Cycling in Harrogate - A guide

How to get around in our town on a bike if:

•  You are a visitor

•  If you live here 

•  If you have moved to the area

Cycling Clubs/Contacts

Wheel Easy A leisure club,  rides at the weekend more here, all ages all abilities.

Harrogate Nova Definitely sporty types. Road and cyclocross and much more I'm sure.

Harrogate Cappuccino Road bike club, drop bars, quite a pace but non competitive.

See the  Local Hero page for more contacts.

I'm visiting

Harrogate has a pretty good cycle network, its a bit patchy in places and the main routes around town are about as cycle friendly as a motorway, but with a bit of low cunning you can find your way round without needing to get involved with the traffic. Trouble is as I write (december 2013) there is no comprehensive online or paper resource to help you get around. Oh and a lot of the routes aren't signed or are partially signed.

Here is what I can offer to help you dear visitor.

Bike hire.

You can hire bikes at The Big Red Bike Co. He is a nice guy you can hire sit up and begs, they are big and red and its near both the bus and the train stations. Usual business hours only, here is a review

The bike and go short term hire scheme should be operating soon from the train station. The bikes are there but as I write its still showing TBA on their website. Worth checking.

Update February 2014 this is working now, details here. I haven't had a go yet but I will.

Maps and mapping

Open Harrogate an up to date map and app (Android and iOS) of cycling routes in Harrogate and a bit of a database of routes. It will route you on journeys but beware it doesn't make the smartest decision or choose traffic free routes. Not a bad place to start but not a one stop shop.

There is an out of date (2009) Harrogate Borough Council printable map It covers central Harrogate and Knaresborough, it still has some good info on it but not all the recent additions.

I want to cycle for pleasure

Well Harrogate is not a bad place for this kind of behaviour. The excellent Nidderdale Greenway is a nice traffic free 5 miles to the castle at Ripley and then on to Hampsthwaite.

You can get traffic free from central Harrogate to Knaresborough via Bilton lane and the Beryl Burton Cycleway and then your good for a steady pootle down by the river.

If you want to go further afield Wheeleasy have some good routes on their site.

Or get out with Harrogate Nova or the Cappuccino people if your really want to  get your head down.

If mountain biking is your thing their are good trails at Stainburn built by singletraction who have a few others in the area.

Yorkshire water have just built a nice but short trail near Fewston reservoir. No map yet but you should find it from here.

Or a ride round upper Nidderdale from Lofthouse is massive fun but go prepared in winter months it can be arctic up there, I nearly got it very wrong one day in April and got proper cold.

If BMX is your thing the bmx park at Yeadon is good and free.

Over towards York you can cycle a scale model of the solar system which is a good ride for younger cyclists.

I want to cycle to work or around the town

A little harder and a little easier that. As I have have said the Harrogate's cycle network is ok its just a bit fragmented, poorly signed and I wouldn't really use the main arterial roads they are fairly busy and badly laid out if you are on a bike. 

Having said that if you take the time to work out a route for a commute  you can usually find some pretty car traffic free ways of getting around. Trouble is the more you ride round Harrogate the easier It gets as you gain "the knowledge" and I don't think that's good enough. Hopefully over the next 18 months North Yorkshire council are doing quite a lot of work to close the mapping and signage gaps and the infrastructure should be improving too.

In the meantime if you are desperate to get out on your bike and you are struggling to find your way email me cyclehgt@gmail.com, If I don't know I can usually find someone who does.

Dave Prince 1/1/2014

Disclaimer. All the information in this guide is believed to be up to date at the time of writing, but you know how it is, stuff changes, things disappear, news stuff arrives. If you use it, use your common sense and check things out before you make a long journey.