Bike paths in Britain?

15

I'm British but don't have much long distance UK advice - however I live in Holland so can help with NL.

First things first: you will NOT have a language problem in Holland. Nearly everyone speaks English, and your only problem will be if you actually want to speak Dutch - people won't let you.
Amsterdam airport (Schiphol) is linked directly to the national bike routes, so you can cycle right out of the airport if you wish, towards your bed for the night. Alternatively you can take bikes on all trains for a flat 6 euro per day fee (get an extra ticket before you board though), although this isn't allowed during rush hour.

NL is flat but windy, and April is a good time to see the bulb fields (look out of the window before you land to try get an overview). One good route would be linking Leiden and Haarlem - loads of tulips etc along the route. One reason the country isn't a large shallow sea is that there are wooded sand dunes along much of the coast, and there is a dedicated bike route that follows the coast, called the LF1. It's part of the North Sea cycle route, it's mainly off-road in Holland. Could be a good path to follow - it's certainly pleasant between Den Haag and Den Helder (in the north east of the country). Buy an NL bike map from a tourist information place - called VVV.

Don't know where you want to cross the North Sea to the UK - you could go from Rotterdam or Belgium to East Anglia (Harwich), or Rotterdam to Hull in East Yorkshire, or a Channel route from Calais to Dover (Kent, SE England). The coastal route down to Calais should be pleasant, but then you're stuck in SE England. I'm biased so I'd head further north in the UK first, for better scenery. Heading north from Hull would take you along the Yorkshire coastline for example. But anyway a month should give you plenty to see.

If staying on the continent, I don't know about France but Belgium and Germany have good dedicated bike paths.

16

The best long distance cycle routes I have seen, by a long way, are those in Switzerland. But even there they share roads at times. And when it is a mountain pass where all the traffic is funnelled by one route, then it can be a bit busy and narrow. They vary from easy (eg flat pavement along the Rhone levees) to really quite hard off-road. Although exceptionally well signpost, even there occasionally a signpost is missing, or some wag has twisted it, and I got lost a few times. So you do need a good map to get back on track. In addition to the long distance routes, there is also a complete network of local routes, which are useful for joining up bits of long distance route when they don't want to go the way you want to go.

Austrian cycle routes are are also very good.

Another pair of countries with really good cycle routes, and it is a really dense network covering the whole country, is Czech and Slovakia. There are a lot of agriculture/forestry roads closed to normal vehicles in these countries, so there is a lot of traffic-less routes, and some of that is paved. But you do have to go on roads as well. And some of the routes are hard off-road routes, best without luggage type of difficulty.

The main issue in Britain is that the cycle routes are fairly novel and not very dense on the ground, so probably there isn't one going the way you want to go, so you may as well make your own way using a map. In any case, most of the best places to go cycling in Britain aren't cycling routes, so you are missing an opportunity if you stick to the routes.

Another problem in Britian is that there aren't any standards for the construction/design of cycle routes. (Well the real problem is that road engineers choose to be ignorant, but that could be addressed by standards). When you build a bit of road or railway track it has to conform to certain standards and be rigorously examined from a safety perspective. Also, they tend to get bundled into road schemes rather than actually put where you want them. So, for example, there are cycle (dif)facilities on the A41 dual carriageway between the M25 and Aylesbury. But the only people who cycle on that road are bone-headed time-triallers who will cycle on the road and ignore the cycle facilities. Everyone else, even commuters, are enjoying the nearby quiet lanes in the Chiltern Hills.

17

I think the OP has been spoilt by the level of helpful replies to this post. Well done all.

As an aside, as a result of Philip's hilarious link I splashed out on a copy of "Crap Cycle Lanes: 50 worst cycle lanes in Britain". At only a fiver I must insist that should the OP decide to come to the UK they purchase a copy as part of their insurance policy. Not only did I get more than my money's worth in laughs but through my purchase I have supported the Cyclists Defence Fund(www.cyclistsdefencefund.org.uk). I bought mine from www.eye-books.com

Safe travels, wherever you are.