Posts - WillCycle

Ultimate Guide to Planning Your 1st Cycle Tour

Adventure, Camping, Cycle touringNo Comments

Are you planning your first cycle tour and feeling overwhelmed? Don’t worry, you’re not alone! Cycle touring can be a fantastic way to see the world and have unique travel experiences, but it’s normal to have questions and concerns about how to plan your trip. To help you get started, here is the ultimate guide […]

Lanchester Valley Railway Path

DayCycle, Durham, Traffic-freeNo Comments

Lanchester Valley Railway Path cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Lanchester Valley Railway path runs for 12 miles between Consett in the west and Broompark, near Durham in the east. Like most longer distant paths in County Durham, it follows the route of an old rail line. The westernmost few miles are a very gradual […]

South Tyne Trail cycle route

DayCycle, Gravel, Green route, Northumberland, Traffic-freeNo Comments

South Tyne Trail cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐ Let me start this guide with an important notice: overall, the South Tyne Trail is not a family-friendly, easy route, though parts of it (notably between Haltwhistle and Slaggyford) can be family-friendly. This can best be described as a gravel route (with parts on tar) containing some […]

The Ugly Truth About Cycle Touring

Adventure, Camping, Cycle touringNo Comments

The Ugly Truth? If you visit this site regularly, you’d know that I’m a big fan of cycle touring, and for good reason, too! I wrote many times about the sense of freedom you can get while cycle touring. Yes, even from very short tours. Especially when wild camping – as I prefer to do […]

Chester Millennium Greenway

Cheshire, DayCycle, Traffic-freeNo Comments

Chester Millenium Greenway cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Chester Millennium Greenway is a 10.7 mile almost completely traffic-free cycle route, built mainly on a disused railway line. As the name suggests, it runs right through the heart of Chester.Because it’s built on a disused railway, the route can feel very disconnected from its surroundings, […]

We don’t want no cycle paths here

Better worldNo Comments

Say hello to Cycling Judy Judy is a cyclist and a song-writer, and I suspect you will enjoy her work. She has an entire YouTube channel, but I thought I’d introduce her work with this song, We don’t want no cycle paths here.Judy’s on Twitter, and on Mastodon, so give her a follow!Enjoy!

Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal cycle route

DayCycle, Staffordshire, WorcestershireNo Comments

Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ This 25-mile, almost completely traffic-free cycle route links Stourport with Wolverhampton, using the towpath of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. The Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal towpath had some TLC, and the towpath is mostly easy to ride. Nevertheless, it remains a towpath, with all the challenges […]

The Exe Estuary cycle route to Exmouth

DayCycle, Devon, Traffic-freeNo Comments

Exe Estuary cycle route overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ The Exe Estuary trail is stunning, and mostly traffic-free, with some on-road sections. This 13-mile, mostly traffic-free cycle route is on the northern side of the estuary, leading to Exmouth. Especially in summer this route can get very busy, so if you’re planning on cycling it, you may […]

Why YOU should use RideWithGPS

MappingNo Comments

All the maps on WillCycle are done with RideWithGPS, and that’s for very good reason. I have tried practically every mapping site out there, and find RideWithGPS the most feature-rich, and most straightforward to use. Best of all, you can use most of the functionality with a free account, and they have an excellent app […]

The Rail-Hike-Camp map

Adventure, Camping, Cycle touringNo Comments

A map aimed at hikers? Well yeah, the Rail-Hike-Camp map was created specifically with hikers in mind. The idea is simple: a map showing camp sites within a day’s hike from a train station. Obviously, that allows hikers to greatly expand where they go adventuring, by using trains. The benefit to cycle tourers The Rail-Hike-Camp […]

So this is Christmas…

Better world2 Comments

and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun. Those are the opening lines of my all-time, most-favourite Christmas song, Happy Xmas (War Is Over), by John Lennon. Around this time of year I always do a Christmas roundup post. More of a friendly chat with friends, really, and I […]

