Cross-town: east-west via Sabrina Bridge

Getting from eastern Worcester into the city centre, while avoiding busy roads, is an unsolvable challenge. We can’t claim this route will spirit you right into the heart of things, but it’s a handy one to know.

From the Tolladine/Lyppard Grange area and its excellent network of Pedways, head down towards Tunnel Hill. A short left-right dogleg across Rainbow Hill will put you on Lansdowne Road. (From here, you can drop down onto the canal towpath if you like, or take the next left turn – Chestnut Walk – towards the city centre and Foregate Street station.)

Following Lansdowne Road onto Little London will take you across the Tything to Hebb Street. From here, you can take residential roads towards the racecourse and Sabrina Bridge.

Once across the river, there’s now a short cyclepath that takes you from Hylton Road to Henwick Road, and hence the university.

Cross-town: north-south via racecourse

The Worcester Racecourse path provides a great way into the centre without touching the main roads.

From Northwick, National Cycle Network route 46 follows residential roads to the northern end of the racecourse. The green, tree-lined path then takes you to Castle Street, where you can loop right towards Sabrina Bridge to cross the Severn. (For the university or St Johns, head west here.)

On the opposite bank now, the riverside path continues past the cricket pitch, then heads inland past the industrial area near Diglis Bridge. The cycle route is signed along roadside paths as far as Lower Wick and Powick.

Cross-town: north-south via the canal

The Worcester & Birmingham Canal provides a direct, traffic-free route past Worcester city centre. It’s well surfaced throughout, though often narrow. Take particular care by the locks, where the towpath falls rapidly and then sometimes curves sharply under a bridge.

You can head towards the city centre at Lowesmoor (just south of the railway bridge) or at the Commandery, though both are busy roads; or, of course, continue along the canal to the river, and head up the riverside path.

For south-east Worcester, follow the path past the Anchor Inn at Diglis Basin – famous for its Belly Buster Breakfasts! – to join the quiet Diglis Lane, a more pleasant alternative to the parallel Bath Road. This passes along an improved cycle path to Barneshall Avenue (once notorious for its bike-hostile residents) before crossing Bath Road towards the Norton Pedway, for access to St Peters and Norton itself.

The roads

Post-war redevelopment wasn’t kind to Worcester. Cars race between the traffic lights and junctions on the city centre ‘relief roads’ of City Walls Road and Deansway, making the cyclist feel distinctly out of place. The ring road has taken some traffic away from the centre, but not enough.

It’s a similar story on the main arterial roads: on the narrow Newtown Road, for example, impatient drivers squeeze past the weary cyclist battling up the hill. This means there’s no easy way from the east of town into the city centre.

But once you’re away from the centre, the story is much more pleasant. You can often carve out a route through residential estates without encountering much traffic.

Worcester’s terrain is very sympathetic… as long as you stay by the river. Going east, however, requires a fairly taxing climb out of the valley. The west bank is more forgiving.

Cycle routes

Worcester was built around a crossing of the River Severn, and the river still defines the city’s geography today. Two riverside paths head south from Worcester Bridge towards Diglis, where they’re now connected by the striking new Diglis Bridge.

The city’s other waterway is the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The towpath is fully cyclable and has been recently resurfaced, though the descents at locks are steep and narrow.

Dozens of cycle routes have been built as part of the estates in the east of the city. These are joined together by a circular route, or in Worcester parlance, the ‘Orbital Pedway’. By contrast, there’s very little off-road provision to the west of the Severn, in St Johns and Lower Wick, though the Sabrina Bridge does at least link the University with the city centre.

Worcester is something of a hub on the National Cycle Network, with three routes converging here. Leisure routes have been signposted into the surrounding countryside, marked with a series of coloured symbols (such as a purple square or green triangle).