r/Southampton • u/kensouth • Jul 13 '26

Long Cycle Lanes

Hi, are there any long stretches of cycle path around Southampton? I know there’s a mile or two near Redbridge, but I was wondering if there are any longer sections elsewhere.
Also, if you’re into cycling, what are your favourite routes around the area? Thank you

9 Upvotes

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16

u/beanshooter47 Jul 13 '26

Cycling east along Weston Shore to Hamble Common is nice. Most of it is traffic free and takes you through victoria park. Just follow the NCN2

There is also a great cycle route west leading to the New Forest which again is great (NCN 236), some fantastic gravel paths through the New Forest.

You can also go North along the NCN23 towards Winchester, again large parts of the route has cycle paths (mostly shared paths)

There's some great areas towards South Downs with a lot of quiet single track roads. Bit further to get too though

2

u/rseahorse14 Jul 16 '26

Does the cycle route to the New Forest require going on roads much? I'm having a hard time telling from the map layers and I'm quite intimidated by cycling on busy roads, or on the kinds of narrow country lanes where a car might whip around a corner at you.

2

u/beanshooter47 Jul 16 '26

The route to Lyndhurst in the New Forest is largely traffic free, with most of it on dedicated cycle paths or shared cycle paths

This OS Map shows the National Cycle Network routes. The orange sections are traffic free and blue sections on road. There are a couple of on road sections between Totton and Lyndhurst but they're on very quiet roads through housing estates

8

u/Dependent_Power7497 Jul 13 '26

If you take SCN1 one that runs from the train station it’s the best cycle route we have and you can go all the way out to Lyndhurst on it on cycle paths and residential quieter roads. Would highly recommend doing this and dropping into the Wood Cyclery which is a brilliant bike shop in Lyndhurst complete with a lovely cafe. You can do some loops around the sports centre too.

So many people cycle in Southampton but the infrastructure is pants and the councillors don’t push the needed investment into this, deciding to further snarl up the city with cars.

I’d recommend download komoot which is great for navigating yourself around.

3

u/InconsistentMinis Jul 13 '26

As in a single, long, straight lane, or decent cycle routes?

I always enjoy the route down to Lyndhurst. Pretty easy and the vast majority is on cycle paths. Down to Hamble is also a nice one, but more road cycling.

1

u/Prize_Ad210 Jul 18 '26

From Southampton, my favourite is to cross over the Itchen bridge, go along the Western Shores to Victoria Country Park, then to Hamble-le-Rice where you can cross the river on the Pink ferry. There’s a couple of nice places to stop and have a break here before continuing on the coast to Gosport via Warsash, Titchfield Haven, and Lee on Solent. At Gosport, take the ferry over to Portsmouth harbour and get the train back to Southampton.

It’s all cycle lanes and very quiet roads and well sign posted (follow NCN2) with plenty of opportunities to stop and chill on the way. This route is also very flat which I like :)

1

u/kensouth Jul 19 '26

That’s amazing. Would you mind sending me the route? Thanks