A Yorkshire-promoting business organization has commissioned a Scotland-based German cycle routes designer to create a series of new cycle routes for launch next year. The Yorkshire Coast Destination Business Improvement District, or BID, selected Markus Stitz to design the new routes for the organization’s Route YC project, an existing platform encouraging tourism in and around Yorkshire’s coast.
Stitz lives in Scotland and usually creates and promotes cycle routes for Scottish tourist boards. He is author of cycling guidebooks and was the first person to cycle around the world on a single-speed bicycle.
“I was approached by Tom Campbell, who designed the [Scottish] North Coast 500 [driving and cycling long-distance route] and who was working for Route YC,” said Stitz.
“This has been a blank canvas for me.”
The Route YC cycling routes, launching in January 2024, will range from 89 to 260 miles in length and have been designed to help visitors of all abilities explore the Yorkshire coast and countryside on gravel, touring, and road bikes.
The main circular route will start and finish in Scarborough and is suitable for gravel bikes. Several day trips will begin in the Yorkshire coast towns of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, Hornsea, and Withernsea, and the North York Moors village of Grosmont.
The collection of routes is completed by a bikepacking weekender route starting in Whitby and a cycle touring route from the ferry terminal in Hull to Staithes.
Stitz has been shooting a promotional film for the launch with fellow adventure cyclists Mark Beaumont and Jenny Graham, both record-holders for cycling around the world.
CEO of Route YC Kerry Carruthers said: “As part of our new cycling campaign for 2024, we’ll encourage visitors to think about more sustainable and eco-friendly ways to travel and enjoy the best local food and drink along the way.”
Route YC works with over 250 tourism leisure and hospitality business members, local community groups, and industry partners across Yorkshire to help extend the season and bring visitors to the area to boost the local economy.
One of the hotels that will feature in the campaign is the Bike & Boot of Scarborough, which specializes in welcoming cyclists. It has a secure bike lock-up and a dedicated bike washing station.
The routes designed by Stitz — using existing rights of way, including the Scarborough to Whitby Cinder Track, a 24-mile cycle and walking route on a former railway line — start and end in locations plugged into the local train network.
“It’s super important to have access to public transport,” said Stitz.
“Before I designed any routes, I looked at how people could get here by train.”
It’s a short train ride from Whitby and Scarborough rail stations to the East Coast Mainline and LNER trains to the north and south of the UK and the rest of the rail network.
Route YC is funded and managed by Yorkshire Coast BID, which is a private, not-for-profit company governed by a board of volunteer directors.
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