This ride takes you up the eastern side of England, effectively travelling about half the length of the “longer” edge of the country. The “crow flies” distance is over half that of London to Edinburgh.
I rode this route in 24 hours (including stops) in April 2017 as an “Easter Arrow” (see http://www.aukweb.net/events/arrows/) as a member of an ad hoc team, The Penitents. But this route would make an excellent two or three day trip at a more relaxed pace.
The route passes through Cambridge and Boston. There is a section on the Water Rail Way, a cycle path next to the River Witham which brings you within sight of Lincoln Cathedral, before the route heads north to cross the Humber Bridge. The final section stays on the flat terrain of the Vale of York, crossing the River Derwent from the East Riding into North Yorkshire.
It will be no shock that the section through the fens registers just 37m of climbing in 100km of riding. But the rest of the ride is surprisingly flat, too. There is some rolling countryside around the Herts-Essex-Cambs border then after that only one hill of any note, just south of the Humber bridge. This can get a bit relentless as the respite from pedalling offered by descents is missing.
The route has a great cathedral at the start and finish points – making the ride from “Westminster to York Minster”.
The following PDF file gives an overview of the route.
London to York – Overview – LBR – v1
The route itself is described in “Audax” notation – the file below has a key to the notation then four pages of route instructions.
And here is a GPX (large file – about 6Mb) of the whole ride, as ridden on Good Friday 2017.
London_to_York_in_24hrs_Westminster_to_York_Minster_Audax_UK_Easter_Arrow