Touring - The Reality / Finding Less Congested Roads

[KTMsm]

When I started motorcycling again I intended to go touring in the UK so far the most I've done is riding the scenic route from Glasgow to Warwickshire with an overnight and a few 300+ mile day trips

Usually I collect bikes in my van sitting on the motorway, yesterday with the nice weather, as it was a nice bike, I thought it would be a treat to ride one back - it was horrific

Collecting the bike from Bournemouth at midday I tried to arrange the best route home to Warwickshire, I had a hideous two hours in traffic despite my best efforts

Is this just the state of the roads in the UK today or is there an app where I can choose the quieter roads preferably based on real-time data

I'd rather travel an hour longer and even slower but on quieter roads

Yesterday really put me off touring in the UK - I probably filtered / overtook 300+ cars in 4 hours

I'm not expecting a car free nirvana but living in the countryside and not commuting seems to have insulated me from just how poor the riding / driving experience is for the majority

[anonymous-user]

I've largely given up on touring the UK. We used to do a Wales weekend twice a year, but we've switched it for the Ardennes.

But to help, TomTom's windy road feature is surprisingly good for finding scenic backroads. Or you have to trawl https://www.bestbikingroads.com/ and build a route - but that requires a fair bit of prep.

[KTMsm]

That was the annoying thing, I built a route using best biking roads and it was awful

[P675]

During the long days of summer I enjoyed waiting until 7pm when the traffic dies down to go for a decent ride. Now that the nights have started at 8.30 I'm not looking forward to the traffic rammed weekends. Its how things are now I think, during the daytime the roads are all chocka unless its early morning Sundays.

[SAS Tom]

For me it generally has to be choosing the right time. Usually anything during the day is a waste of time. With the amount of people that are having holidays in the UK after Covid, most of the nice places are rammed these days. It took me 3 hours to go from Leeds to Lancaster using A roads a few weeks ago where usually it’ll take about 2 hours during the day and 1.5 during the night.

Having said that, I had a great run out in the car on Sunday, Leeds to near Alton Towers through glossop etc. set off at 7am and there was barely any traffic. Managed to go several miles without getting stuck behind another car. The drive home was the same as I set off after 7pm.

[Chicken Chaser]

Live in the North. Plenty of empty riding roads even on weekends.

[black-k1]

If your interest is in riding nice roads rather than visiting specific destinations then touring in the UK can be very hard work. The roads are busy and generally in a poor state of repair. Add to that the variability of the weather on any given day and it can be a real challenge.

Careful selection of roads and the times to ride them can result in some nice rides but, other than doing the likes of the NC500 because it's the NC500, I don't think the UK is a good place to tour.

That's exactly why Europe was provided just a little over 20 miles away!

[Alex@POD]

I'm in Yorkshire and I find similar to be honest, my riding has changed a lot because of it. I used to go out for a long ride (mileage-wise) on fast flowing roads, but it's becoming difficult to find a stretch clear enough that I can enjoy it without contending with traffic. Nowadays I tend to go and find tiny roads I haven't explored. It's a much slower type of riding but I'm really enjoying it (riding an Africa Twin helps there I think), there are lot of single track roads about...

[Krikkit]

Alex@POD said:

I'm in Yorkshire and I find similar to be honest, my riding has changed a lot because of it. I used to go out for a long ride (mileage-wise) on fast flowing roads, but it's becoming difficult to find a stretch clear enough that I can enjoy it without contending with traffic. Nowadays I tend to go and find tiny roads I haven't explored. It's a much slower type of riding but I'm really enjoying it (riding an Africa Twin helps there I think), there are lot of single track roads about...

What time do you ride? I can't believe that on anything but a sunny Sunday afternoon that the sweeping roads around Yorkshire are too busy to enjoy.

[KTMsm]

I agree with going early or late - but it's hard to fit a day's riding in that way

For me it's all about the roads rather than the destination although in this case I had to pick the bike up and get home but I was perfectly willing to take several hours longer than necessary

I have no issue riding slower on smaller roads but I'm not keen on single track, when you meet an enthusiastic car driver coming the other way, there's no where to go

I even tried switching Google maps to cycle routes in the hope it would take the smaller lanes but it didn't

It made some very strange choices jumping off an A road, extra distance on a B road then coming back onto the same A road, it just didn't make any sense

[Alex@POD]

Krikkit said:

What time do you ride? I can't believe that on anything but a sunny Sunday afternoon that the sweeping roads around Yorkshire are too busy to enjoy.

