Hi guys,
Im currently in Glasgow and planning to head down through the lake district to Manchester, am looking for the best route with cycle lanes if possible to avoid a roads as much as possible, and good places to stop along the way. Anyone done this before?
Also as a more general question, what apps/websites do you use to plan routes apart from this one...its my first trip so still learning!
Thanks
Fran
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We did this trip some 5 years ago, although we went in between Liverpool and Manchester and further down south. In Southern Scotland there is what people called the "Service Road"; that is the old main road from before the motorway was built and running pretty much parallel to that. It is not a bicycle road per se, but it is very wide, straight and with little traffic. It was not all that exciting to ride but it was fast :)
We also spent a couple of days in the Lake District, it was crowded with tourists. There are also very tough hills in that area - but beautiful for sure.
My son plotted our route on Google (here link to middle part of the trip): https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/viewer?mid=1PJE4VIYiiqoRy26sASGeaywv_vw&ll=54.43971281547997%2C-3.1696382024624654&z=11
We followed a canal for much of the way south of Preston, I believe it may be called "Liverpool-and-Leeds Canal". In general canals can be followed like rivers; there is always the old tow-path next to the water, it goes pretty straight and without any hills. It can turn boring after some time though...
There is this organization called "Sustrans" who are building a network of national cycle routes in Great Britain. 5 years ago it was mostly some local routes here and there, but maybe something has happened in the mean time.
Thanks for the info thats really helpful!