Milton Keynes No Roads Cycle Challenge – Can it be done?

Milton Keynes has over 200 miles of shared-use paths, known as Redways. The traffic-free network covers most of the city estates with some Redways extending out to connect to the older towns.
But is it possible to cycle north to south without cycling on any roads?
Steve`s Monumental Adventure puts this question to the test.
Steve will attempt to ride from Campbell Park to Caldecotte Lake without riding along a road – The rules are simple, You can cross but not follow!
While undertaking this task, Steve discovers MK’s beautiful scenery: tree-lined rivers, Beautiful meadows, and Stunning lakes.
enjoy!
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[Music] [Applause] [Music] that was the neverton tunnel well how’d you do well we’re doing something different today um as our trip to um the Peak District was cut short by the boys cuz they couldn’t hack the pressure but anyway we’re uh we’re back and we’re going on another adventure today and we’re off to somewhere where is one of my favorite places um is Milton keing and we’re going for a cycling a two-day cycling trip there so one thing I’m going to need for that is my bike so I’ve got an electric bike here and I’ve got one of the these um toe bar mounted bike racks here they are quite St they are quite sturdy there’s no movement in that whatsoever um the toe bar would literally have to break off the uh off the van really so these are the things that I’ve done with it I mean it’s quite secure on there uh it’s held on by these rubber by these rubber these rubber things here um you got to make sure they’re nice and tight there shouldn’t be much resistance in it then I’ve taped up the brake so what that means is the wheels don’t move in transit there not moving around like mad same on the back wheel I’ve done the same I’ve uh I’ve uh taped it up and then as the extra precaution there’s a strap there as well which um holds it on the case it comes off for security I’ve got a chain that’s running through the toe bar and that runs through the frame of the bike so if somebody wants to Nick kit um obviously they’re going to have a bit of a job because it’s uh it’s stuck there and actually just making sure the toe bar doesn’t come loose we’ve got a padlock there as well which holds the clamp together so that’s what we’ve got van is ready and packed and replenished just put the fridge over um onto gas um new sheet we’re ready to rock and roll and more importantly the Milton ke’s guide book what’s going to be different about this trip is we’re actually staying on a campsite um goers so two nights has cost me about 70 just over £70 and that is including electric um and this is the safest place to kind of park your van with your bike as well so that’s where we’ll be heading down to so if you’re bearing in mind if you are going to a campsite the hookup leads are essential essential bits of Kit they are so we just got to make sure we have um we have uh we have them I’ve got two because last time it was too short anyway let’s get down to Milton Kings well according to Google Maps it’s 1 hour 54 minutes and 99 miles there you go so that should be uh anyway I do know the way there so I don’t really need to use the sa now so uh let’s get down to Milton keing typical M6 traffic now down the uh down the motorway always going to get a little bit sticky here this is probably one of the worst traffic jams in the Midlands isn’t [Music] it well I’ve arrived at gers now and um this is the uh the campsite I show you a little bit more about it in a bit but you can see for yourself you got some good ample pictures here look you can see they’re quite wide I think last time I was parked over there on the on the skew before um I remember the nightmare that the um the wire didn’t reach but hopefully there ain’t going to be no problems like that today cuz the the point is just there so that’s all right isn’t it but it’s actually nice isn’t it it feels very it does feel very spacious um and I suppose that’s the main thing isn’t it you know when you’re coming out onto a a site you want to feel like you’ve got a bit of space to to uh mck around and uh this one’s got plenty of space anyway I’m going to get myself sorted now got to do the business um so first thing I’ve got to do is get the electricity sorted out from that point so I’ve got the same one on this one here um there plug that into there jobs are good in so no gas for the fridge tonight so let’s get that bit sorted well that was interesting um went to turn on all the lights um and there was nothing dead as a Dodo and uh I was a bit stumped by that so I called me old make pul up and uh we we give me some advice and um it was a snapped Earth actually had done that um a rogue Earth had literally took out all of the um all of the electrics anyway all sorted now that’s the main thing welcome to Milton keing and I am at Gulliver’s um Caravan Park um camping in caravan Park um which is next to gul’s Kingdom and why I’ve chosen here is