The Best National Parks for eBike Rides
We've selected our top outstanding areas of national beauty for you to eBike around this Summer!
This year marks the seventieth anniversary of the birth of the UK’s national parks. Whether you're exploring the English countryside, scaling the Scottish Highlands or visiting the valleys of Wales, there is a huge array of national parks to visit, many of them being easily accessible via public transport.
With lockdown easing, you don’t need to travel overseas to find beautiful scenery. As restrictions in the UK begin to ease, rather than casting your eyes abroad, why not explore one of the UK’s fifteen national parks on an eBike? Expect windswept coasts, lush forests, and swathes of unspoilt land stretching out across the horizon that will inspire any cycling enthusiast!So without further ado, let’s explore Fully Charged’s top five best national parks, to ride your eBike.
Peak District
Britain’s oldest national park, The Peak District, offers over sixty-five miles of cycling tracks and trails varying in difficulty and terrain and offers a vast array to bikers of all disciplines. Since becoming a registered area of natural beauty, the Peaks rugged countryside attacks more than thirteen million people a year.
If you enjoy battling steep hills with help from your electric powered motor, then the Peak District is the place for you. Infamous trails such as Winnats Pass are challenging, but are rewarding with breathtaking views of the surrounding area. Lush, windswept hills with tracks meandering through them and steep craggy rocks at their summit.
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
This beautiful location on the west coast of Scotland may be better known for its water-dwelling monsters than bike trails, however the challenging 24-mile route from the ‘Gateway to the Highlands’ to the Forest of Killin would suggest otherwise.
With unspoilt views of Scotland’s most famous loch, lush swathes of conifers, thick heather-clad hills and snow-capped peaks, this national park is off-roader heaven.It is not for the faint-hearted, however, including twenty one Muro’s, mountains in Scotland, with a height over 3,000 feet.
New Forest
The New Forest national park provides an incredibly dynamic and varying ecosystem. It is one of the very few national parks in the UK with a coastline and has both heathland and dense forest. This makes for some really incredible trails that offer up a multitude of terrains and routes. The ocean route at Milton-on-Sea gives you impressive views of Hurst Spit, an amazing natural formation that stretches 1.4 miles out to the English Channel, the first line of defence between sea and land.
Biking is without a doubt the most popular way to explore the New Forest and the best way to get a close and personal look at the New Forest ponies. There are also an abundance of idyllic villages and pubs nestled throughout the forest, perfect for a thirst-quenching pit stop!
Brecon Beacons
This dramatic Welsh park that’s less than one hour or so from Cardiff, expands over five hundred and nineteen square miles and is home to the hundred mile Beacons Way trail.
The notorious 6km 10% gradient climb 'The Tumble' is listed as one of the greatest cycling climbs in Britain and is certainly worth a visit. With an electric-powered bike, no climbs are too hard! For the most intrepid explorers, the Black Mountains provide breathtaking views and interesting sites such as the Llanthony Priory’s ancient ruins, located on the prominent Hatterrall Ridge.
However, cycling in the Beacons doesn't exclusively consist of strenuous climbs, the park provides riders with sixteen varied routes, and miles of family-friendly routes that wind their way through quaint Welsh villages, past beautiful waterfalls and crystal clear reservoirs.
Lake District
Associated with the likes of Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth, the Lake District's landscape is truly that of poetry. Home to the UK's deepest and largest lakes and the tallest peak, Scarfell Pike, the park is truly a vast place.
The Lake District Loop is a 40-mile ride that has been voted as the UK's best cycling ride. Suited for more skilled cyclists, the route provides challenging climbs and long-distance winding roads and rewards with stunning views of the park. But thanks to the rise in eBikes, harder trails such as these are more accessible.
The GoLakes Travel programme was an initiative, funded by the Department of Transport, to promote sustainable travel throughout the busiest parts of the Lake District. This has meant substantial improvements to bike-friendly infrastructure including transport and cycleways. It is truly an eBikers paradise.
