Route numbering

There are 2 types of signing - National Routes and Regional Routes. National route signs - the National Routes use a red number badge Regional route signs - the Regional Routes use a blue number badge National Routes - red badge National Cycle Network routes beginning with numbers 1 - 6 are generally in England, those beginning with 7 start in the far north of England and Scotland, those beginning with 8 are generally in Wales, and 9 in Northern Ireland. The National Cycle Network uses a system modelled on the Danish cycle network and adopted by a number of European countries.
	Route 1 goes all the way from Dover to London and then up the east coast of the country to Edinburgh and on to John o'Groats, the Orkneys and the Shetlands. It has branches, generally in the East of England, numbererd between 11 & 19.
	Route 2 runs along the south coast of England, from Dover to Bodmin with branches numbered in the twenties.
	Route 3 goes from Bristol to Land's End in Cornwall, includes the West Country Way & the Cornish Way and has branches numbered in the thirties.
	Route 4 runs from London to St David's on the west coast of Wales, with branches numbered in the forties, many of which are in South Wales
	Route 5 runs from Reading up through Birmingham to Chester and then along the North Wales coast to Holyhead. It has branches numbered in the fifties, generally in central England.
	Route 6 runs from Windsor in Berkshire to the Lake District, and has branches numbered in the sixties. The longest of these is the Pennine Cycleway from Derby to Berwick-on-Tweed, signed as route 68.
	Route 7 goes from Carlisle to Inverness, with branches in the seventies, in North England and Scotland. All routes in Scotland are in the seventies apart from route 1
	Route 8 is called Lôn Las Cymru and goes from Cardiff to Holyhead through the heart of Wales. It has branches in the eighties, predominantly in Wales.
	Route 9 is planned to run from Belfast to Dublin and all other routes in Northern Ireland are in the nineties.
Regional Routes - blue badge Regional routes are an integral part of the National Cycle Network, serving to link many remaining towns and villages to the Cycle Network, and share the same characteristics as National routes. They also include a number of established county cycle routes, such as the Avon Cycleway and the South Somerset Cycleway. The Regional Routes are generally supported by local authorities in the UK. For the purposes of numbering, the UK has been divided into 10 Regions, with the cycle routes numbered 10 - 99 within each Region (meaning that route 14 could for instance appear 10 times in different parts of the UK). The ten Regions have then been further broken down into Areas from 1 - 10 within each Region. The 10 Regions are: South-East England West Country East England Midlands North England Cumbria and Northumberland Southern Scotland Northern Scotland Wales Northern Ireland For example: Within Region South-East England, Kent and East Sussex is classed as Area 1 within that Region, so those local cycle routes will be numbered 10 - 19. In the same Region, Hampshire is classed as Area 6, so those local cycle routes will be numbered 60 - 69 in Region South-East England. More comprehensive information is available via the Route-Mapping section of the Sustrans web site.