Bikepacking means riding a route over several days with everything you need carried on the bike. iBikeRide now lists eleven of these routes across England, Scotland and Wales, from a two day stretch of the Ridgeway to the 800 mile Great North Trail. Here is what the terms mean, which route to start with, and where to find them all.

What bikepacking actually means

If you have come to iBikeRide for trail centres, bike parks and pump tracks, this is a different kind of riding, and the words around it can put people off before they start.

A long-distance route is a single, defined journey, from a start to a finish or right round a loop, that takes days rather than hours, and bikepacking is simply riding it self-supported: everything you need carried on your bike in frame, saddle and handlebar bags, with a campsite, bunkhouse or pub bed waiting at the end of each day. Bikepacking does not have to mean camping.

Gravel is the other word you will see on these pages. A gravel bike looks much like a road bike, with drop handlebars, but it takes wider, knobblier tyres and is built for forest roads, farm tracks, towpaths and byways rather than singletrack. Most of these routes are ridden on mountain bikes just as happily. The difference shows up at the two ends of a route: a gravel bike is quicker over long, smooth fire road miles, and a mountain bike is more comfortable when the descents turn rough.

On iBikeRide, a "long-distance route" listing means one route with one start and finish, not an area with lots of trails to choose from.

What is on iBikeRide

Eleven long-distance routes are listed, covering around 3,700 km between England, Scotland and Wales. Some run point to point, others loop back to where you started, which saves working out how to get home. We will keep this page updated as more are added.

Each listing follows a set pattern: the start and finish and how to get back, the terrain section by section, how to plan your days, which bike suits the route, where to resupply and where to stay, how to get there, a route status note, and links to the official pages and GPX.

There are also more region-based bikepacking options on the site, area guides such as Fort William and Lochaber or the Yorkshire Dales, which include a bikepacking-friendly route within a wider spread of trails rather than being one themselves.

To find any of it, use the search page: filter by Type of Riding for Bikepacking or Gravel, narrow by country or region, or search a route by name.

Never done this before? Start here

Three things worth knowing before you pick one.

Start short. The shortest on the list is the bike-legal western half of the Ridgeway, 43 miles, typically ridden in two days. That is one night away from home.

Signed or not. Some of these are waymarked on the ground, the Sandstone Way and King Alfred's Way among them, so you can follow signs. Others, such as the North Downs Way Riders' Route, are followed by GPX rather than signs, so you navigate by GPS throughout. If it is your first, a waymarked route takes one job off your hands.

You do not have to ride all of it. The Great North Trail is 800 miles, but it is split into eight official sections, each rideable as a long weekend or broken into shorter day rides.

The routes

Listed shortest to longest, so you can find one that matches the time you have. Lengths are as given on the listings, and where sources disagree we say "around". The search page is the better tool if you want to browse by where you live.

