Anyone done this route?
Looks quite nice, depending on route 170 or 200 miles so (for me) would include an overnight stop somewhere.
If anyone has done it (or bits of it) any info appreciated.
cheers
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Events, rides etc.
NCN 1 / 76 (Newcastle->Edinburgh
(35 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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I've cycled both routes as far as Berwick-Upon-Tweed - nice full day jaunts and then a hop back on the train. They are both very scenic, although I think NCN1 edges it for the scenery. A couple of points:
NCN1 does that infuriating thing of taking huge detours to avoid a few hundred metres of busier road as you get near the border. It is also pretty hilly in parts. Sections of the route near Haddington aren't really suitable for a road bike, although they are just about passable.
NCN76 - the hill out of Pease Bay is a killer. I just managed it on a road bike - my only luggage being a small wedge bag under my saddle. I saw a few people pushing at this point.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Also just remembered - there is an insane bit (I think both routes, but certainly NCN1)where you have to leg it across the A1 when it is a dual carriageway, just outside Berwick. At first I thought I must have left the NCN, as this couldn't possibly be right. However, it turns out that NCN1 - the UK's premier long distance cycle route - really does require you to cross what is effectively a motorway.
Posted 11 years ago # -
This one?
Posted 11 years ago # -
Muddy in places south of Berwick
Posted 11 years ago # -
Or perhaps this one -
Posted 11 years ago # -
Thinking of doing the Lindisfarne detour?
Posted 11 years ago # -
Morningsider: "However, it turns out that NCN1 - the UK's premier long distance cycle route - really does require you to cross what is effectively a motorway."
...and has stairs at Brunstane Station.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Blimey. It wouldn't hurt them to put in some traffic lights, or a cycle bridge or tunnel. But no, they'd rather have children slaughtered by motor traffic.
Posted 11 years ago # -
you think that's bad cc? They did build a bridge to cross the A1 less than half-a-mile away, with quiet roads in between, but didn't let cyclists use it! The Highways Agency or Department of Transport put the bridge in to let farm traffic cross the A1 when they were bypassing Berwick, but I was told that as it was a private road in England it was up to the private owner to decide who could use it. I don't know if that has changed since the A1 and bridge were built but beforehand it seems as if the HA/DoT didn't care or didn't think enough about cyclists.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Thinking of doing the Lindisfarne detour?"
Definitely, although the tide times might come into play.
Great info everyone - only concern is if some of the surfaces are 'muddy'like your photo - same problem using the NCN next to A9 north of Dunkeld, in bits its almost a MTB track which meant a detour on to A9 itself (and some rather fractious 'you are never routemapping again' chat directed at yours truly!
Posted 11 years ago # -
chdot - here: http://goo.gl/maps/xJDhu
What it doesn't show is the traffic tanking past at 60-70 mph.
Posted 11 years ago # -
IIRC there is quite a bit of that field south of Berwick as well as some sandy bits further South. Apart from that the surface is OK. However this another long distance Sustrans route I wouldn't recommend on 23mm tyres..
Posted 11 years ago # -
@stiltskin - indeed - and where you draw the line (tyre/bike wise) is the conundrum.
The pitlochry - dunkeld stretch I mention above goes from magnificent unblemished tarmac (great on a road/touring bike)to horrific muddy tree covered goat track (forget it on almost any bike), and its all the same NCN.
Maybe they need more warnings on their site - or user reviews - who knows.
Anyway cheers all, perhaps back to the drawing board for me on this one.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Back in August wife & I took the train (1 hour from Edin) to Alnmouth and cycled from there to Newcastle. Decided to stick to (if my memory is correct) NCN1 for whole route. Beautiful in parts, industrial but pretty enough in others. Really nice afternoons ride, 50ish miles (again if memory serves). The path was muddy and uneven in sections and we were glad of our OS maps as signposting was poor in a few places.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I did NCN1 from Newcastle to berwickupon tweed. If doing it to Edinburgh in two days, berwick would be the place to stop. However, all the good scenery and decent Tarmac (with some rough track for sure) starts south of alnmouth really at the national park and even then a little bleak eg in Amble. (? South of warkworth). Bamburgh hugely scenic, lindisfarne too. Seahouses has a tremendous crazy golf course, amazing old pub and gret fish and chips and the boats out to the farne islands. Grace darling museum has opened in bamburgh, the fruit and veg shop is great, as is the deli. Certainly the most chi-chi part of Northumberland, the village of bamburgh.
I know I sometimes get a thing for doing a route from A to Z but if I did this again, Iwould take train to Berwick, with a hybrid bike and pootle down to alnmouth (lovely tearoom there in the old school with art gallery) and back up to bamburgh. Or take a road bike and plan a route on the back roads around Belford/Bamburgh. Pretty sure there are regular road events organised around there.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Cheers EB
Again, thanks all for the help (one of the things I love about CCE, lots of people who have done many and varied things)
Decided not to give in, and googled further - viola, the Kim Harding (on here I believe, so thanks very much) blog had an excellent section kim and friend on NCN1 in which he came across the self same problem - but mentioned an alternate road route he could have taken.
