It’s that wonderful time of year in Liverpool. We’ve just marked the “unofficial” start of summer, and green has burst back into the color palette.
In all the ‘warm-weather’ excitement, a persistent thought might also re-enter your brain: “I want to start cycling.”
Liverpool occupies a particularly flat, coastal area, so you don’t need to worry about encountering hills and instead can ride as far as you like, often on traffic-free trails and cycle paths. From challenging day-rides to shorter, family-friendly trails, Liverpool has cycle routes galore.
Everton Park & Stanley Park
Start out at Everton Sports Centre to enjoy panoramic views stretching from Everton Park out across the city. Head towards to the 111-acre Stanley Park, which divides the home-turf of Goodison and Anfield, ideal for a relaxing bike ride in incredible surroundings.
Otterspool Promenade
Start your journey at the magnificent Liver Building, with this 5-mile route along the stunning waterfront, which will take you to the historic Royal Albert Dock. You can cycle along the promenade 5-miles to Otterspool, and finish your ride at the stunning Otterspool Park in South Liverpool.
Tour de Liverpool
Granted, you’ll need stamina for this 24-mile route, but it will be worth it for the many stunning backdrops you’ll pass along the way.
Starting off at Otterspool Cafe, you’ll cycle past the colourful Albert Dock and Echo Arena, before heading up towards Liverpool 8, past the magnificent Liverpool Cathedral and St James Mount.
Some of the city’s best parts are showcased in this ride, which passes through Princes Park and Sefton Park, and past Calderstones Park, and eventually ends up at the National Trust’s Speke Hall, where those who want to pay the entrance fee can stop for refreshments before returning along the waterfront and through Garston.
Liverpool Cycle Trail
It begins at Croxteth Hall, the magnificent ancestral home of the Molyneux family, the Earls of Sefton, and proceeds through part of the associated country park. For a while you will follow the Loop Line, an old railway line which has been converted to a footpath and cycleway. Until the 1960s, a major use was by frequent night-trains carrying fresh cabbages, cauliflowers etc. from the farms of the Lancashire Plain to London’s huge Nine Elms vegetable market.
After passing the famous Aintree racecourse the northern part of the route follows the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the longest canal in Britain. Then later on you will cycle right along the historic waterfront, passing the iconic Three Graces, a group of architectural marvels much loved by the city’s populace, several of the city’s museums, and Albert Dock, which was opened by Prince Albert in 1846 and includes the largest group of Grade 1 listed buildings in the UK. Finally the route rejoins the Loop Line to return to Croxteth Hall.
Everton and the Mersey
This route connects Everton Park – with its fantastic panoramic views of Liverpool, the Mersey and beyond – to the towpaths of the Leeds-Liverpool canal, and eventually through to the rapidly transforming docklands of the River Mersey.
Loop Line
It’s almost like the disused railway line from Halewood to Aintree was designed for cycling. The railway path provides a flat, well surfaced green corridor through the urban environment of east Liverpool, and forms part of the award-winning Trans Pennine Trail. Even though you are so close to a city it feels like you’re out in the countryside. The route is managed like a linear woodland park. It runs through rocky cuttings and high on embankments with wide views across the city.
Calderstones and Allerton Loop
Starting from outside the grand backdrop of Mansion House at Calderstones Park, this easily manageable route passes Allerton Tower Park and across Woolton Road into Clarke Gardens.
Stop off for a drink and a bite to eat at Allerton Hall Farm, which underwent a £1.6m refurb last year, before completing a circuit of Calderstones Park and ending back at the Mansion House.
