National Cycle Route 725 | |
---|---|
Great North Cycleway | |
Location | North East England |
Established | 2011 (Not yet complete) |
Trailheads |
|
Waymark | 725 |
The National Cycle Route 725, also known as the Great North Cycleway is a partially-complete regional cycling route that forms part of the National Cycle Network (NCN) in the United Kingdom.
The route is proposed to run around 70 km (43 miles) from Darlington to Blyth, in North East England. Although some parts of the route are shown on official NCN cycle maps [1] by the network managers Sustrans, and some parts of the route have been created and signposted by the local authorities that it passes through, [2] [3] large sections of the route are missing or incomplete.
The Great North Cycleway was proposed in 2011 and was initially expected to take two years to complete [4]
The proposed Great North Cycleway is named after the Great North Road, historically the main highway between London and Scotland (until road building in the 20th Century routed motor traffic onto bypasses and motorways and away from urban areas).
In 2015, Newcastle's John Dobson Street was converted from a dual carriageway back into a single carriageway road, using the reclaimed space to create a segregated cycleway, which forms part of the Great North Cycleway. [5]
As of 2019, large sections of the route are still unfinished.
Between Darlington and Newcastle, the route is largely proposed to follow close to the historic Great North Road, many parts of which are numbered here as the contemporary A167 road.
The proposed route starts in Darlington, heading North close to the A167 road and crossing the over the East Coast Main Line and the River Wear as it approaches Durham. The route follows historic 1930's cycleways north out of Durham. [6]
The route passes through the centre of Chester le Street before crossing under the A1(M) motorway at Birtley and passing the Angel of the North.
The route follows the A167 Durham Road into Gateshead [7] before crossing the River Tyne on the Tyne Bridge.
Next the route passes through the centre of Newcastle, [8] past the Civic Centre and through the Newcastle University campus.
Heading North out of Newcastle, the route follows close to the B1318, to the outskirts of the city, passing Great Park and Hazlerigg [9] before heading North-East through Cramlington to Blyth.
The proposed route crosses or meets the existing National Cycle Network several times along its length:
Map of the route using OpenStreetMap data - Great North Cycleway highlighted on Waymarked Trails
The route is shown on cycle network maps produced by Newcastle and Gateshead councils:
The A1, also known as the Great North Road, is the longest numbered road in the United Kingdom, at 410 miles (660 km). It connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The numbering system for A-roads, devised in the early 1920s, was based around patterns of roads radiating from two hubs at London and Edinburgh. The first number in the system, A1, was given to the most important part of that system: the road from London to Edinburgh, joining the two central points of the system and linking the UK's (then) two mainland capital cities. It passes through or near north London, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Biggleswade, Eaton Socon, Buckden, Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Doncaster, Pontefract, York, Wetherby, Ripon, Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Gateshead is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The town shares the Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge and multiple other bridges with Newcastle upon Tyne.
The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. However Sustrans themselves only own around 2% of the paths on the network, the rest being made of existing public highways and rights of way, and permissive paths negotiated by Sustrans with private landowners.
The A167 and A167(M) is a road in North East England. It is partially a trunk road and partially a motorway, where it is commonly referred to as Newcastle Central Motorway. Most of the road’s route was formerly that of the A1, until it was re-routed with the opening of the A1(M) in the 1960s.
Birtley is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is situated to the south of Gateshead and is conjoined to Chester-le-Street across the county boundary in County Durham.
The Pennine Cycleway is a Sustrans-sponsored route in the Pennines range in northern England, an area often called the "backbone of England". The route passes through the counties of Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland. It is part of the National Cycle Network (NCN). Sustrans founder John Grimshaw calls it 'the best National Cycle Network route of the lot'.
The A1058, known locally as the Coast Road, is a major road in Newcastle upon Tyne and the adjoining borough of North Tyneside in the North East. It runs from the Newcastle Central Motorway to the coast, terminating between Whitley Bay and Tynemouth. From west to east it connects Newcastle city centre with Jesmond, Heaton, Wallsend, Battle Hill, Howdon, Meadow Well, North Shields, Whitley Bay and Tynemouth. The road has existed since December 1924, when it was opened by then-transport minister Wilfrid Ashley.
Cade's Road is a Roman Road in north-east England. It is named after John Cade of Durham, an 18th-century antiquarian who in 1785 proposed its existence and possible course from the Humber Estuary northwards to the River Tyne, a distance of about 100 miles (160 km). The road's Roman name is unknown. Although evidence exists for such a road on some parts of the proposed route, there is still some doubt regarding its exact course.
National Cycle Route 1 is a route of the National Cycle Network, running from Dover to Tain. The 1,264 mi-long (2,034-kilometre) cycle-path is located in the United Kingdom.
National Cycle Route 14 forms part of the National Cycle Network in North East England. It connects Darlington in County Durham with South Shields on the River Tyne. The route has currently (2016) a length of 86 miles (138 km). Much of it uses paths along disused railway lines and is thus free from motor traffic.
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan area covering the cities of Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, as well as North and South Tyneside, Gateshead and Washington.
The Derwent Valley Railway was a branch railway in County Durham, England. Built by the North Eastern Railway, it ran from Swalwell to Blackhill via five intermediate stations, and onwards to Consett.
National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 69 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Hest Bank to Cleethorpes. The route is incomplete and consists of one long section in Lancashire, and seven short sections in West Yorkshire. The open sections are signed in both directions.
National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 165 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Barnard Castle to Whitby. The route is 116 km long and is fully open and signed in both directions.
National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 10 is a Sustrans National Route that runs from Cockermouth to North Shields in the United Kingdom. The route is 217 km long and is fully open and signed in both directions.
The A1 road around Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne after arriving from the south as the A1(M) from its origin in London, currently runs from the A1(M) terminus at Birtley. It then swings to the west of both Gateshead and Newcastle via Coal House, Lobley Hill, Metrocentre, Swalwell, Blaydon Bridge, West Denton, Fawdon and Wideopen to Seaton Burn interchange before continuing north towards Edinburgh.
National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 141 is a Sustrans Regional Route. It is 11.2 km (7.0 mi) long. It provides a connection between Route 14 and Route 72 along the south bank of the River Tyne through Gateshead. The full length of the route is part of the Keelmans Way. It is fully signed and open after the section between Wylam and Ryton Golf Course recently reopened after repairs following a landslip.
National Cycle Network (NCN) Route 636 is a Sustrans Route that runs from Harrogate to Knaresborough. The route is 4 miles (6.4 km) in length and is fully open and signed in both directions.