Written by:
There’s no denying it; 2020 has been a crap year for anyone that loves travelling, even if that’s on home turf. Fingers crossed the situation will improve soon, and we can get back out on our bikes to explore.
While fantasising about bikepacking around the glorious British Isles, we’ve pulled together this guide to UK bikepacking routes, to give you some inspiration for future adventures! If you click through to the komoot Collections below, you can find a lot more detail about these marvellous off-road routes.
UK official off-road bikepacking routes
Okay, the use of the word official might not be solidly defined, but here are *most* of the recognised long distance bikepacking across England, Scotland and Wales.
To view them all, click through to the komoot Collection and hit the ‘Show More’ button on the map to load more Tours.
Then to view each route in more detail, follow the links to the individual route Collections below.
If you’re new to komoot use our ADVNTR voucher code to get a region map bundle for free. Head to www.komoot.com/g and enter the code ADVNTR.
Valid until 31/12/2021
UK long distance bikepacking routes
These three routes span more than one single country.
| Route | komoot link | Distance* |
| The Great North Trail (Pennines to Cape Wrath) |
komoot.com/collection/904449 | 1,256 km |
| Second City Divide (Glasgow to Manchester) |
komoot.com/collection/898918 | 634 km |
| GB Divide (official route for GBDURO) |
komoot.com/collection/1271169 | 1,963 km |
Check out Dan Monaghan’s account of photographing Lachlan Morton at the GB DURO race here.
Scottish bikepacking routes
Please respect the Scottish Right to Roam legislation and follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code when riding in Scotland (more details here).
| Route | komoot link | Distance* |
| The Capital Trail (Edinburgh) |
komoot.com/collection/902010 | 243 km |
| The John Muir Way (coast to coast) |
www.komoot.com/collection/910443 | 207 km |
| The Cairngorms Loop | komoot.com/collection/901294 | 302 km |
| The Badger Divide (Inverness to Glasgow) |
komoot.com/collection/90919 | 342 km |
| The Deeside Trail (nr Aberdeen) |
komoot.com/collection/907966 | 225 km |
| The Borders 350 (Scottish Borders) |
komoot.com/collection/909415 | 543 km |
| The Faultline Trail (Scotland tip to tip) |
komoot.com/collection/911096 | 1,175 km |
| The Reiver Raid (Scottish Borders) |
komoot.com/collection/913719 | 171 km |
| The Southern Upland Way (Scottish Borders) |
komoot.com/collection/911723 | 351 km |
| The Central Belter | komoot.com/collection/915663 | 1,215 km |
| West Island Way | komoot.com/collection/1070065 | 333 km |
| West Highland Way | komoot.com/collection/887973 | 160 km |
| Wild About Argyll | komoot.com/collection/1096077 | 677 km |
Welsh bikepacking routes
Sarn Helen is believed to be an ancient route through Wales that today makes for an excellent North to South ride. Photo: For The Hell Of It.cc
| Route | komoot link | Distance* |
| Trans Cambrian Way (Mid Wales) |
komoot.com/collection/899090 | 176 km |
| The Triban Trail (NE Wales) |
komoot.com/collection/917385 | 178 km |
| Sarn Helen | komoot.com/collection/940661 | 306 km |
| Wales North to South (Bangor to Cardiff) |
komoot.com/collection/900599 | 316 km |
English bikepacking routes
| Route | komoot link | Distance* |
| The King Alfred’s Way** | komoot.com/collection/1025015 | 350 km |
| Peddars Way (East Anglia)*** |
komoot.com/collection/900448 | 74 km + |
| Sandstone Way (Northumberland) |
komoot.com/collection/899866 | 202 km |
| The South Downs Way (SE England) |
komoot.com/collection/888595 | 164 km |
| South Downs 300 (SE England) |
komoot.com/collection/917720 | 304 km |
| Tim Woodcock’s Coast to Coast off-road (Northern England) |
komoot.com/collection/922018 | 347 km |
| The Ridgeway (Southern England) |
komoot.com/collection/899679 | 77 km |
| The Wessex Ridgeway (Dorset and Wiltshire) |
komoot.com/collection/960938 | 222 km |
| The Icknield Way (Central England) |
komoot.com/collection/959316 | 239 km |
|
The Pennine Bridleway (Northern England) |
komoot.com/collection/903673 | 296 km |
| Yorkshire Dales 300 (Skipton) |
komoot.com/collection/903458 | 306 km |
| The Peak 200 (Peak District) |
komoot.com/collection/913338 | 222 km |
| The North Downs Way (Surrey/Kent) |
komoot.com/collection/914765 | 220 km |
|
The Braunton 150 (Exmoor) |
komoot.com/collection/905868 | 241 km |
| The West Country Way (Devon/Somerset) |
komoot.com/collection/907451 | 195 km |
| Lakeland 300 (Lake District) |
komoot.com/collection/1071744 | 300 km |
** check out our experience on the new King Alfred’s Way loop here
*** Read more from Nigel and James on riding the Peddars Way here
The Greater Ridgeway Trail
You can also link up the Wessex Ridgeway, the Ridgeway, the Icknield Way and Peddars Way to create ‘The Greater Ridgeway‘ spanning from the South Coast to North Norfolk.
To date, there’s just one section missing, the second half of the Ridgeway trail, which is currently inaccessible to bikes, although there is an alternative official bike trail in the works.
Not listed here: The Highland Trail 550 and The Lakeland 200. Let us know about any others we’ve missed!
*Distances my vary to official guides and other sources
Last modified: 11th August 2021
Really? Is this the prescribed narrative? Follow the yellow brick road…where’s the sense of discovery in that?
Heya James, these are established routes that you can choose to follow, or you can choose to make your own routes. No one’s telling you which option you have to go for!
This must be the best Komoot collections post of the year. Hands down amazing! I saved it to my Komoot favorites immediately. Bucketlist material for years to come…
Thanks for sharing ADVNTR & Katherine!!!
Great piece of work – thanks Katherine! Hope we cross paths again in 2021 – Emma O & I are all set to play host here in Calderfornia
I hope so too! Yorkshire was big on my list to explore in 2020 so let’s hope it’s just shifted by a year, no more!
Missing:
North Peaks 100
Lakeland 300
Lakeland 300 looks good! Never heard of the first one though, have you got a link?
Here is the North Peaks 100 route: https://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MzA5NTk1Ng==
The author asks that anyone completing the route posts it on The Bear Bones Bikepacking forum thread.
Are there any routes around the New Forest area?
Not official routes, but Cass from Bikepacking.com made this great one with some help from The Woods Cyclery: https://bikepacking.com/routes/new-forest-gravel-taster-uk/
Thank you for your reply. I’ve checked out the link you sent me. I have ridden along part of the route shown on the map but have not covered all of it. I would like to do this some time next year.
This is a great collection of rides – thank you for putting them together – going to try the Yorkshire first – but it looks tough!
Yes that’s Yorkshire alright, but magnificent too!
Just wanted to say thank you for putting this together! I’ve swung a sabbatical this summer and have used this collection to plan a north to south UK tour taking in as many of these routes as possible. Never been so excited for a staycation!
Awesome! Staycations are the one, so much to explore here in the UK! Let us know how you get on with it, yeah?
100%, ADVNTR are pretty much accountable for my overall experience now right? 😅
Heh, heh, heh. The good, the bad, and the ugly – but that’s bikepacking for you!
if you’re up for adding to this post the east devon way could be added