Brunel Trail

DayCycle, South West Wales, Traffic-freeNo Comments

Brunel Trail overall route rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Brunel Trail is a 9-mile, almost entirely traffic-free cycle route. The route links Neyland with Haverfordwest, mostly via a disused railway line. The full route includes sections on the shared pavement, next to roads. In Haverfordwest, those roads can be busy, and you will need to be very careful […]

Alton Water cycle route

DayCycle, Suffolk, Traffic-freeNo Comments

Alton Water overall route rating: ⭐⭐⭐ Alton Water itself is a reservoir in Suffolk, just south of Ipswitch. This traffic-free cycle route guide is for the route that encircles the reservoir. Depending on the season, and the maintenance schedule, parts of the route may be somewhat overgrown. An initial art of the route is along […]

7 signs that you should go cycle touring

Adventure, Cycle touringNo Comments

Did you think cycle touring is not for you? Many people think cycle touring is only for people who are happy to go cycling for weeks without access to showers, and sleeping on the ground each night. To be fair, many thousands of people do exactly that each year, but it certainly isn’t the only […]

More route functionality

Cycle touring, GoCycle, MappingNo Comments

RideWithGPS For years now I’ve been quite vocal in my preference for RideWithGPS. It is, in my opinion, simply the very best route creation platform out there, and all the routes listed on WillCycle.com were created using RideWithGPS. App RideWithGPS has an app for both Android, and iOS. The app itself is free, and requires […]

Dirty diesel versus clean cargo bikes

Better world1 Comment

Inner-city cargo bikes are the future London has an Ultra-Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ for short) in an attempt to address the extreme levels of traffic pollution. Last Wednesday, the Economy Committee met to discuss the business case for shifting away from diesel vans, towards e-assisted cargo bikes. And that business case is overwhelming! After all, […]

The Wirral Way traffic-free cycle route

10 to 20 miles, 4 stars, Cheshire, DayCycle, Merseyrail Wirral Line, Traffic-free, Wrexham Central and Bidston Line2 Comments

Wirral Way overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Wirral Way forms part of the longer Wirral Circular Trail but this is by far the most popular section, being almost completely traffic free. It follows the route of a disused railway, from West Kirby to Hooton, and offers great views across the Dee Estuary to Wales, over a […]

The threat to wild camping on Dartmoor

Better world, Camping1 Comment

Dartmoor is the only place in England where wild camping is legal Wild camping laws vary considerably in the UK. In Scotland, subject to restrictions and limitations, wild camping is legal is most places, but in Wales and England it is different. In all of Wales and England, the only place where wild camping, without […]

Does Your Wild Camping Pass The Test? 7 Things You Can Improve On Today

Adventure, Camping, Cycle touringNo Comments

What are the 7 common mistakes people make when wild camping? Wild camping is great. Just you, and nature all around you. Sheer bliss! However, there are mistakes that many people make when wild camping. Do you do any of these? Remember, strictly speaking, and with the exception of around half of Dartmoor (and even that’s […]

The Wild Atlantic Way prep

Adventure, Camping, Cycle touringNo Comments

Unsupported long-distance cycle touring With the end on 2023 rapidly approaching, I’m slowly preparing for cycling the bottom 700 miles of the Wild Atlantic Way in May ’23. The Wild Atlantic Way apparently is the longest signposted coastal route in the world (a record that’s simply begging to be beaten) and it gets its name […]

Andrew Smith on Why YOU need to limit YOUR travel29/03/2023
Great post. My future holiday plans don't include flying. And most will be in the UK.
Claire on Kit Review: Chilli-Tech Mk II Bullet Cam28/03/2023
I and my cycling friend both have Mark II Chilli cameras, and I have to say that they are not…
Robin Bennett on Cuckoo Trail Traffic-free Cycle Route26/03/2023
I cycled this today (from Horam down to Polegate) and it was a very pleasant ride (and surprisingly free of…
Robin Bennett on Ask not for whom the bell tolls…24/03/2023
Water buffalo are clearly highly dangerous (one death in 2021 and two in 2020 - I couldn’t find 2019, but…
WillCycle on Kit Review: Chilli-Tech Mk II Bullet Cam19/03/2023
I think it's important to point out that the Mk II is effectively a completely different camera to the Mk…