Bubwith to Market Weighton Rail Trail

29th January 2023

The Bubwith to Market Weighton Rail Trail is bridleway on a disused railway line. It's mostly a single track mud path on the wide railway trackbed.

I found it a little bit heavy going in Winter, and you definitely need a mountain bike. I guess it would be firmer under your wheels in Summer.

Bubwith to Market Weighton Rail Trail: Map

The Plotaroute map above shows the route from Bubwith to Market Weighton and back. You can download a navigation file from Plotaroute.

Bubwith to Market Weighton Rail Trail: East Riding Council Leaflet

This is the East Riding of Yorkshire map leaflet for the ride.

Bubwith to Market Weighton Rail Trail: Route Notes

If arriving by car, you can park on the street (Breighton Road) in Bubwith.

Once you've found the start of the Rail Trail, there's not much navigation to do, because the railway trackbed is dead straight and level, and the path obvious and easy to follow.

The Rail Trail isn't the most interesting cycle route. As you might guess there are no ups and downs, nor any spectacular views. The only curiosities to see are the platforms of the old railway stations.

I did encounter plenty of wildlife on my ride. I heard a woodpecker drumming, and I saw a lot of small birds, two buzzards (or possibly one buzzard twice), and a fox.

I didn't see many other people on bikes on the Rail Trail, but near the villages there were quite a few people in wellies walking dogs.

When you get to the A614, that's the end of the Rail Trail, with no reasonable way of reaching Market Weighton itself.

Return Route

You can simply turn round and go back they way you came.

If you fancy doing something slightly different on the way back, you could do a little loop via Everingham and Seaton Ross to get back to the Rail Trail at Allberries (just east of Foggathorpe).

Back in Bubwith, the trackbed continues west to the river Derwent. This is a nature reserve called Dingle Dell.

There's a footpath, not a bridleway. It's worth doing the short walk to the Derwent, where there must once have been a railway bridge over the river.

Bubwith to Market Weighton Rail Trail: Comments and Suggestions

1) Surface the path properly

A railway trackbed is a huge asset that could be used far more than it is. It has just been left as is, but you could put in a path with a 3m-wide sealed surface and make it rideable on any type of bike at any time of year.

Alternatively, if there are complaints about the prospect of tarmac, use a modern surface like Flexi-Pave.

For most of the length of the Rail Trail, there is so much width that you could put in a 3m-wide path and still leave plenty of softer ground for horses, and any humans who prefer to walk on mud.

2) Provide Crossings of the Busy Roads

There should be signal-controlled crossings of the B1228 and the A163.

3) Provide a Link to Market Weighton

The Rail Trail comes to a dead stop at the A614.

Obviously there should be a link to Market Weighton. It would make the Rail Trail so much more attractive as a leisure route if it led to a destination, with cafés.

Some local people from Bubwith and Holme-on-Spalding-Moor might also go to Market Weighton by bike, given good quality facilities.

Ideally, the old railway route to Market Weighton would be revived.

As a second best, a path could be provided alongside the A614 then by Market Weighton Road.

4) Incorporate the Rail Trail into a Cycle Network

The authority here is East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and they have a shocking attitude to active travel.

With an enlightened local authority, there would be huge potential to develop a cycle network, probably largely for tourism and cycle touring. That would help bring money into the rural economy.

The potential links include:

• from Bubwith west to Barlby and Selby. That would join the route up to the York-Selby Solar System cycle route
• from the east end of the Rail Trail to Market Weighton
• from Market Weighton north east to Driffield along the disused Market Weighton to Driffield railway