A bit of mapping later, and it seems pretty simple to do an inland b-road detour from Fenwick (nr holy island) to Berwick (will require a crossing of the A1, but thats par for the course)
Posted 11 years ago # -
I cycled several times from Edinburgh to West Yorkshire 20 years ago - down quite busy roads like the A68. The NCNs have changed things a great deal for the better - and against the grain of public indifference (for many years) and funding limitations etc. So maybe still having to cross the odd busy road is not really too bad - this is a common problem with cycling routes in many countries (though it's true, the A1 can be like a motorway).
Posted 11 years ago # -
Ruggtomcat went that way a while back.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I rode NCR76 from Cockburnspath to Dunbar recently. I used a road bike with 23mm tyres. The first mile through Dunglass is on a minor road. The next mile is on a segregated path alongside the A1. It crosses the A1 near Torness Power Station. The route follows another minor road away from the A1 towards Barns Ness. Up to there it is all smooth tarmac. The NCN turns off onto a farm track. Although this is tarmaced it is undulating and broken up in places. It is rideable but painfully bumpy on a road bike. At the cement works there are a couple of narrow gates which might be a problem for a long recumbent, a tricycle or a bike pulling a children's trailer. I can't be sure though. After the cement works the path is red blaes and a bit easier going. I had trouble following the route as it cuts diagonally across a lorry parking area. More red blaes and then the route joins the A1087. At Broxburn I think it's possible to ride through to the A1 underpass and then on to Pitcox like the route of the Tour of East Lothian.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Hi guys, I'm thinking of cycling down overnight to a meeting in Newcastle at some point soon. Cyclestreets suggests this sort of route would be fastest.
Any thoughts? Changes advised. Plan is to leave office in Edinburgh at 5pm and ride 7-8 hours before bivvying for a couple hours in a bus stop somewhere, then hit up the last few miles in the morning for arriving by 8am.
https://www.cyclestreets.net/journey/57256835/#fastest
Only 110 miles rather than 170 with the route used in this thread. Any recommendations. Don't mind a bit more distance to avoid bad roads!
Posted 7 years ago # -
I have very limited experience of cycling on the A697, but I intend to keep it that way!
Perhaps in the evenings/overnight, it'd be fine, but the short section I was on, between Oxton and Lauder on a Sunday afternoon, was terrifying.
Posted 7 years ago # -
That looks quite a busy route, though I guess it would be better at night. You could take the route of the Merse and Moors to Elsdon (ie Granites, Innerleithen, Lindean Hill, Midlem, Denholm etc). That is hilly though!.
You could get to Wooler a quiter route via Innerleithen, Lindean Hill (as per M & M), then head off east by Lilliesleaf to Ancrum, onto Nisbet, keep on the lanes to cross the wooden bridge at https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.537331,-2.4631679,15.25z/data=!5m1!1e3, then head off to Wooler via Morebattle, Yetholm x2. Nice and quiet. I don't know about routes to Newcastle from Wooler. I'd avoid the A1 though!
Out of curiousity - are you able to rest and shower before the meeting?
Posted 7 years ago # -
Haha yeah we've got options to shower at the office! Sleep isn't really a thing in this situation.
Thanks for the adjustments. I'm keen to figure out something middling but keen not to fight with traffic at night!Posted 7 years ago # -
The A68/697 is fine in the evening but leaving here at 5pm it's likely to be a bit rubbish until round about Lauder. I've ridden from Morpeth into Central Newcastle (lots of bus lanes so surprisingly pleasant) on a Saturday morning so I'll see if I can dig out the route.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I cycled to visit my parents, who live near Newcastle. I did this:
https://www.strava.com/activities/52555328
and came home like this:
https://www.strava.com/activities/52555315 (the garmin battery ran out, hence the apparent stop in the middle of East Lothian).
I wrote this at the time:
https://wisob.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/on-going-to-visit-my-parents/Posted 7 years ago # -
As Adrian and Cyclops say, I'd head for Coldstream, then cut off onto the Merse and Moors route (check your bottom bracket (I appear to recall?) down to Alnwick. Then keep between the A1 and the A1086 coastal route to Newcastle.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Looks like I'll be doing a bit of a hybrid of DaveC and Aidrians Route. I shall indeed be checking for my bottom bracket self extracting (single most annoying bike malfunction I've ever had) Merse and moors is still my nemesis. Never completed it.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I have just done the journey on the train, was lovely. Unfortunately due to power cables last night the fast 05.40 train was cancelled so I am n the slow 05.48 stops everywhere, alnmouth pretty, Morpeth never stopped there before.
What bus stop you going to kip in before the meeting? Dave C knows all the bus stops
Posted 7 years ago #
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