On the NCN route one

Cycle tracks will abound in utopia – HG-wells

 NCN route #1

this is a link to a blog I done on my frustrations on Scottish cycling routes

https://mountainsofscotlandyear.blogspot.com/2019/10/cycle-route-frustrations.html?_sm_au_=iHVnV66rlNtrtlZ5Q0WpHK6H8sjL6

What is the NCN or National Cycle Network it’s a network of cycle routes all over the UK, this network was created by sustrans the campaign for sustainable transport people, The original goal was to create 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of signed cycle routes by 2005, with 50% of these not being on roads, and all of it being "suitable for an unsupervised twelve year old."s, By August 2014^[update], there were 14,700 miles (23,700 km) of signed cycle route to NCN standards, (that’s NCN standards not my personal standards). The routes are all numbered National Cycle Network routes, beginning with numbers 1 to 6 are generally in England, while those beginning with 7 start in the far north of England and Scotland. Those beginning with 8 are generally in Wales, and 9 in Northern Ireland. About 70% of the network is on previously existing, mostly minor roads where motor traffic will be encountered. There is some fantastic routes and others that in my opinion are still very much busy main roads especially around the Scottish highlands and islands,

National Cycle Route 1 (or NCR 1) is a route running from Dover to Shetland. The 2,769 km-long route  is also part of a longer route called EuroVelo 12 which connects to Norway and Holland. EV12), the North Sea Cycle Route, which is a 5,942 km (3,692 mi) long-distance cycling route circuit around the coastlines of the countries that border the North Sea: these countries are supposed to go clockwise from an arbitrary starting point of Harwich in Essex. The EuroVelo is a network of 15 fantastic long-distance cycle routes which connect the whole European continent. I have cycled a few parts of these routes and wish to do more as These cycling trails are a cycle tourist’s dream: epic journeys which take in some of the best landscapes and places of cultural interest in Europe. the North Sea Cycle Route was the world's longest cycle route

It would appear not many people know this or have even seen-(noticed) the signs everywhere but national cycle network route number one goes right up through south to north Shetland mainland then onto yell finishing in unst, way back in 2008 i cycled the LEJOG (lands end to jon o groats) and considered i had cycled the lengh of britain, by adding that to my C2C cycle trip i could proudly boast that i had cycled the lengh and breadth of britain, was i cheating considering i hadnt cycled to shetland? what about now am i still cheating as i not yet cycled through orkney to get here? I will need to do that going home! 

This adventure is not all about the trig points? I had another hidden agenda which was to get the daunder to the end of NCN1 Britain’s longest cycle route, starting in dover and ending at skaw beach on Unst, as I cycled out towards this end, I had no idea if there would be a special plaque of some kind? There had to be something surely! Its not an easy beach to cycle to the road to it is very undulating to say the least,

I did smile when I arrived to find there was indeed an end point sign at a fence before the beach, I was happy I had got to the end of the route, now what? Should I cycle back? The route follows the east coast, a lot of which I have already cycled it crosses over the forth road bridge which is close to home for me perhaps I should follow the route home doing the sections I’ve not already done, then one day complete the rest of it down to dover? Would that be a story worth reading?

Considering my original plan a few years ago now was to do the whole North Sea cycle route, I had planned that though when there was a ferry link between Shetland and Norway which would have made it a circular route from my house,

The NCN also has lots of millennium posts I have seen hundreds of them, but there is 1000 Millennium cast iron mileposts, which were funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the creation of the National Cycle Network, these are found along the cycle’s routes throughout the UK. There are four different types of posts, "Fossil Tree" by John Mills, "The Cockerel" by Iain McColl, "Rowe Type" by Andrew Rowe, and "Tracks" by David Dudgeon. The four artists are from each country of the UK though all posts can be found in all four countries. I haven’t taken photos or logged how many of these posts I have been to maybe I should, there is one in the garden of the Bod in yell its getting a bit overgrown and the brass rubbing part is looking a bit aged. As I stood in front of it this day, I wondered how many other people had noticed it or stopped to look at it? I know very few people in my home areas could name where the local ones are, some of which everyone I know has been past but just not noticed? Private message me readers if you knew about them and your local one!

When you are on skaw beach Unst you can consider yourself the most northern person in the UK, having cycled here I decided I would sit on the beach and drink a bottle of beer as a celebration, only having a bottle of nanny state with me that day it would have to do, it was braw I felt privileged and that I had achieved something big for me, or was it a start of some new adventure? Regardless I enjoyed my walk around this scenic peninsula with old RAF ruins scenic coastline and a beautiful beach to myself