SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
Ron
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Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 9:07pm

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by Ron »

I used this route a few years ago on a tour of eastern England, it was bad then and doesn't seem to have improved. If folk want to go on rough cross country routes, that is fine, but this route is a designated part of the National Cycle Network Route 1 and as such should be passable by any cyclist, including fully laden tourers. It is little wonder we get rubbish cycle facilities when some of our number readily accept substandard routes.
Nutsey
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Joined: 19 Apr 2010, 3:31pm

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by Nutsey »

I was in Whitby this weekend but didn't see many cyclists about. The sea path north out of Whitby seemed okay?

I had a similar experience in North Norfolk. The council-approved and advertised path was AWFUL. We had to dismount and push several times. They should actually test these paths that they spend our money advertising as "cycle-friendly". :cry:
tooley92
Posts: 1440
Joined: 22 Jun 2007, 9:49am
Location: West Yorkshire

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by tooley92 »

Nutsey wrote:I was in Whitby this weekend but didn't see many cyclists about. The sea path north out of Whitby seemed okay?:cry:


But it's South to Scarborough - or it was when I lived there :lol:
Remember folks 'A pessimist is just an optimist with experience!'
PW
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Location: N. Derbys.

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by PW »

We've used the Scarborough to Whitby line a few times, the last being in 2,006 after a Coast to Coast run from Workington to Robin Hoods Bay. At that time it was a tad rough but perfectly ridable on a conventional tourer with 700 X 32C tyres. From the other posts on here I suspect some deterioration in the meantime.
If at first you don't succeed - cheat!!
alicej
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Location: Leeds, West Yorkshire

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by alicej »

This surprises me, I did Scarborough - Whitby this summer as a complete novice and loved it! Yes, bits of it are gravelly and you have to be a bit careful, but nothing I couldn't handle with very little/no previous experience, a £90 bike, two big panniers and our very non-aero tent bungeed to the top of my rack.

Great tea shop at the peak (Ravenscar) too, where if you ask nicely the guy running it will let you borrow his book about the railway which shows the elevation along the whole route, and explains that they had to back the steam trains into a cutting to get up enough puff to get over the peak, and sometimes didn't make it and had to to back for another try :lol:. I could sympathise having just cycled it.
Malaconotus
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Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by Malaconotus »

CJ wrote:
glueman wrote:The path must have the best views of any cycleway in Britain.

... if only the poor cyclist could raise his eyes from the treachery of the surface long enough to see them!


Precisely! This was the most frustrating aspect to me; not being able to enjoy the views while making anything other than very slow progress - the surface just has too many ruts, stones, bumps, and loose sections of gravel "resurfacing".

As an update, I rode the track Whitby to Scarborough on Monday. As my tourer is a converted Kona Mountain Bike, it was perfectly suited to the job, but I wouldn't fancy it on a drop-barred bike with less than 35mm of rubber.

The other point not noted above is that in the dry, the cinder track surface will coat bike and rider in a thick black dust, which took a lot of Muc-Off to put right yesterday and which affected my gear shifts for the subsequent miles down to Hull and around East Yorkshire on Tuesday.
PW
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Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by PW »

We rode it again a couple of months back on hire bikes from Hawsker (nice chap, recommended!). From Hawsker to Ravenscar is fine, I'd happily do it on 700 X 32C. We spotted a couple of Dutch fellas going the other way, one on a "Normal" tourer, the other on a cargo bike with a luggage tray between the bottom bracket and the front wheel. Both were using 8 speed Alfine hub gears and touring width tyres, they seemed to be making a good job of it.
If at first you don't succeed - cheat!!
Merry_Wanderer
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Joined: 31 Aug 2012, 9:33am
Location: North Leicestershire

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by Merry_Wanderer »

Mrs M_W and I are going to Whitby for a few days at half-term week. Has anyone had any recent experience on this 'cycle path'?

I'm thinking of taking Bromptons rather than the touring bikes....
JamesE
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Joined: 12 Feb 2013, 1:12am
Location: London

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by JamesE »

I tried to ride it from Scarborough to Boggle Hole last week. Gave up about a mile out of Scarborough as my wheels (700C x 28 tyres) were sinking so far into the cinders it was barely possible to move. What size tyres have you got on the Bromptons?
Merry_Wanderer
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Location: North Leicestershire

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by Merry_Wanderer »

James - you've just convinced me that Bromptons + cinder track = foolish idea! Tyre size is 16 x 1 3/8ths :-)
hillspecial
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Location: Geneva, Switzerland.

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by hillspecial »

It's a pity that no money has not been spent on this old railway line - it's rubbish as a cycle path - not good for touring bikes, no good at all for children, ok for mountain bikes, but then on a mountain bike who wants to ride a flat disused railway line - and for road bikes , touring bikes and children it's very poor indded - full of mud and rocks etc.

Mind u some of the so called cycle routes on old railway lines in the Peak District are rubbish too.

These old lines are flat and need a good cycling surface, not just a surface for mountain bikes.

Mastiles Lane: Malham - Grassington , N Yorks and Salter Fell : Slaidburn to Wray, Lancashire climb up and go down, but are pretty good suface wise.

