King Alfred's Way

[Moodyman]

Finished at 11.30 monday night, 3 days fully loaded with wild camping. 93 miles last day hence the late finish - the bit in the dark was probably the most exhilarating, although wish I had proper off road lights. Started from just below Chilton, Oxfordshire. Did it solo, if I was going around with friends I think 4-5 days would be nice to take in a few more of the sites - I was on a bit of a mission with limited time but was still great fun. Toughest bit mentally was probably the slightly monotonous Salisbury plains which got a bit repetitive in the heat of monday afternoons sun. Lots of fields, lots of red flags, maybe some of the expected tanks would have spiced it up... The rest was great, with a nice variety of landscape and rutted gnarly terrain.
Hankley Common was closed because of wildfires but may be open again now, found a simple detour to Devils Punchbowl

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That pic is enough to wet the appetite.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Finished at 11.30 monday night, 3 days fully loaded with wild camping. 93 miles last day hence the late finish - the bit in the dark was probably the most exhilarating, although wish I had proper off road lights. Started from just below Chilton, Oxfordshire. Did it solo, if I was going around with friends I think 4-5 days would be nice to take in a few more of the sites - I was on a bit of a mission with limited time but was still great fun. Toughest bit mentally was probably the slightly monotonous Salisbury plains which got a bit repetitive in the heat of monday afternoons sun. Lots of fields, lots of red flags, maybe some of the expected tanks would have spiced it up... The rest was great, with a nice variety of landscape and rutted gnarly terrain.
Hankley Common was closed because of wildfires but may be open again now, found a simple detour to Devils Punchbowl

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sounds great.
any pics of your wild camping?
Did you have any problems finding places?
Any encounters with fellow cyclists intent on wild camping?

 

[ade towell]

This is all I've got from Bramshott Common, no problem finding places at all. Only bumped into a few others who were doing the KAW but no othe r wild campers

 

[nickyboy]

The KAW Mean Machine has arrived

 

[HelenD123]

sounds great.
any pics of your wild camping?
Did you have any problems finding places?
Any encounters with fellow cyclists intent on wild camping?

These guys wildcamped the KAW

 

[nickyboy]

KAW completed. Took three and a half days

Very tough, much tougher than expected as weare not regular offroaders. We caught good weather so it was dry but not baking hot.

I would say that the marketing of this as a gravel bonanza is a misnomer, it is far better suited to a hard tail MTB. I would guess 90% of KAWers we saw rode gravel bikes. There are significant stretches unsuited to these and I suspect unrideable in wet conditions

 

[T4tomo]

I would say that the marketing of this as a gravel bonanza is a misnomer, it is far better suited to a hard tail MTB.

It uses a chunk of the South Downs Way, which I felt the same about - luckily we'd researched and took hard tail MTBs.

 

[johnblack]

It uses a chunk of the South Downs Way, which I felt the same about - luckily we'd researched and took hard tail MTBs.

Got to agree, no way I’d do the South Downs on a gravel bike.

I’ve also noticed it on a few organised off road rides I’ve done, advertised as suitable for gravel bikes, when it is patently obvious within 5 miles that you need a hard tail.

 

[T4tomo]

Got to agree, no way I’d do the South Downs on a gravel bike.

A few were when we did it, although I'd say MTBs were more a bit more prevalent: a variety of old fashioned 26" (incl us), 29ers and quite a few souped up E MTBs making light work of the climbs.

I believe the SDW section is one of the rougher bits of the KAW

 

[figbat]

KAW completed. Took three and a half days

Very tough, much tougher than expected as weare not regular offroaders. We caught good weather so it was dry but not baking hot.

I would say that the marketing of this as a gravel bonanza is a misnomer, it is far better suited to a hard tail MTB. I would guess 90% of KAWers we saw rode gravel bikes. There are significant stretches unsuited to these and I suspect unrideable in wet conditions
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Nice! You popped down to Wantage market square to meet the man himself too (I drove past that statue about an hour ago) - I always thought it odd that the published KAW route didn't formally include a visit to King Alfred! It's a bit of a climb to regain the Ridgeway from Wantage but there are plenty of options, on and off road.

 

[nickyboy]

Nice! You popped down to Wantage market square to meet the man himself too (I drove past that statue about an hour ago) - I always thought it odd that the published KAW route didn't formally include a visit to King Alfred! It's a bit of a climb to regain the Ridgeway from Wantage but there are plenty of options, on and off road.

Yes, finishing in West Hendred made the decision to drop off the Ridgeway to Wantage an easy one

 

[johnblack]

A few were when we did it, although I'd say MTBs were more a bit more prevalent: a variety of old fashioned 26" (incl us), 29ers and quite a few souped up E MTBs making light work of the climbs.

I believe the SDW section is one of the rougher bits of the KAW

I’m going to do KAW, take my time, plan for 3 days. Although I’m glad I did the SDW, I did it in one go, 10 hours, so didn’t get a chance to really appreciate it, was just a constant grind. If as you say it’s the roughest part then I’m happy with that.

 

[figbat]

I’m going to do KAW, take my time, plan for 3 days. Although I’m glad I did the SDW, I did it in one go, 10 hours, so didn’t get a chance to really appreciate it, was just a constant grind. If as you say it’s the roughest part then I’m happy with that.

I wouldn’t call 3 days taking my time! I’m considering it and plan for 4 days‘ riding, splitting it effectively into 4 quadrants.

 

[nickyboy]

I’m going to do KAW, take my time, plan for 3 days. Although I’m glad I did the SDW, I did it in one go, 10 hours, so didn’t get a chance to really appreciate it, was just a constant grind. If as you say it’s the roughest part then I’m happy with that.

I wouldn't say the SDW was the roughest part although it was the climbiest. There are plenty of rough sections near Devils Punchbowl and along much of the Ridgeway

We found the easiest section (by some way) to be from Amesbury (Stonehenge) to Avebury

 

[andy63]

sounds great.
any pics of your wild camping?
Did you have any problems finding places?
Any encounters with fellow cyclists intent on wild camping?

I did the kaw and cantii way in July during the start of the hot dry spell..
I did it on a hardtail fully loaded and camped on the way..
I found one of the best things about this route was the ease at finding places to camp..
It took me four and a half days to get round.. and I think I commented at the time , possibly on another forum that there are a good few parts that would imo be very difficult on a loaded bike in the wet .. terrain and navigation were much more of a challenge than the cantii way..
Anyways its pretty well been covered in all the posts on this thread so I'll just put some pictures up of my rig and nights stopovers..
I did it clockwise starting from just outside Winchester..

1st night

2nd

3rd

4th

Just remember if you choose to sleep in the woods it's not the bears you need to be worrying about.. its the pigeons 😂😂
But its all washed and clean again now ready for the next one..

Andy..