to find it and send proof will have their first name … Read more
  • Why one map is never enough
    We’ve all been there: you planned a glorious route for a bike ride. You checked OS Maps and confirmed it’s a bridleway that you may legally use. You planned a 50 mile loop, using that bridleway to avoid a nasty, busy A-road. Then you arrive, and that “legal right of way” is a chest-high sea … Read more