My five favourite roads in the North of England
- Simon Weir
- Jul 24
- 6 min read
ANYONE IN THE SOUTH of England is pretty much guaranteed to be blown away by the roads in the north of the country. Obviously, there are big cities and busy towns as well, but the riding between them is a world away from the Home Counties. Wide-open spaces, huge hills and massive views, moorland… and roads that not only usually have better surfaces than those in the south-east but also a fraction of the traffic. It's like the promised land. Without even crossing a border.
I'm just back from a week in the north with a great bunch of riders on the Chickenstrips tour called, er, The North (read it in menacing Sean Bean accent – it sounds better). It was five days of sharing some of my favourite roads, from my old stomping ground in the East Midlands right up to the Scottish borders. Here's my pick of the roads we rode each day – ones that you have to ride (if you haven't already).
1. The B1225
When I was on Bike in the early 2000s, we had a 440-mile test route (called "the Bike 440") and the first stretch of the B1225 was one of the early highlights of that marathon. We didn't use the full length of it, though – which was a pity, as it gets better (and faster) as it goes from south to north. It's known as Caistor High Street not because it's lined with shops but because starting in Baumber, just outside Horncastle, and running up to Caistor (or vice versa) means it takes you over the highest point in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Of course, it's far from the only great road south of the Humber – the B1183 from Revesby to Horncastle is great, the B1202 / B1203 from Bardney to Wragby to Waltham is a belting ride and as for the B1190 through Bucknall Bends or the B1176 through my old village of Corby Glen… Let's just say they're all worth seeking out as well.
• Ride the B1225 on the Lincolnshire Wolds loop and the Cadwell Circuit route.
2. The B1257
This is a real two-for-one road. From Cherry Burton, just outside Beverley in Humberside, it runs up all the way up to the North York Moors. The more southerly section, up to Yorkshire foodie centre Malton, is a magnificent mix of flowing bends and long straights – still great despite some lower limits having been added in recent years. Then there's a bit of a breather, with a more-pedestrian stretch to popular bike-meet-town Helmsley… and then there are even bigger fireworks. The stretch of the B1257 from there to Stokesley is nicknamed the North York TT and it's an absolute beast of a road: tight turns, fast sweepers, short straights with wheel-lifting crests. It's not a road to be taken lightly… but it's truly magnificent. Catch it when it's quiet (which is most midweek days) and it's truly one of the best rides… not just in Yorkshire but in all of England.
Naturally, there are plenty of other great roads nearby. Humberside and the North York Moors are packed with memorable rides – whether it's the run on the B1251/ B1253 from Seaways Café in Fridaythorpe to Bridlington, the stellar run across the moors from Danby to the A171 by Kirkbymoorside or even the scenic-but-often-busy A169 from Pickering to Whitby… and there's plenty more to discover.
• Ride the B1257 on Moors or More Moors routes.
3. The A686
Around the turn of the millennium, members of the AA voted the A686 over Hartside Pass the most scenic road in England. It certainly is an eye-catching road, blessed with epic views from the summit down to the Cumbrian Coast.
But there's much more to the A868 than that section. If you pick it up in Haydon Bridge and head to Alston, you're treated to fast sweepers and a spectacular series of hairpins through wooded valleys before you climb up onto the moors. It's an epic sprint from Alston up to Hartside Top – and then you drop nearly 400m in less than five miles. That means magnificent corners to match the spectacular vistas as the road writhes its way down the side of the Pennines. Even the final run into Penrith is fun, for all that there's now a lowered limit on some of it.
Naturally the northern fringes of England are packed with brilliant roads – I have a real soft spot for the B6277 from Middleton-in-Teesdale to Alston, though the A689 from Wolsingham to Alston goes over Killhope Summit, making it Britain's highest A-road (and the stretch from Alston on to Brampton is pretty special too).
And if you stay on the east coast, north of Newcastle, there's some amazing riding to be had – and often it seems that there's hardly anyone there. The A68 from Corbridge to the Scottish Border at Carter Bar is majestic, but for me the back-road run through Kielder Forest to Belligham beats it. As for the B1340 from Alnwick to Bamburg and the B6278 from Eggleston to Stanhope and on to Edmundbyers… those are the roads of which dreams are made. You have to ride them at least once!
• Ride the A686 on Pennines Route 2 and the Kendal. Mint loop.
4. The B6255
It's a dead-heat when picking my favourite road from the fourth day of our tour. One candidate is the B6255 from Hawes to Ingleton – which everyone who rides it loves straight away (even if the surface could now use a little love in places). It's one of those roads that seems to have been built with bikes in mind: lots of quick corners… but treat it with respect because there are plenty that tighten up and one or two that are just plain tighter-than-it-looks tricky. The backdrop is the Yorkshire Dales in all their glory (ahem, when it's sunny), with the eye-catching Ribblehead Viaduct halfway along. We used to peel off there on the Bike 440 route, heading to Settle on the excellent B6479, but I enjoy the more-open final run on the B6255, past White Scar Caves and into Ingleton.
But there's a darker alternative for my must-ride road from this day of the trip: the demanding Hardknott Pass. With several one-in-three sections, it's one of England's steepest roads. It's also narrow, studded with evil hairpins and cursed with an appalling surface. Getting over it is a challenge… but I love it. No denying how difficult it is, but if you can ride Hardknott, you can ride anything. It feeds seemlessly into the more forgiving Wrynose Pass, making it a two-for-one road. A must-ride, perhaps… but not for the faint-hearted.
• Ride the B6255 on Pennines Route 2 and the Easy Dales and Tough Dales routes.
• Ride Hardknott Pass on the Lakes: Tough Passes route.
5. The B1223
The final day of the Chickenstrips tour saw us heading south, dodging the bigger northern cities and seeking out great roads wherever we could find them. For me, one absolute gem and my pick of the day was the B1223 from Tadcaster to Selby. True, there are a few villages along the way but they're linked by such a glorious sequence of bends that you hardly seem to notice them (ahem, though do notice them and slow down for the 30s!)
Of course, the weather bit us after that, so we used a bit of boring A1 to crunch some distance back to Rutland to finish with a flourish on some more excellent roads. I always enjoy the back-road run from Bingham to Waltham on the Wolds, but blasting through Ashwell Bends was a nostalgic treat – that was one of my regular rides when I lived in Lincolnshire. There's so much more to this area than the Rutland TT… it was great to be able to share it with the crew on the tour.
• Ride the B1223 on the Castleford Rideout and the Tadcaster Loop.
