Ten of Britain’s most remarkable railway routes also enable great linear one-day bike rides. For each mini adventure, Rob Ainsley pedals one way and takes the train the other – direct, with bike
Words Rob Ainsley Image Joseph Branston
Trains and bikes go together like fish and chips, rhythm and blues, or Morecambe and Wise. Anyone who’s struggled to get their bike on a hook in those pesky bike cupboards on express services will know that the train is the joker of the two. But when they work together, it can make for a memorable experience. I get everywhere by train and bike, and particularly love the linear trips this enables – no tedious shuffling of cars.
I’ve chosen 10 of my favourite bike-then-relax-on-the-train-back experiences. Each is not only a special railway journey in its own right, but a super day ride too. You can play at being train-traveloguer Michael Portillo, but in lycra, rather than a pastel jacket. On second thoughts, maybe don’t.
Most of these services are frequent (but not heritage lines in winter) and bike-friendly. Heritage trains typically have cavernous old-fashioned guard’s vans for bikes (small fee), while national services take bikes free (walk-on spaces on local trains; booking usually needed on inter-city). Precise rules vary by company, so check online before setting off.
I’ve avoided suggesting trains likely to be booked out of cycle spaces, such as anything down Cornwall way or up in north-east Scotland. LEJOGgers will have reserved these three months ago with the alarm-clock opportunism of Glastonbury ticket-baggers.
With all the trips that follow, there’s a bonus: the trains run almost parallel to each bike route, so you have flexibility to shorten (or lengthen) your ride if the weather’s dodgy, you suffer a mechanical, or you’re in a mixed-motivation group.
So here are my 10 Best British Train ’n’ Bike Rides, in no particular order. See you in the buffet car...
01 FAVERSHAM – DOVER Ham sandwich deal
Kent Coast Line: 60 miles by bike | 45/90 mins on the train
● It’s a coastal (and virtually flat) sightseeing parade of high-character towns. Part of the Cantii Way, this is a ride to take all day over and stop often. Britain’s oldest brewer (Faversham); fresh seafood stalls (Whitstable); art galleries (the Turner at Margate); Dickensian staircased alleys (Broadstairs); Britain’s biggest Wetherspoon (Ramsgate); castles and cliffs (Dover)... Detour slightly south of Sandwich, near Ham village, for the