it because it’s a really good location for me to cycle Milton ke so what we’re going to do first is our first location we’re going to visit is cicott Lake which is in the South part of Milton keing so let’s see if we can travel to Milton keing without necessarily crossing a road if possible um there might be one or two but let’s just put the um Milton ke’s um red ways uh to the ultimate test so let’s go I have also plotted this on Google uh Google Maps so that’s going to give me um give me an idea of um how good Google Maps is for using for cycling around Milton king um there might be a few little mistakes there but by the time you see this I’ll edit it out see you later my mate see you later turn right then turn left turn left then turn right straight away we’re on one of the red ways that run run the width and breadth of Milton keing um this one probably here has seen better days but we’re actually running alongside the canal which is is just on the left hand side so we can see this path here that runs at the side of goers is a little bit broken off turn left onto National cycle Route 51 then slide left onto National cycle route so this takes us and links us up to the canal and Campbell Park which is the main part of Milton kees left onto National cycle Route Six okay as it says National cycle route number six which is the canal path now first of all we’ve got this beautiful Avenue of turn left to stay on National cycle Route Six got a lovely Avenue of popers here look you can see I mean that’s really Testament to that planting scheme that the um that the Development Corporation first did bit of flooding on these but as a lot of the foot paths are you can see they’re quite buckled by the trees and stuff like that the roots of the trees so we’re just going straight on and this brings us into what’s now known as Campbell Warf and that’s the wet on the water that’s a pub that has been built um pretty much to stay on National cycle rout um pretty much to uh pinpoint this we’re looking at it I’m looking at it there’s some houses over there that have been kind of half built um now when I was here in Milton Kings a few a while ago they um they were half built then so I don’t know what’s happening there um but yeah this is Campbell War this is um or Camp Warf um but basically they’ve created a brand new um they’ve created a brand new Canal Marina here um which is continue on National cycle Route 6 for half a mile this project has been masterminded by Crest Nicholson and then really one thing Milton Kings is really about is modern Cutting Edge housing um but you’ll find a lot of these houses will be empty they’ll be owned by Far East um like investors from overseas and they have no intention of living in these houses whatsoever so in theory what they’re actually doing is creating ghost towns or ghost Villages if you like anyway we’re continuing on like anywhere really the canal is almost like the motorway to get anywhere really morning ladies you can see that again we’ve got another beautiful Avenue of poppers now planted along here so imagine just planting these poers and thinking that’s what it’s going to look like in the near future that’s the that’s the good thing but such a lovely green Corridor this is a 20 minute ride this is guys so okay got another next to another Old Bridge on the canal there and then so it looks like the the path at the side of the canal tow is basically popular lined you can see over to the um right hand side there’s a few there’s a few um boats that are Bo um M up this is a this is such a really nice pathway through here and it’s not like I’m ring down the toe path because that’s at the side here this is a whole new foot path at the side of the uh turn warning so it’s giving us the advanced warning of a left turn so and what I’ve done here is I’ve set the um the Google Map for um for cycling which is an option that you can do or you can set it to water whichever’s easiest for you turn left and turn right so another another Old Bridge there look and then it’s telling us to do a left here so it looks like we’re coming off the pathway now and we’re coming it does take a second for Google to catch up with you turn right okay so and Milton King is supposed to be renowned for its it’s it’s meant to be renowned for its um Redway and you being able to get somewhere this is a bit of an unorthodox rout it’s nice it’s a blossom lined 15 y turn left some nice houses down here some nice you can just see the architecture of BU keys the houses just left then turn right everything you know everything is different so here’s one of the red ways now so it’s basically telling me um it’s a bit confusing this one so it looks like I have got a path Crossing but it’s asking me to go yeah it’s asking me to cross over the road yeah and then travel up this side of the road turn right in a quarter of a mile turn right The Greenery is really really nice isn’t it and this is true really the only way to see Milton Kings is to jump on a bike now my rout on Google Maps