The Three Rivers Cycle Route is quite distinct from the other long distance routes as its many loops and figures of eight leave you close to many cycle shops. The route is not really a 'long distance route' as it never strays far from its central point at Haswell (birth place in 1937 of one of the UK's greatest cyclists Tommy Simpson, a coalminers son, who died from exhaustion on a slope in the 1967 Tour de France).

There are cycle shops close to most places the route passes by including Durham, Consett, Sunderland, Newcastle, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton, South Shields, North Shields, Jarrow and Tynemouth, and Halfords stores are located closeby too (0870 870 8810 for exact locations).