National Cycle Network Totally Explained

Everything about The National Cycle Network totally explained

The National Cycle Network is a network of cycle routes in the United Kingdom.
The National Cycle Network was created by the charity Sustrans (Sustainable Transport), and aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. In 2005 it was used for over 230-million trips.
Many routes hope to minimise contact with motor traffic, though 70% of them are on roads. In some cases the NCN uses pedestrian routes, disused railways, minor roads, canal towpaths, or traffic-calmed routes in towns and cities. Some places have more off-road paths than others - Stoke-on-Trent, for instance, uses canal towpaths and its old mineral/clay railway network to provide over of off-road paths through the city.

Total national mileage

The original goal was to create of signed cycle routes by 2000, with 50% of these not being on roads, and all of it being "suitable for an unsupervised twelve year old." By mid 2000 of route were signposted to an "interim" standard, and a new goal was then set to double that to by 2005. August 2005 saw the completion of that goal.

Numbering system

National Cycle Network routes beginning with numbers 1 to 6 are generally in England, while those beginning with 7 start in the far north of England and Scotland. Those beginning with 8 are generally in Wales, and 9 in Northern Ireland. The main routes have one digit (1 to 6 radiate clockwise from the south of England). Other NCN routes have two digits, starting with the number of the relevant main route.
There are also many regional routes, reaching smaller towns and cities within ten designated regions. Each region is divided into a maximum of 9 areas. Regional route numbers comprise the area number 1 to 9, followed by another digit. (An exception is in the Scottish Borders council area, where the regional routes are numbered 1 to 9.) This means that across the UK there could be 10 regional route 12s, for instance, as well as the national route 12. To reduce confusion, identically numbered areas in adjacent regions don't abut, and so routes with the same number are widely separated.

Signing

The network is signposted using a white bicycle symbol on a blue background, with a white route number in an inset box but no destination names or distances given. National Route numbers have a red background, Regional Route numbers have a blue background. The system of symbols is based on that used by the Danish Cycle Network.

Main routes

The main national routes are:

NCR 1: Dover to Shetland Islands, along the east coast, via London, Edinburgh, John o' Groats and the Orkney Islands
NCR 2: Dover to St Austell, along the south coast
NCR 3: Bristol to Land's End, incorporating the West Country Way (via Chew Valley Lake) and the Cornish Way
NCR 4: London to St David's, in West Wales, via Reading, Bath, Bristol, Newport, Caerphilly, Pontypridd, Swansea and Llanelli.
NCR 5: Reading to Holyhead, via Birmingham, The Midlands and the North Wales coast
NCR 6: Windsor to The Lake District, via Luton, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Derby, crossing the Pennine Cycleway
NCR 7: Carlisle to Inverness via Glasgow
NCR 8: Cardiff to Holyhead, through the heart of Wales. Also known as Lôn Las Cymru
NCR 9: Belfast to Dublin (proposed)

The other national routes are:-

NCR 11 - (Harlow - Cambridge - King's Lynn)

NCR 12 - (Enfield) - Potters Bar - Letchworth - (Peterborough - Boston - Grimsby), also known as the Great North Way

NCR 13 - (Hackney - Chelmsford - Hadleigh) - Thetford - Fakenham

NCR 14 - (Barnard Castle -) Stockton-on-Tees - Hartlepool - Durham - Consett - South Shields

NCR 15 - (Nottingham - Grantham - Sleaford)

NCR 16 - (Basildon - Shoeburyness)

NCR 17 - Rochester - Maidstone (- Ashford - Hythe)

NCR 18 - Canterbury - Ashford - Tenterden - Tunbridge Wells

NCR 20 - Crawley to Brighton

NCR 21 - Greenwich - Lewisham - Crawley - East Grinstead - Heathfield - Eastbourne

NCR 22 - Wandsworth - Carshalton (The Wandle Trail) (- Guildford - Farnham - Petersfield - Havant - Isle of Wight)

NCR 23 - Reading - Basingstoke (- Alton - Eastleigh - Isle of Wight)

NCR 24 - (Bath - Radstock - Frome (section also known as the Colliers Way) - Warminster - Salisbury - Eastleigh)

NCR 25 - (Longleat - Gillingham - Poole)

NCR 26 - (Clevedon - Wells -) Castle Cary - Yeovil - Dorchester

NCR 27 - Ilfracombe - Plymouth; also known as the Devon Coast to Coast Cycle Route (External Link

) & includes part of the Tarka Trail

NCR 28 - (Okehampton - Newton Abbot -) Totnes - Salcombe

NCR 32 - Bodmin - Truro, via Padstow and Newquay; part of the Cornish Way cycle route

