National routes There are ten main national routes. they are not all complete. •
National Cycle Route 1:
Dover –
Tain. Running the length of the east coast and passing through
London and
Edinburgh. •
National Cycle Route 2:
Dover –
St Austell in England, along the south coast. •
National Cycle Route 3:
Bristol –
Land's End, incorporating the
West Country Way via
Chew Valley Lake, and the
Cornish Way •
National Cycle Route 4:
London (Greenwich) –
Fishguard, in
West Wales, via
Reading,
Bath,
Bristol,
Newport,
Caerphilly,
Pontypridd,
Swansea and
Llanelli. •
National Cycle Route 5:
Reading –
Holyhead, via
Birmingham,
The Midlands and the
North Wales coast •
National Cycle Route 6:
Windsor –
Lake District, running in sections via
Luton,
Milton Keynes,
Northampton,
Derby,
Nottingham,
Sheffield,
Manchester and
Preston crossing the
Pennine Cycleway •
National Cycle Route 7:
Sunderland –
Inverness via
Glasgow. •
National Cycle Route 8:
Cardiff –
Holyhead, through the heart of Wales. •
National Cycle Route 9:
Belfast –
Newry in sections of traffic-free route, with the major sections being between Belfast and
Lisburn, and
Craigavon and Newry •
National Cycle Route 10:
Tynemouth —
Cockermouth. Roughly parallel to the C2C /
Sea to Sea Cycle Route and
Hadrian's Cycleway. It is a branch of National Route 1.
Numbering system NCN routes beginning with numbers 1 to 6 are generally in England, routes beginning with a 7 start in Scotland and northern England, routes beginning with an 8 are generally in Wales, and routes beginning with a 9 are in Northern Ireland. The main route numbers have one digit (1 to 6 radiate clockwise from the south of England); other routes have two digits, starting with the number of the relevant main route. There are also many shorter routes, reaching smaller towns and cities, that have three-digit numbers. Again, the route numbers start with the number of the main route for that region. For example, the
Great North Cycleway in northern England has route number 725. Signs showed the route numbers on a blue background. Routes have been progressively renumbered with three-digit national numbers. Some routes are numbered to match the motorways and major roads that connect the same destinations; examples include National Route 62, which by connecting the two sides of the
Pennines mirrors the
M62 motorway.
Signage , Hadrian's Cycleway.|alt=A blue direction sign with a right-pointing arrow. Three symbols (ranged left to right) are; a Roman soldier's helmet, the number 72 written in white on a red background, and a bicycle symbol. The network is signposted using a white bicycle symbol (and on some routes, walking) on a blue background, with an inset box showing a white route number on a red background. In general, signs do not show destinations or distances. On some older signs, regional route numbers have a blue background instead. The system of symbols is based on that used by the
Danish National Cycle Route network.
Mileposts One thousand "Millennium Mileposts" made from
cast iron were funded by the
Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the creation of the National Cycle Network, and these are found along the NCN routes throughout the UK. Following the de-designation of approximately a quarter of the NCN in 2020, Most mileposts contain a disk featuring symbols and text in code. There are 60 different designs, spread across the country. They form part of the Millennium Time Trail, a treasure hunt puzzle created by Sustrans in 2001. The Verse held within the coded text is: ==See also==