Depends on your definition of enjoyment, but I've rarely found a time when I would not find a car to overtake for more than 2 or 3 minutes, generally it's a group of cars behind someone going slowly. And with the standards of driving these days, overtaking can take a bit of planning and ruin the flow...

[Hungrymc]

I think it largely depends where you are heading. Route from Bournemouth to the midlands just skirts too many largish / busy places if you're going reasonably direct. You were also in the back end of teh school holidays (not sure if that has an effect or not). I do that route pretty often but never do it on a bike due to the roads / traffic.

I've had some fabulous toury type UK rides this year, mainly stringing elements of Wales, Cotswolds and Peak District together. I think the further you stay away from commuter routes and large ish towns the better. You do bump into spells of traffic, but it hasn't been such that its spoiling my trips. Should also add my trips are 1 to 3 days, I don't know if I could make longer work in the UK.

I think your bike collection would have had a lot more scope for fun if it had been Glasgow, Newcastle or Swansea etc.

[black-k1]

I think much of this depends on your understanding of touring. For me, a days ride, or even a couple of days getting from A to B is not touring. It's a days ride or a ride from A to B.

You can find some nice roads in the UK, both in the south and in the north, where a nice days riding can be had but there really isn't the option of spending a week riding 1000+ miles in the UK knowing you'll get off at the other end saying "wow! - those were great roads".

[KTMsm]

black-k1 said:

I think much of this depends on your understanding of touring. For me, a days ride, or even a couple of days getting from A to B is not touring. It's a days ride or a ride from A to B.

You can find some nice roads in the UK, both in the south and in the north, where a nice days riding can be had but there really isn't the option of spending a week riding 1000+ miles in the UK knowing you'll get off at the other end saying "wow! - those were great roads".

I've been doing 1 / 2 day rides to get a feel for touring and whether I'd enjoy a 7+ day trip around the UK but all it's done is to confirm that I doubt I would

[Bodo]

black-k1 said:

That's exactly why Europe was provided just a little over 20 miles away!

That's from you, mostly riding mountain roads outside the main season . Metropolitan areas are no better on the mainland. It's the planned tour that makes it look so easy...

[Freakuk]

I've yet to find at an that covers every requirement for a biker.

I use Calimoto for random route planning, and you can add multiple waypoints within the app or webpage, then select what route type (fastest, twisty, mega-twisty) for each section waypoint to waypoint. However you do not get any traffic data so you could hit traffic.

I've enjoyed some great roads using this app, but also taken me down some narrow tracks that I wouldn't have chosen myself. Generally it's been great but could be better.

[black-k1]

Bodo said:

black-k1 said:

That's exactly why Europe was provided just a little over 20 miles away!

That's from you, mostly riding mountain roads outside the main season . Metropolitan areas are no better on the mainland. It's the planned tour that makes it look so easy...

I'm quite a lot further from Europe than 20 miles.

I'm very aware of the fact that a good tour is the result of lots of careful planing! ... Old Gits 2024 planning is already well under way!

[black-k1]

KTMsm said:

I've been doing 1 / 2 day rides to get a feel for touring and whether I'd enjoy a 7+ day trip around the UK but all it's done is to confirm that I doubt I would

You need to go to Europe! While not wanting to be too blunt ...

... stop poncing around and get something booked!

[Speed addicted]

I have the benefit of living in NE Scotland, busy roads aren’t really an issue unless you go to bigger towns and cities.
Week day riding here is only busy at peak commuter time and even then it’s nothing like roads in the south.

The NC500 is only one overly popular route. The roads in the east are a bit less spectacular for scenery but have about a tenth of the traffic.

[Onelastattempt]

SAS Tom said:

For me it generally has to be choosing the right time. Usually anything during the day is a waste of time. With the amount of people that are having holidays in the UK after Covid, most of the nice places are rammed these days. It took me 3 hours to go from Leeds to Lancaster using A roads a few weeks ago where usually it’ll take about 2 hours during the day and 1.5 during the night.

Having said that, I had a great run out in the car on Sunday, Leeds to near Alton Towers through glossop etc. set off at 7am and there was barely any traffic. Managed to go several miles without getting stuck behind another car. The drive home was the same as I set off after 7pm.

I go up to Kendal from Leeds at least once a month, I always go at 6am or after 7pm, same for the return journey. At any other time the roads are too full of people who brake for every oncoming vehicle and think that 35mph is too fast ! Saying that a couple of times a year I have to use the car due to really bad weather and then it is really frustrating, at least on the bike I can eventually get past. I once had to use the motorway route due to an accident closing the A65 for a few hours, never again, the standard of driving made me wish I was back on the A65 sat waiting for the road to clear.