NCR 33 (Wessex Cycleway) - Pill - Clevedon - Weston-super-Mare - Bridgwater - Chard - Seaton

NCR 41 - Bristol - Gloucester (- Stratford upon Avon -) Warwick - Leamington Spa - Rugby

NCR 42 - Chepstow - Abergavenny - NCR 8 at Glasbury (an extension is proposed from Gloucester to Chepstow); part of Lôn Las Cymru

NCR 43 - Swansea (- Builth Wells)

NCR 45 - (Salisbury - Chester)

NCR 46 - (Newport - Neath)

NCR 47 - Newport - Fishguard, providing an inland alternative to the Celtic Trail cycle route

NCR 48 - (Leicester - Bath)

NCR 50 - (Maidenhead - Winslow)

NCR 51 - Colchester - Harwich - Felixstowe - Cambridge - Bedford - Milton Keynes - Oxford)

NCR 52 - (Stratford-upon-Avon - Loughborough)

NCR 53 - (Peterborough - Lichfield)

NCR 54 - (Stourport - Kidderminster - Dudley -) Lichfield - Derby

NCR 55 - (Telford - Preston)

NCR 56 - Chester - Liverpool, via Wallasey

NCR 57 - (Cricklade - Oxford -) Thame - Princes Risborough - Chesham (-) Hemel Hempstead - Harpenden (- Welwyn Garden City)

NCR 61 - Maidenhead - Uxbridge - Rickmansworth - Hatfield - Ware Note: Sustran's own web site is wrong and this is the full length of this route.

NCR 62 - the Trans Pennine Trail, Southport - Selby

NCR 63 - (Burton upon Trent -) Leicester - Oakham (-) Peterborough - Wisbech

NCR 64 - Market Harborough - Melton Mowbray (-) Collingham - Lincoln

NCR 65 - the White Rose cycle route, Hull - Middlesbrough

NCR 66 - Beverley - York (-) Leeds (- Manchester)

NCR 67 - Long Eaton - Heanor (-) Chesterfield - Leeds (-Northallerton)

NCR 68 - the Pennine Cycleway running up the spine of England, Derby - Berwick-upon-Tweed

NCR 69 - (Selby - Skipton)

NCR 71 - White Rose route near Northallerton - Workington, via Appleby, Penrith and Whitehaven

NCR 72 - (Kendal - Barrow-in-Furness - Whitehaven -) Silloth - Carlisle - Tynemouth (includes Hadrian's Cycleway)

NCR 73 - (Newton Stewart - Stranraer), Arran, Kintyre

NCR 74 - Gretna - Douglas (- Glasgow)

NCR 75 - Gourock - Glasgow - Edinburgh; also known as the Clyde to Forth cycle route

NCR 76 - Edinburgh - Callander

NCR 77 - Dundee - Pitlochry, via Perth

NCR 78 - Claonaig - Inverness (Great Glens Cycle Route)

NCR 79 - (Boat of Garten - Spey Bay)

NCR 81 - (Cardigan -) Shrewsbury - Telford (- Wolverhampton)

NCR 82 - (Machynlleth - Llanwrtyd Wells)

NCR 83 - (Llanwrtyd Wells - Ystradmeurig)

NCR 84 - (Trawsfynydd - Chester)

NCR 85 - (Llandegai -) Port Penrhyn - Bethesda - Ogwen Cottage (- Betws-y-Coed - Porthmadog)

NCR 88 - (Cardiff - Bridgend)

NCR 91 - Portadown - Tynan; includes a figure-of-eight based around Enniskillen known as the Kingfisher Trail

NCR 92 - Enniskillen - Derry

NCR 93 - (Newry - Ballycastle)

NCR 94 - A circuit of Lough Neagh; also known as the Loughshore Trail

NCR 95 - Tynan - Pettigo, via Lough Neagh and Newtownstewart.

NCR 96 - Toome - Portglenone (- Coleraine) (Sections planned or under development are shown in brackets.)

Other routes

Other parts of the network include:-

The Nicky Line - Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden, on NCR 57.

C2C - Whitehaven/Workington - Newcastle upon Tyne/Sunderland

W2W - Walney Island - Sunderland, via North Yorkshire

Taff Trail - Cardiff - Brecon

Peterborough Green Wheel - A network of cycle routes around Peterborough, some of which constitute part of the National Cycle Network.

Oxfordshire RCR 44 - Wantage (- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory & Harwell International Business Centre) - Didcot

at Heathfield, East Sussex, the former railway trackbed is now named the Cuckoo Trail, part of the National Cycle Network.Further Information

Get more info on 'National Cycle Network'.

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