is a little bit wobbly now so I think it’s just taking me over yeah it’s just splitting up splitting up here and there a sort of Old Village style here there an Old Village style here but actually it’s not it’s it’s not an Old Village but it’s an old house over there so look at it they’ve almost integrated the old seamlessly with the new I mean look at these beautiful houses here lovely chuda style hoses turn right okay and it’s saying I’ve got a right turn now y I’m backing another path so it’s been pretty good so far okay and one thing about Milton ke if you have got a motor home plenty of parking there was another carpt there just so now I’m on another foot path now in 300 yards turn left and it looks like I’m about to go under a major road now now I’m in eco mode on the bike on the electric bike um which is good because um m means it’s it’s pretty flat I mean it’s slight it slopes slightly to the um to the South so I’m going under one of the main roads and it looks like I’ve from Google Maps now I’m coming into quite a green area now and it is it’s nice isn’t it you see there’s another sort of M over there and a car park have you noticed how this path used to be a road look at the line markings turn left then turn right okay so I got a left turn coming in now so as I said in the video we are heading toward cder car okay so it’s saying I’ve got a left turn here now so let’s go in take that left turn we going to go across the C do we turn right then slide left then it’s got the right is saying I don’t want that right I want this one here slide left okay okay this is literally in the countryside now and it’s signposted just the Riverside walk okay course a mile continue on to National cycle Route 51 yeah so you’re doing that me just look at this look at this lovely Meadow here look okay so this is what we call a grazing that’s a grazing area right so let’s see how easy these are going yeah for sheep gring so believe it or not that Milton King what Milton King actually allow sheep grazing in their areas so we’re actually in an area called Ron under green which is an older part of an older part of Milton key tree that’s falling down there now it looks like we’re sticking to the to the right here yeah you can see here look we’re in Milton Kings and and we’ve got sheep actually we’re in Milton keys and we’ve actually got sheep grz in here look but also a lot a lot of sheep on the uh a lot of sheep so we’ll have to get that off the tires before we go any further got the other gate so you know there’s a lot of trust on these on people here so this is Warton Penfield okay okay let’s go okay hopefully these Gates lock themselves yes they do clever a little Pond to the left of me there roten on the green look at it it’s like almost like cycling through a stately home the grounds of a stately home let’s clean the wheels [Music] off so it looks like these fields are all sort of compartment tized lovely little BL coming across here look the Landscaping is absolutely is first class you would not think we’re in a [Music] [Applause] [Music] city [Music] does look like we’ve got a river at the side of his [Music] now so most of Milton ke’s Parks uh R are sort of looked after by a kind of Charity if you like called The Parks trust and they manage a dedicated company to manage the well-being of the that milon King’s Parks I mean seriously we’ve literally just seen a few houses haven’t we we come through that street but nothing now but we are definitely at the side of the river River and you can imagine this River just being in the middle of nowhere I can hear Civilization now I can hear the rumbling of the road and that’s the thing about builing Keat it’s built in grid squares so they’ve almost squared each area off we have a catle grid there for [Music] bikes there we go we got a main road here it’s funny how they built the bridges of Milton King’s really low kind of almost claustrophobic if you [Music] like okay so we’re longside the river Now Yep this looks correct now it wasn’t that clear at that Junction and bear in mind I know a bit of milting keys but I don’t know all of it you know what I mean um so I am at the side of the river now and there is some civilization this side look some buildings in 200 y slide right to stay on National cycle Route 51 yeah so we asked staying on the cycle routee 51 beautiful along here with this brook or river whatever it is now the road is noisy against the see you and this cup is particularly to stay on National cycle Route 51 this is particularly bumpy so it’s this is the usle valley Park okay so we assuming that’s the river o That’s the side of us now in a quarter of a mile turn right now I want to take in this um this ride in early May so you can start to see some color appearing I tell you what it it just feels like riding in the countryside it’s it’s hard to I’m on one of the red ways now look see so much wider path distinctively red in color and these are the main the main um cycle highways through Milton Kings so these would connect