Trans Pennine Trail advice

[Camgreen]

Planning to do the TPT from Southport to Hornsea at the beginning of August over three days. The initial idea is to split the ride into :
Day 1 - Southport - Hadfield (thus leaving the biggest climb of the ride until first thing the following day)
Day 2 - Hadfield - Selby
Day 3 - Selby - Hornsea.

Now aware that there are large chunks which are off road and obviously we won't be able to knock off the respective daily miles as swiftly as we perhaps might if it were all on the road (although we'll be safer this way I'd hope ). So the question is for anyone who has experience of this route, have a bitten off more than I can chew in only allowing three days to complete it?

Cheers

 

[vernon]

How fit are you?

It might be too much for a five mile per week cyclist.

I budget for 50-60 miles per day though I have done the occasional eighty mile day.

 

[robgul]

The distance is doable BUT the amazing number of barriers, gates and rubbish route on the segment from Southport to about Stockport will slow you down massively. You'll find it a challenge to get to Hadfield in a day.

When you leave Hadfield you get to the closed tunnel and have to climb a sort of staircase ... get on the road at the top and ride up the rest of it ... the marked route is a complete nonsense and (was when I rode it, twice) a very poor surface.

After about Penistone the route's pretty flat all the way to Hornsea but lots of Sustrans "traffic free" that'll slow you down.

... and what sort of bike? - needs to be a hybrid, certainly not a road-bike.

Rob

 

[Camgreen]

Cheers for the input. Given the different terrain we're likely to encounter I'll either be on my old mountain bike (having got it fully serviced in advance) or I'll have a new hybrid by then. Interesting response Rob, it didn't occur to me that Day 1 might be the more problematic of the three; might need to look at setting off as soon as practically possible from Southport just to be sure of giving us the best chance of reaching the other end (will perhaps pack some lights too;belt & braces ).

As to distance under our belts, I've done three or four Oxford - Cambridge cycles along with some 100k events in the past. Obviously this is a different scenario with a mixture of terrain and a few more climbs! And crucially it will be reasonable distances on back to back days here, which is clearly something we're going to have to get the head and the legs used to in the coming months.

 

[Jimx8559]

We completed in a day the 127 mile Leeds to Liverpool canal ride and are looking for the next challenge. we are thinking of cycling the Southport to Hornsea TPT in a day, again as per previous ride this will be for charity. Has anyone ever done this in ride in a day? I know it’s a tough ask (215 miles) but the bigger the challenge the more we hope to raise for our chosen charity (we raised £4,000 for the Leeds to Liverpool canal ride) We don’t plan to do this until next year and will train hard over the coming months. Any info would be of great help.

 

[vt2]

I did the TPT in four days earlier this month and generally found that I had done the section each day by just after lunch, so three days would not be a problem. The signing was generally OK but some sections before Hadfield seemed to send you off up hill and down dale just to avoid a much shorter route on busier roads. Some of the hillier middle sections were fairly rough and would have done justice to a full mountain bike setup but overall OK on a tourer with wider tyres. After Doncaster, a lot of the route is on quiet minor roads where you can keep the speed up, although a bit boring. The cycle path under the Humber Bridge was closed with a diversion to the alternate "Villages" route.

 

[Soltydog]

I've done it a couple of times. The last time, I just did Liverpool to Hornsea & that was over 2 days, & because of the weather & terrain (& possibly my fitness levels ) the first day, Liverpool - Barnsley, was 12 hours. I wouldn't contemplate doing it in 1 day, but thats not saying its impossible. You'd have to go at quite a rate & not all of the sections allow for that.
The section along the foreshore under the humber bridge is still closed & there seems to be little activity to sort out the damaged pathway, so it would appear it will be a while before its re-opened.

 

[matthat]

I'm in Liverpool and know the section from southport to runcorn pretty well!! If you do it the day its been swept or after its ok. but if its been a few days it can be treacherous with glass and general rubbish so be cautious, At a steady pace southport to runcorn is 2 1/2 - 3 hrs,

 

[clid61]

Just done the the TPT hornsea to Southport though over 4 days , as everyone says a lot of stops to negotiate gates etc takes a lot of time , Getting into Stockport and beyond is stop start and expect to have eyes in back of your head for some of the signposting !

3days doable depending on fitness , due to our weather would recommend a mountain bike , track closed at humber bridge , dont divert , throw your bikes over fence and ride path , we did !

Oh and hope you enjoy the journey as much as we did !

 

[David_widnes]

I've done Hornsea to Southport over 2 days which was ok on day 1 as the section from Hornsea to our over night stop at Barnsley is pan flat and we had a decent average speed of 15mph for the 90 mile section BUT day 2 was really tough with long sections of old railway tracks and and some big climbs which slowed us right down added to this the section from Hadfield to Altringham is very poorly signed posted.
So good luck with you ride