National Cycle Network

The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. The 14,000 mile network was used for over 230 million trips in 2005.

Little of the NCN is on dedicated bike paths. Though many routes try to minimise contact with motor traffic, 70% of them are on roads. The NCN uses shared use paths, disused railways, minor roads, canal towpaths and traffic-calmed routes in towns and cities.

The opening of the Bristol and Bath Railway Path (now part of National Route 4) in 1984, a 15-mile cycleway following a railway no longer in use, was the first part of the NCN.

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." By mid-2000, 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of route was signposted to an "interim" standard, and a new goal was then set to double that to 10,000 miles (16,000 km) by 2005. August 2005 saw the completion of that goal.

As of August 2014^[update], there were 14,700 miles (23,700 km) of signed cycle route to NCN standards.

There are ten national NCN routes; these are numbered from 1 to 10. There are scores of regional NCN routes.

NCN routes beginning with numbers 1 to 6 are generally in England, the routes that begin with a 7 start in the far north of England and Scotland, with 8 are generally in Wales, and 9 in Northern Ireland. The main routes 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 regional routes, reaching smaller towns and cities within ten designated regions. Each region is divided into a maximum of nine areas. Regional route numbers comprise the area number 1 to 9 followed by another digit. (An exception is in the Scottish Borders council area, where regional routes are numbered 1 to 9.) This means that across the UK there could be 10 regional route 12s, for instance, as well as the national route 12. To reduce confusion, identically numbered areas in adjacent regions do not abut, and routes with the same number are widely separated.

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