Best cycling large town / city in the UK?

[Cornwallintherain]

Good morning everyone and happy Friday!

I've woken up with a fizzy spring in my step because we've decided to relocate.

We want to live somewhere with the best designated cycle path network in the UK. (I don't like cycling on the road. I've been hit by a car before and I don't wish to be again!) . I want to cycle safely to the shops, town / city centre and cycle along the river or country park etc.

Can anyone recommend their own towns or cities? Or suburbs?

Anywhere from John O Groats to Exeter. (I can't say Lands End as I already live in Cornwall!)

Heaton, Newcastle

Oxford has loooooads of cyclists - and it’s pretty too

St ives in Cambridgeshire. There's now a cycle path all the way from there to Cambridge along the guided bus. If you work there you can cycle in now. The town itself is small and easy to cycle round without crazy traffic.

Or Cambridge the city itself. So many cyclists.

Come to Oxford. the City Council has decided unilaterally that you can’t go anywhere except by push bike.

of course, there isn’t going to be anywhere much left to go soon, because….no one can get there.

It's really not that unusual to base tour decision on that. When we moved, we wanted to live somewhere where we could use the car as little as possible, and be able to cycle to parks, shops and the city centre. Once you narrow down to a few cities, then you can look for areas WITHIN them for property prices, transport access, schools etc.

Driving into Oxford city centre for anything other than absolute necessity (like your an ambulance, got a mobility issue etc) has been an insane idea for decades

Pretty much this, you can even ride a horse through the centre.

I would say Bristol is cycle friendly and shedloads of it- to the extent we found it annoying- and moved to Bath - but it may suit you.

This is a ridiculous response.

If someone likes to cycle as their primary mode of transport, living in the middle of nowhere is the worst possible place to live. People in cities / towns tend to walk / cycle more than people in the countryside. Everyone who lives rurally round here rarely leaves their property unless they're in their car. When we lived in London we walked everywhere, just like most people.

@TheLongpigs i totally agree. I moved from the suburbs where you had to get in the car for anything, to a small city where the car barely moves from one week to the next. I walk or cycle everywhere. The difference this had made to my quality of life is huge and would be a major factor if I move again. Major.

Id say Chelmsford where I live now is much better then most places for cycling.

Manchester is great for cyclists we have a designated cycle lane from our front door in a nice suburb into the city centre. My 5 year old cycles to school with me and younger DC on the back and we always feel safe. Lots of jobs too!

There's a network of "red routes" that are for pedestrians and cyclists. Here's a link to a map: https://getaroundmk.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/MK_Redway_Poster.pdf

My brother lives there and I was very impressed by the town and what it has for families.

Look at that map, it's really bloody cool. What a role model for what our cities should become.

I've really battled with depression and yesterday I realised I always cycle and smile. I simply love how it feels (apart from being hit by a car obviously 😂). I guess it's my hobby. It would be silly and regrettable to do such a big move and not think of it as a priority.

So many great responses!! I'm off to check it all out on Rightmove.....

Cambridge, or the small towns or villages around it. Even where you can’t cycle in the whole way, there are park and ride sires on every edge that you could cycle in from.

Also Peterborough if you'd rather not cycle on the road - has its Green Wheel of cycle routes, a network of off-road bus lanes around the outskirts and green spaces like Ferry Meadows.

Cambridge, without a doubt

If you can't afford London, you might struggle with Cambridge.

YY to York

I also cycled everywhere when I lived in Newcastle u Tyne and London. Lots of parks to cut through.

I live in Cambridge, and travel further by bike than by car most years. I will cycle on big roads (and I've only been hit once in 20 years....), but I have a daughter who started cycling on the road at 5 - and that's not the youngest among my friends. She's older now, but I still adapt routes for her; in my experience most places are accessible by minor roads/cycle paths with the odd bit of walking, but some of those routes are pretty circuitous, and a good bit longer than the direct route. However other routes are much faster/more direct by bike - I used to live 2 miles from work, across the city. 12 minute cycle, 30 minute drive (in the rush hour). I know families who choose to live here without a car, so it's definitely doable.

We have a couple of converted railway tracks nearby that are used by cyclists, horse riders, walkers, runners etc. They link several towns and you can take the kids up there etc. They’re really popular in good weather (pretty quiet today in the mizzle though). Maybe look for something like that near your chosen area?

I've just been looking at jobs in Cambridge and there is a lot but the salaries aren't very good.

E.g in Milton Keynes they're at least £5k more per year! 😯

So interesting!!

Peterborough has good off road cycle routes, is very flat, and much cheaper to live in than Cambridge. Also excellent road / rail links to the rest of the country.

Bracknell

I could cycle all around there without sharing a road with cars except when in the housing estates, which were all wiggly windy and cars couldn't do more than 10mph or so (no cut throughs or rat runs). Most are shared pedestrian/cyclist paths but it was great.

If you are active pretty much all sports are covered in MK. Including loads of water sports on the lakes, sailing, canoing, paddle boarding, windsurfing nice villages around MK and a large university hospital, 30 mins to London on the train.

@KimWexlersPonyTail is there an area in MK that I should focus on for general niceness?