National Cycle Network

Since 1995 we have been the mapmakers appointed by Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, to map over 10,000 miles of the rapidly developing National Cycle Network.

The National Cycle Network is a safe, attractive, high-quality network for cyclists and a major amenity for walkers and people with disabilities.

It opened in June 2000 with 5000 miles of continuous routes, including traffic-free and traffic-calmed sections, and minor roads. The routes run right through urban centres and reach all parts of the UK, providing safe links to work, to schools, to friends and family, to shops and stations. This is the first stage of a larger network which will eventually pass within 2 miles of half the population.

The National Cycle Network is a Millennium Commission project supported by £43.5m of National Lottery funds. It involves over 400 local authorities, as well as businesses, landowners, environmental bodies and others. The Network carries an estimated 100 million cycle trips and 40 million walking trips every year.

Over a third of the Network is entirely traffic-free, built along old railway lines, canal towpaths, forestry tracks, riversides and urban spaces, and in many cases these sections are ideal for pushchairs as well as for cyclists and pedestrians. The rest follow existing roads; town roads may be traffic-calmed or incorporate cycle lanes, quiet minor roads are used for country sections and there are special crossings over busy roads where needed.

With quiet lanes and traffic-free paths, the National Cycle Network is ideal for day trips, longer leisure rides or commuting.

National Cycle Network Routes:

1A   Hull to Fakenham 1B Fakenham to Harwich 1C Coast & Castles (Newcastle to Edinburgh) 1D Edinburgh to Aberdeen 1E Aberdeen to John o'Groats (inc. Orkney & Shetland) 1X Garden of England (Dover to London & Hastings) 2A Downs & Weald London to Eastbourne & Hastings 3A West Country Way (Padstow to Bristol/Bath) 3B The Cornish Way (Lands End to Bude) 4A Severn & Thames (Gloucester to Newbury) 4B Celtic Trail (Lôn Geltaidd) - East (Severn Bridge to Swansea) 4C Celtic Trail (Lôn Geltaidd) - West (Swansea to Fishguard) 5A Thames Valley (London to Oxford) 5B West Midlands (Oxford to Derby via Birmingham) 6A South Midands (Oxford to Derby via Leicester) 6B Derby to York 7A C2C (Whitehaven/Workington to Sunderland/Newcastle)

7B Lochs & Glens - South (Glasgow to Carlisle) 7C Lochs & Glens - North (Inverness to Glasgow) 8A Lôn Las Cymru - South (Builth Wells to Cardiff/Chepstow) 8B Lôn Las Cymru - North (Holyhead to Builth Wells) 9A Kingfisher Trail 9B Belfast to Ballyshannon 9C Ballyshannon to Ballycastle 14 The Three Rivers (Middlesbrough to Newcastle) 27 Devon Coast to Coast (Ilfracombe to Plymouth) 65 White Rose (Hull to Middlesborough) 68 Pennine Cycleway - North Pennines 68B  Pennine Cycleway - South Pennines & the Dales 68C Pennine Cycleway - Peak District 75 Clyde to Forth (Glasgow to Edinburgh) 76 Round the Forth 94 Loughshore Trail (Lough Neagh)

All of the official route maps we produce for Sustrans can be ordered directly from the National Cycle Network Information Service, telephone 0845 113 0065.