York Solar System Trail

This cycle path, stretching for 6.4 miles along a disused train line from the outskirts of York to the nearby village of Riccall, features a to-scale model of the solar system.

While biking down this scenic path, cyclists will notice planets of our solar system represent. Uniquely, the distances between each planet are on a scale of 575,872,239:1. This means that walking faster than the speed of light along the path is a breeze, and a cycle will get you to around 10 times the speed of light.

Each of the planets has a small stand with some information about the planets and the distance (in 1000s of miles as well as the usual 100s of meters) to the next one. The cycle path was built in the mid-1980s as the first part of the now extensive National Cycle Network by Sustrans, although the Solar system model was not built until 1999, with the stands for the planets being made from old sewer pipes.

The cycle path features not only the scale model of the solar system but scale models of the Cassini and Voyager spacecraft as well as a sculpture by a local artist perched atop a steam-powered swing bridge and a grass maze. The York Solar System Trail is perhaps the only place on earth to bike through space.