Shipley à vélo

Taking the same route out/back from Shipley misses out a big hill. Alt route: use the canal for one leg of it.

version 1.1   Almost all on roads. Tried to use lanes and quieter roads through estates where possible but inevitably includes a lot of major routes too. (The canal can be used for a quieter [and flatter] route between Bingley & Shipley, or even through to Apperley Bridge to rejoin the route at Greengates.)   There is about 100m of rough woodland at Fagley - some steps then a rough path. This can be avoided by going up Harrogate Rd some or all the way, then Leeds Rd->Gain Lane; or going via Calverley & Woodhall hill but technically that's Leeds! ;) There is also a slightly rough section leading down to the ford over Harden Beck at Bingley. The ford is probably too deep for a bike but there is a footbridge - accessed via two narrow squeeze stiles. If you can't lift your bike over, stay on the main road into Bingley then out again on Bradford Rd. It's planned clockwise but anti-clockwise offers shorter climbs

Gonna leave everything I know, gonna head out towards the sea. Ahem. Greengates/Apperley Bridge (Bradford/Leeds) to Southport. Following the more direct bits of the Leeds Liverpool Canal (and avoiding the bad quality towpath bits wherever possible - there are still a few rough-ish bits though, wouldn't recommend for a super delicate road bike). A few unavoidably busy routes through town centres (Burnley is the worst, because the canal goes through a tunnel there so you have to divert anyway. That said, the tunnel underneath the motorway there is well fun!).   Only one big hill - from Glusburn to the Lancashire border - but there is a nice cafe at the side of a small lake just before Colne if cake is needed to recover.

Skip the big hill between 16km-24km (saving 150+m climb) by dropping down onto the canal at East Morton and rejoining the route at Silsden). Canal path is paved all the way now.   Later on, avoid the busy road between Otley and Pool (but add in an extra hill) by staying north of the river on Farnley Lane to Leathley Lane.