particular areas on right next to the river now turn right and take the right so as I said we’re off the C cut l in a qu of a mile turn right saying we’re 10 minutes away on the side of the river rooms look really made use of this River in terms of the [Music] Landscaping [Music] [Music] well I’ve just seen the signs for cicott Lake and who have thought we are in the middle of a hustling bustling City such as Milton keing now I think they say don’t they that Milton keing is red for the concrete codes well rest the sh in the field to the left I’ve just seen some real cows so it’s not all concrete Cows as we leave the Realms of Ron Park we now come into the area of Simpson and look at this lovely Old Bridge here these little tiny relics of the past are just left behind now we’re going to go into [Music] calicot [Music] welcome to the north edge of cot Lake and you can see these amazing flood defense um structures coming up here um and the dam to the left hand side but this is quite a structure this is and the job of cicott is to basically balance the water um from the usel valley which runs just down on the right hand side a little bit further down but the name cicott comes from the word it means cold Cottage okay and cot Lake just sits near the Northampton to London Road or the old 1700s um route and it’s actually to Lakes but join together and it covers an area of 70 Acres it is absolutely huge it was designed by Digby Woods of angli and water and the landscape AR from Milton King’s Development Corporation was herard Mitchell and it’s got a depth around about 12 feet in depths which not major but if you can see on the right hand side now you can see further flood defenses here and this is where the um cicott Lake meets the river ooze now an interesting thing is um the impressive balancing structure that they’ve got here they’ve got two gates so basically it’s um designed in such a way that you can see the river coming here so the lake is always letting out water into the river so it’s a certain amount a controlled amount but when there’s a big big big flood on they can pull these um huge big gates up which you can see on this side these huge big slle Gates here which are operated automatically and that stops the flow of the water going in and out of the um of cicott lake so it’s quite an impressive [Music] structure [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] just coming into view on the right hand side is the old windmill at calicot now this is absolutely beautiful a real example of a great oldfashioned looking bar but it’s a pub um and uh a Travel Lodge as well so it’s got a lot going for it this it’s a beautiful um little structure and if you actually look around the front of it you can actually see the original sails around there they’re not on the building but I think they’re lying on the [Music] ground so going back to what I said earlier these actually are two Lakes but they are linked together and we’re about to go under the h10 road and that’s Blum way and um you can see this is just another bridge and this brings us into the set [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Lake [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] cot Lake was actually built in the 1970s and it was completed in 1973 and during the construction of this Reservoir a iosaur which is a um swimming sea creature was found and this iosaur was 150 million years old and it’s now in the Milton Kings Library [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] we’re just starting to come into the residential area of cyot and over to the right hand side there is um a few little businesses there well actually it’s a full-size business part there’s more than a few businesses and this will bring us nicely into the residential [Music] [Applause] housing these beautiful houses and apartment sit in a cresant around the bottom end of cicott lake and if you wanted to own one of these properties you’re looking at a cool 900,000 to own them this is quite a Swanky [Music] area [Music] so here is another part of the development you can see there’s beautiful apartments and also these kind of Regency style tow houses this is a real sort of jewel in the crown of Milton keing and it sits almost seamlessly next to the business [Music] park [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] well now we make our way right the way around the lake to the finish line and it just goes to show how big this Lake actually [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] well I hope you enjoyed that trip through Milton keing it’s interesting isn’t it we only crossed two roads that’s really good but it felt like we were in the country most of the time and we’ve got to enjoy this beautiful Lake and the Beautiful route to get to it if you want to see more in this Milton King series there will be future videos coming up so look out for it in the meantime click that subscribe button and the notification Bell and we will be back very soon thank you for watching monumental