King Alfred's Way

[Cathryn]

may take you up on that - i have a vague plan to do it soon before it gets spoiled - maybe late september/early october, mainly freecamping.

You can freecamp in our garden as long as it’s covid safe!

 

[Blue Hills]

may take you up on that - i have a vague plan to do it soon before it gets spoiled - maybe late september/early october, mainly freecamping.

Thanks for the like on the proposal @Cathryn but have reluctantly decided that this will have to wait until next year - nights closing in, have no probs with temperature but don"t fancy turning in very early in the cycling day with long nights to lie through.

 

[Blue Hills]

You can freecamp in our garden as long as it’s covid safe!

Ah, working through the thread, just seen. May very well take you up on THIS one - roll on spring.

 

[argdraw]

I am planning on doing most of the route starting 12th October from Petersfield I got the guide book today the first 90 pages are historical text, and 12 full page pictures, pages 96-120 are what appear to be 1.25k OS maps (no scale or north indication) each page is a different orientation and even knowing bits of the route I cannot work out how they the maps join together. Lots of effort gone into it, but I wont bother carrying it as useless without another map to know where you are.

 

[figbat]

Good luck! The forecast is for rain pretty much constantly from now until then - the Ridgeway will be tricky. You may get away with it if there hasn’t been much footfall on the wet ground, but it’ll still be slick over the chalky sections. Take it easy and enjoy if you can.

 

[Cathryn]

I am planning on doing most of the route starting 12th October from Petersfield I got the guide book today the first 90 pages are historical text, and 12 full page pictures, pages 96-120 are what appear to be 1.25k OS maps (no scale or north indication) each page is a different orientation and even knowing bits of the route I cannot work out how they the maps join together. Lots of effort gone into it, but I wont bother carrying it as useless without another map to know where you are.

I ran the Clarendon Half Marathon yesterday - it was an absolute mudbath. The Clarendon Way makes up the stretch from Winchester to Salisbury. It will be slippery.

 

[albal]

Forced to abort after a day. Wrong bike choice, + long cold nights in tent. I'll return with bike I did the Wessex Ridgeway on in spring.

 

[Blue Hills]

Forced to abort after a day. Wrong bike choice, + long cold nights in tent. I'll return with bike I did the Wessex Ridgeway on in spring.

soorry - being lazy - did you post upthread which bike?
Can you say more about why it was the wrong choice?
I too decided to leave it for this year because of the short days which would severely limit riding time, especially with the time it takes faffy me to make and break camp. I may still do some mini adventures though where riding time is not so important and I can just hole up for the long night or two with some good ebooks.

 

[albal]

Took a modern gravel bike with spd's. 700c x40 tyres . Not good enough .My 1989 atb 26".with double sided pedals and wide wobbly tyres would suit it fine.

 

[Blue Hills]

Took a modern gravel bike with spd's. 700c x40 tyres . Not good enough .My 1989 atb 26".with double sided pedals and wide wobbly tyres would suit it fine.

by double sided you mean flats/non clipless?

 

[matticus]

Forced to abort after a day. Wrong bike choice, + long cold nights in tent. I'll return with bike I did the Wessex Ridgeway on in spring.

I don't have the source to hand - i suspect it was somewhere on Facebook - but people in the know* are saying this route would be no fun at all in the wet without proper big/knobbly tyres. I think that's put me right off!
(didn't surprise me, as I've ridden most of the western ridgeway. Some bits are nice, when dry.)


*Including someone who helped CUK with setup/road-testing.

 

[albal]

Yes, full knobbly yes, even they would get covered in mud making it tough to gain traction in a tiny part I was riding anyway. Forget mudguards as well. I'll use knobbly tyres. When I did the South downs way I carried slicks, swapping them out in Eastbourne for the ride home on road. Think I ditched x1 tyre as it was well worn.
Pedals were dual sided, sorry should of said that before. Spd's used occasionally.

 

[itboffin]

Took a modern gravel bike with spd's. 700c x40 tyres . Not good enough .My 1989 atb 26".with double sided pedals and wide wobbly tyres would suit it fine.

I cant vouch for the entire route but you're absolutely correct on the MTB with wide tyres for at least the Ridgeway section, there's far too many potholes, ruts and slippery clay/chalk for anything else, I've ridden it on a CX bike it was a very unpleasant day out, mind you i've ridden it one year when we had 12 foot snow drifts now that was a blast. Slow as well

 

[itboffin]

 

[johnblack]

I did the South Downs Way in the summer and I know that this shares some of the same route. There is no way I'd want to do it on anything other than a 29er.