Where CAN you ride?

• Roads - thanks to the negotiations by Cycle Touring Club over 100 years ago, most roads are usuable.
• If you want to find out more about your rights to ride the roads go to "I pay road tax" to find out all the info.
• Bikepaths (sometimes dual use with walkers so be courteous, give way and use a bell) and Cycle routes - many new ones thanks to the work of Sustrans, city and county councils and 1000's of volunteers.
• Bridleways - usually shown on an OS map as a green dashed line. Beware this is a bit sensitive- despite the Countryside Act 1968 which set out to open bridleway access to horse riders and cyclists, some areas (especially routes which are not regularly used) are subject to contention by land owners. Status can change but politeness works wonders.
• "B.O.A.T.S" - Byways open to all traffic. Another area on confusion -see your OS map and check with land owners for permissions if neccessary.

• Click here to download a the popular Worcester City bike map (pdf file) which shows all the "official" bikepaths.
• East-west x-city bike route: Tricky one this!
  Using the Canal towpath
  The traffic free route is simply to pick up the National Cycle Route 45 along the canal towpath. This can be picked up from Warndon villages at the North East of the City by crossing Berkeley Way and following the signs through to the canal/offerton lane or alternatively at the intersection of the canal and Blackpole Road (B4550). Then you can wizz into the city as far as Sidbury. If you want to get to the Sabrina bridge from the canal, there is a cycle route off to the right just before you go under the bridge which is the Lowesmoor road.
  This gets you to Foregate Street, then you'll need to walk through the alleyway by the cinema and pick up the new cycle route that cuts across Castle street (via Shaw St) and then down on to Pitchcroft- take a left and wind round to Granstand road to meet Sabrina and the world beyond!
  Tolladine Road / Newtown Road
  No traffic free routes for these main spokes of the wheel! so just take it easy with the traffic - see Commuting for more information.
  However - if you fancy a little detour you can pick up the bike path past the New hospital, cut through Nunnery Wood, through to Prestwich Avenue, along Redfern Avenue, right at the end of Redfern and down through Perry Wood (steep, often muddy and not an official route but good fun anyway), cross the Medway Road over to the bottom of Newtown road and pick up the Tallow hill bike path (phew!).
  
• Going west into St Johns and beyond
  Immediately after leaving the Sabrina bridge, turn right, cross over the Hylton road at the crossing and nip up the steep path (next to Holywell Cottage) and onto Oldbury road. At the end of the Oldbury road you can pick up the Bridleway that heads out to Crown East (use OS MAP Explorer 204 for details).
  
• Worcester Circuit
  Other than the canal acting as a NE to Central route, the other major traffic free route at present is the SW route along Hams Way, Temeside Way and Broomhall Way. This starts at Rushwick and goes to the Norton Road where you can pick up the National Cycle Network route 46 to Pershore.
• North-South x-city centre.
  Much better....either coming down along the Pitchcroft bike path or the canal you can pick up South Quay, Mill Street and Diglis road to pick up the NCN Route 46 to Pershore. As routes are created, we'll add to suit. Ask your local councillor and MP to lobby for more - these things don't happen by themselves!!!
  
  Routes galore in Worcestershire

  There are a number of great routes, now available on those well designed maps we talked about above, in case yuo missed it, here is the link again - Worcestershire County Council Maps Collection

  Remember to stop for tea and cake
  A bit further
  A tea and cake stop is always a good incentive!
  • Click here to access the Ordnance Survey "Get a map" service for a Wyre Forest map which shows all the forest tracks and bridleways.
  • Click here to go to Sustrans where you will find a whole world of routes for people.


Advice - essential!
• Check out safety.
• Check out commuting. Footpaths and pavements cannot be ridden on, however many "out of the way" footpaths in recent years are only used by cyclists. 20+ years ago these paths were regularly used by walkers but many people now choose to use the car instead of walking a few hundred yards. General rule of thumb is footpaths and pavements are for children only (under 10) unless they are shared use paths like New Road in Worcester etc.