First cycle tour - route suggestions starting from London?

Hi there,

I'm planning to go on a 4-day cycle tour. I'm not very familiar with the UK, so I'd love to hear which places you suggest I visit! I won't be cycling with a tent, and am intending to stay at inns, b&bs and hostels.

Does anybody have a route they can suggest, or places I should visit? I'd love to hear some suggestions.

Thanks!

If you're willing to put in one or two 100m+ days (assuming you start riding in London), you can get to Wales and have some brilliant cycling. I've stayed at YHAs along the way, which I think are pretty good value if you can tolerate that kind of accommodation (bring earplugs).

Head to Bristol or Gloucester, then on day 2 or 3 you can be in the Brecon Beacons. Then head north towards Aberystwyth and Snowdonia. Wales is hilly but you can minimize your exposure to the steepest gradients with a little planning, if you want.

Southwest into the Surrey Hills and then the South Downs towards Winchester would also be a good start, then you could head to the New Forest/Bournemouth and then possibly Land's End if you have good legs. I think @tricitybendix got to Land's end in 3 or 4 days?

If you have time/can afford a train journey within the 4 days then you have a lot of options. Train to York/Harrogate, then Head up to the Yorkshire Dales then push on to Scotland and towards Edinburgh.

I've done bits of all of those and would recommend any of them. The further you get from the SE the quieter the roads are...

Thank you so much, this is a truly excellent list of suggestions!

I never even considered going to Wales, but now you've sparked the idea, thank you!

Get a train to get you away from London, it can be done cheaply and easily and makes a real difference to the cycling on offer. Two great trips if you do this are:

1. Get train to cardif or newport in south wales- quite quick and cheap if you book in advance.
   From there take 'Route 8' north up through Wales for some stunning cycling
   http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/route-8

2. Get the train from London to stockport (near Manchester), again a quick and cheap train if you book in advance.
   When you're there head east into the peak district where there is loads of cracking cycling. You could even ride north from there up into the Yorkshire dales.

Get a train to get you away from London, it can be done cheaply and easily and makes a real difference to the cycling on offer. Two great trips if you do this are:

This - the first 30 miles are shite.

That's fantastic. Thank you.

Definitely train it out of London, unless you're going west in which case taking the river path is nice.

Four days? I'd get a train to Wales and ride around/through Snowdonia. Camping three days followed by a bed and breakfast on the last day.

Bnb's can be expensive, especially in the nicest towns.

It's a bit late feedback from me, but I ended up going on a 3-day cycle trip over Easter, to Wales. I thought I'd share the route, and the tips I followed.

It was definitely not a “hardcore” tour. As the distances I did weren't very long (never topped 100 miles a day) and I stayed overnight with AirBNB.

Setup

My bike, the—ahem—Purple Lightning

Rode on an old Peugeuot Road Bike, with Vittoria 700cx28 tyres. Two Ortlieb Classic Back Rollers on a p-clip mounted rear-rack.. Worked very well, but I don't think I should make the rear too heavy without putting some more weight up front, the front wheel didn't feel as “grippy” as I'm used to. I also used a Garmin for the routes. Might take a lighter lock with me next time, as the Kryptonite felt a bit like overkill for most places.

Day 1 - High Wycombe to Gloucester (route)

First of all I listened to your advice, and took a train out of London, to High Wycombe. This was a tough day, because I think I spent 4hrs of it in the rain. Descending with panniers and calliper brakes was terrifying. This was actually my longest day at 134km (83 miles). Arriving in Gloucester was a great feeling, especially as there was a warm lasagna waiting for me.

Day 2 - Gloucester to Edw Valley (route)

Mostly flat, except at the end. Hills while loaded were tough, and I might change my cassette for my next tour, especially when carrying more (camping) gear. Country side was beautiful, and towards the end it got sunny.

The River Edw

Day 3 - Edw Valley to Swansea via the Brecon Beacons (route)

This was the last day. I simply chose Swansea, because it had a good train connection to get me back to London. Next time I want to venture further in to Wales, and see Snowdonia. Brecon Beacons was stunning.

Brecon Beacons

yes!

Awesome! Nice one. I think those are pretty good distances at this time of year with panniers etc. I've only ever done 'touring centuries' with minimal equipment. Really glad you got a taste of Wales.

What a great ride ...
I was going to suggest you ride up the east coast following the Dunwich Dynamo route and the head up to Norfolk...
Flatter but largely traffic free after Epping...

That might be my next ride!