Leicester, UK - panoramio (7) Leicester, UK - panoramio (7). Photo: Leicester Holyday / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Open the interactive map → Map of NCN 63 - East Midlands Cycleway

Official route · Sustrans

NCN 63 - East Midlands Cycleway

189.4 km 1414 m climbing About 3 days 13% off road Road cycling West Midlands

The route runs south-west to north-east, starting in Burton upon Trent's suburbs before crossing the National Forest and dropping into the Leicestershire coalfield towns.

Surface is mostly road with a short off-road fraction that appears in the middle section. Leicester takes up several kilometres of urban riding through Dane Hills, Westcotes, Highfields and Stoneygate before the route quietens again on the lanes east towards Market Harborough country. Beyond Barleythorpe the land flattens steadily through Rutland and into the Fens, where from Eastrea to Wisbech the route is long, straight and level.

The figures

Distance189.4 km
Climbing1414 m
Off road24 km, about 13% of the route
Riding timeabout 12 hours, roughly 3 days at a moderate pace
RegionWest Midlands
Route fromSustrans

Worth knowing before you go

March is the only settlement of any size in the final fifty kilometres, so resupply beyond Peterborough needs planning. The middle section between Ibstock and Barleythorpe passes through small villages with long gaps between them. Leicester is the obvious place to break the first day, with Peterborough a natural second stop before the Fen crossing.

Put your own dates on this and TourTrax splits it into days at your pace, finds somewhere to sleep at the end of each one, estimates what it will cost and gets you to the start without flying.

Plan this route → Download the GPX

Other route guides

NCN 63 - East Midlands Cycleway is an official route from Sustrans (their website).