The old railway line from Glasson Dock to the Crook o' Lune {Lancashire} is fantastic and is great for getting children on the bike - miles of smooth, flat, traffic free cycling.

The Scarborough / Whitby line needs doing up in the same way - councils say it costs too much - but get people in work, paying taxes & spending money locally, plus more tourists; this all brings in more money and so the 'real cost' is but a fraction of the headline figure.

And yeah, the road for cycling from Scarborough to Whitby is not nice at all - far, fat too much traffic and some people don't like it as there is at lot of up and down over the moors - but the latter is OK in my book.
Last edited by hillspecial on 12 Oct 2013, 5:48pm, edited 1 time in total.
JamesE
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Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by JamesE »

hillspecial wrote:The Scarborough / Whitby line need doing up the same way - councils say it costs too much - but get people in work and paying taxes & spending money locally , more tourists, this all brings in more money and so the 'real cost' is but a fraction of the headline figure.


+1

I love the North York Moors, and if they just put a decent tarmac surface on the Scarborough-Whitby line it'd instantly become my favourite cycle route in the entire country. But at the minute it's just unusable and so I'm more likely to head to the more western parts of the moors where there are quiet roads to cycle on.
Goldie
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Joined: 16 Jun 2010, 9:03pm

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by Goldie »

Has anyone ridden this recently? I would say the section from Scalby up the hill to Ravenscar is / was the worst bit, and there were signs up saying that the path was going to be resurfaced.

It was a diamond in the rough the last time I rode it. The view over Robin Hoods Bay from Ravenscar is the equal of anything else I have seen on my bike, and the surprisingly stiff climbs up to Ravenscar make it a bit more challenging than many ex-rail lines. The last time I did it, me and my brother in law hired a couple of old-ish Dawes ATB's from Trailways with rigid forks, 26 inch wheels and chubby tyres - these were fine on most of the trail but care was needed on the Scalby - Ravenscar section. I've also ridden it on a mid range Specialized MTB with a suspension fork, and that made the rough bits pretty enjoyable. It is potentially very family friendly though, and the surface should be maintained with the aim of ensuring that it is family friendly in practice. As some other posters have said, the main road between Whitby and Scarborough is no fun when the traffic's bad and it would be nice for visitors to be able to treat the Cinder Path as a traffic free alternative, whatever bike they're on.

I am always amazed that it isn't busier - it is fairly easy to find yourself alone on the Cinder Trail. The first time I ever rode it, I and a deer managed to surprise each other, and it ran along the path with these enormous , gravity defying leaps for a hundred yards or so, every bit as fast as I was riding, until it cleared the fence without any trouble and bounded off across a field.

If you're in the neighbourhood, you should give it a go. And if you don't have your bike with you, I would recommend getting in touch with Pete or Ann at Let's Bike Scarborough http://www.letsbike.net/ - they'll deliver your bike to wherever you are staying and collect it when you're finished.
loafer
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Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by loafer »

Goldie wrote:Has anyone ridden this recently? I would say the section from Scalby up the hill to Ravenscar is / was the worst bit, and there were signs up saying that the path was going to be resurfaced.

It was a diamond in the rough the last time I rode it. The view over Robin Hoods Bay from Ravenscar is the equal of anything else I have seen on my bike, and the surprisingly stiff climbs up to Ravenscar make it a bit more challenging than many ex-rail lines. The last time I did it, me and my brother in law hired a couple of old-ish Dawes ATB's from Trailways with rigid forks, 26 inch wheels and chubby tyres - these were fine on most of the trail but care was needed on the Scalby - Ravenscar section. I've also ridden it on a mid range Specialized MTB with a suspension fork, and that made the rough bits pretty enjoyable. It is potentially very family friendly though, and the surface should be maintained with the aim of ensuring that it is family friendly in practice. As some other posters have said, the main road between Whitby and Scarborough is no fun when the traffic's bad and it would be nice for visitors to be able to treat the Cinder Path as a traffic free alternative, whatever bike they're on.

I am always amazed that it isn't busier - it is fairly easy to find yourself alone on the Cinder Trail. The first time I ever rode it, I and a deer managed to surprise each other, and it ran along the path with these enormous , gravity defying leaps for a hundred yards or so, every bit as fast as I was riding, until it cleared the fence without any trouble and bounded off across a field.

If you're in the neighbourhood, you should give it a go. And if you don't have your bike with you, I would recommend getting in touch with Pete or Ann at Let's Bike Scarborough http://www.letsbike.net/ - they'll deliver your bike to wherever you are staying and collect it when you're finished.


that is one of my fav bike routes not been there for a while (don't drive anymore) but used to take friends from work they loved it :D
ipswichcycler
Posts: 97
Joined: 10 Sep 2013, 9:19pm

Re: SCARBOROUGH - WHITBY CYCLE PATH

Post by ipswichcycler »

I cycled this last week and really enjoyed it. I was riding a loaded touring bike with four panniers bar bag and 4.5L of water. I didn't know what it was going to be like as I was following a route I had planned out on line. I rode it scarborough to whitby direction. I also had a chat to a couple who were ridinh from robin hood's bay up to ravenscar on a couple of bromptons.
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