• The Ridgeway (69 km / 43 miles of the bike-legal western half, England): Often called Britain's oldest road. From Overton Hill near Avebury to Streatley on the Thames, past Barbury Castle, the Uffington White Horse and Wayland's Smithy. Typically two days. Only the western half is open to bikes; the eastern Chilterns end includes footpath where cycling is not allowed.
• Trans Cambrian Way (around 175 km, Wales): A remote point to point route across mid Wales from Knighton to Dyfi Junction near Machynlleth, usually ridden in three days, with about 4,000 m of climbing. Mountain Bike Wales runs guided tours of it.
• Sandstone Way (193 km / 120 miles, England): A waymarked mountain bike route from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Hexham through Northumberland, run by Northumberland National Park with an official waterproof map. Usually ridden in three or four days.
• Traws Eryri (196 km, Wales): "Trans Snowdonia", the length of Eryri National Park from Machynlleth in the south to Conwy on the north coast. Forest fire roads, old drovers' tracks and moorland byways, with around 4,000 m of climbing. Developed by Cycling UK with Natural Resources Wales.
• West Kernow Way (237 km, England): A bikepacking loop through far west Cornwall from Penzance, taking in Land's End, the Lizard and Cornwall's mining heartland. Over 4,200 m of climbing in three to four days. Developed by Cycling UK.
• North Downs Way Riders' Route (around 270 km / 169 miles, England): Created so cyclists can ride the North Downs Way corridor end to end, from Farnham in Surrey through the Surrey Hills and Kent Downs towards Dover, avoiding footpath-only sections.
• Pennine Bridleway (174 miles / 280 km end to end, 205 miles including its two loops, England): A National Trail from Middleton Top in Derbyshire to Ravenstonedale in Cumbria, designed for horse riders and cyclists. It links to the existing Mary Towneley Loop and Great North Trail listings.
• Marcher Castles Way (290 km / 180 miles, England and Wales): A bikepacking loop from Shrewsbury through the Welsh Marches that crosses the border between England and Wales eight times, linking Roman ruins, hillforts and castles.
• Gallovidian Gravel (330 km, Scotland): Cycling UK's first Scottish long-distance gravel route. A circular ride from Dumfries through Dumfries and Galloway in three linked loops, with about 4,000 m of climbing.
• King Alfred's Way (353 km / 219 miles, England): A waymarked loop from Winchester through historic Wessex, built with gravel and adventure bikes in mind. It links the Ridgeway, the South Downs Way and the North Downs Way. Created by Cycling UK.
• Great North Trail (1,287 km / 800 miles, England and Scotland): Cycling UK's flagship route, from the southern Peak District to the far north of Scotland. It includes the Pennine Bridleway, reaches the wild tip of the mainland and crosses four National Parks: Peak District, Yorkshire Dales, Northumberland, and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs. It is split into eight official sections that can be ridden as long weekends or day rides, rather than tackled in one go.

Where the routes connect

Several of the routes join up, which is worth knowing if you want to link two together or ride a section of one as part of another.

King Alfred's Way links three National Trails, and the Ridgeway is part of King Alfred's Way. The Great North Trail contains the Pennine Bridleway, and the Pennine Bridleway's first section starts where the Great North Trail starts. For the trails around that start, see the Peak District listing.

In mid Wales, Traws Eryri starts at Machynlleth and the Trans Cambrian Way finishes at Dyfi Junction near Machynlleth. The Machynlleth listing covers the trails there.

Which bike, route by route

Three of the eleven are not tagged for gravel at all: Traws Eryri, the Pennine Bridleway and the Great North Trail. The Sandstone Way is a waymarked mountain bike route first, ridden on gravel bikes in dry weather. King Alfred's Way was built with gravel and adventure bikes in mind, and Gallovidian Gravel is Cycling UK's first Scottish long-distance gravel route. The North Downs Way Riders' Route suits both, with the Surrey half leaning MTB and the Kent half leaning gravel. The Ridgeway is also the route of the Ridgeway Gravel Epic, a gravel sportive.

This is part of a wider expansion of gravel content on the site. Trail listings across iBikeRide now carry a written Gravel Riding section, pointing out where within an existing trail area suits a gravel bike. Filter the search page by Gravel to see the full set.

Planning a route

• Check the official page before you go. The routes cross land owned by many bodies, and closures and diversions change. As of September 2026, the northern end of the Pennine Bridleway is closed at Hazelgill because of a partly collapsed bridge, and cyclists are advised to finish or start at Kirkby Stephen. The official news page has the current position.
• Navigate by GPS where there are no signs. Several of these routes are followed by GPX rather than waymarks. The North Downs Way Riders' Route is one of them, and its published length differs between sources, so use a GPS route rather than a stated distance.
• Plan the days. Typical times on the listings are two days for the Ridgeway, three days for the Trans Cambrian Way, three or four days for the Sandstone Way and three to four days for the West Kernow Way. Each listing sets out the start, finish, how to get back, terrain by section and where to resupply.
• Sort out where you are sleeping. Wild camping is not normally allowed in England and Wales without permission, so book ahead or plan around campsites, bunkhouses and pubs.

Over to you

Have you ridden any of these routes? Pick one from the list above, open its listing, and add your reviews, photos and videos.

This is a new kind of listing for us and we will keep it updated, so rider knowledge is what will make it better. If something on the ground does not match what is written, a diversion, a closure, a resupply stop that has shut, tell us and we will get it corrected. And if you have not ridden one yet, tell us what you would want to know before setting off.

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash