Cycling to Bristol from London

Mild with a good chance of rain I'd say.

good chance of rain

60%?

A bit of rain is not a problem. Im just worried about how cold it will be. +5 or +15.

If it's as low as 5 you'd be damned unlucky. If I'm riding any significant distance in April I'd have a jersey (poss longsleeve) and a packable soft shell / rain jersey. It's rarely too cold at the latter end of March.

I've done London - Bristol before. A lovely ride. But I'd highly recomend staying in Bristol overnight.

Trying to fit there and back in one day will be a mission and you won't have time to stop off anywhere and enjoy the route or Bristol itself for that matter.

Last time I cycled that route it took 5 1/2 hours with only a couple of 10 minute stops, full lycra, a road bike and no luggage.

If it's still open, The Full Moon is a good hostel with bike storage.

I'll ride there with you, if you're going on the friday? I'd probs train it back for work on saturday morning.

@ heythropbikepolosoc - Im actually planning on going on the 22'nd, thursday. I'm staying in Bristol for 2 days, will then head back to London for some bike polo with matt from cosmic.

I'm bringing a messenger bag. Or possibly a backpack. Not to huge, but enough to keep me going for the week im spending in UK. I'll see if i can find The Full Moon, sounds like a good place to stay at if they have bike storage.

Sounds a good idea, i may join you in that. I'll check closer to the time, are you riding it fixed/geared?

I will be going fixed. Sounds good, im buying my tickets today.
Is there any way chance of storing a bikebag at heathrow? If i choose to bring my bike in a hardshell?

I'll be riding geared, I'll PM you closer to the time to work out meeting points etc.

Sounds good! Speak soon. // Frank

Just stumbled across this thread, I'm planning on doing London/Bristol next week and stopping at a mates there overnight, if I'm feeling up to it I'll cycle back the next day... (probably won't!). Route wise - I'm trying to figure out whether to go road or cycle path, does anyone know what the A4/A420 is like for cyclists? I'm thinking keep it simple because my misadventures with country back roads usually end in the middle of nowhere in darkness!!

If navigation isn't your thing, the national cycle route 4 is signposted all the way. I've done the section from Bath to Bristol, it is cracking and I've been told the rest is okay. It'll be slower going than country roads but better than the A4. Admittedly I've only driven the A4 but I don't fancy riding it.

Back country roads would be my preference, but with a gps (I'm not old enough to remember paper maps).

I've just spoken to a mate who's ridden the A4 / A420 who said it was single carriageway mainly and it was alright to cycle on.

My work here is done, I hope I've confused you enough.

Thanks a lot for that, I'll probably do a section of the cycle path and then road. I'll let you know how I get on next week....

Did it today. For anyone thinking of doing it, synopsis as follows:
Went from North London, picked up the A4 at Slough, stayed on it to Bath, then took the cycle path from Bath to Bristol.
Up to Newbury the A4 is frustrating. Loads of traffic, busy motorway type roundabouts and constant stopping and starting at lights. After Newbury it's actually pretty pleasant. By the time I got to Hungerford and beyond it was great - scenic and quiet. Mostly single carriageway. The cycle path from Bath to Bristol was brilliant though, well better than the roads. If anyone is thinking about doing London/Bristol I'd say take the cycle path as much as possible.
There weren't any hills really, the whole route was pretty flat - I was expecting one or two killer hills coming into Bath but if you take the A4 you manage to avoid anything significant. Given the force 10 gale and monsoon rain today I was a bit relieved, but if I did it again I'd find one or two hills to climb just to spice it up a bit. You wouldn't need to look very hard around Bath either.

I was planning to do this later in the year. Thanks all for your thoughts

Anybody on a fixed ride Bristol to London in the next few weeks?

Resurrecting this - is there a generally followed route for London -> Bristol which is somewhere inbetween tiny back roads and bombing straight along an A road? Got the day off work on Friday to cycle down to the other half's place. I saw there was a forum ride from Farnborough a few years back, wondering if that's still the best option to cut out suburban London hell.

Who's done it recently?

I've done it down the A329/A327, the A4, then the A420 from Chippenham for a bit, diverting onto the Railway Path at the end (there's no really pleasant route into Bristol). Probably too many A-roads for your purposes.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/6040705

Here's a more back-laney route posted on here (Edit: just saw that's the Farnborough one you mentioned):

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/172373

Thanks - second route looks good. How did you find the A4? Still enjoyable or on the busy side? I'm not averse to A roads but would rather not have cars raring past every 30 seconds.

Much like @MuswellGreg's experience really. The first bit was busy, a lot of it was semi-suburban though so traffic speeds were a bit lower. It wasn't so bad in a group.

After Newbury it was very quiet and scenic, albeit the traffic you did encounter was much faster - lots of national limit sections IIRC. It was pleasant enough as A-roads go!

The second route does look a good one though (also 1000ft less climbing)

Did a ride to Brizzle the other weekend. Stuck to the A4 mostly. Not the prettiest route but nice and straightforward. Only scary/annoying bit it the serious accidents toll sign between Slough and reading reminding people of the 70 odd serious incidents happening on that stretch of road. Most of the A4 is alright, very few 60mph scary bits.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1114526903

Did this on Friday - was real good. Just a couple of stretches of busy road around Camberley, then B roads all the way, mostly completely quiet. Left London early and escaped all the morning traffic and sneaked into Bristol before rush hour. Brassknocker hill at the end was not doable after the mileage though, cut back onto the A road and went round into Bath. Would do again!

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/24294248

https://www.strava.com/activities/1139932620

Going to Bristol this Thursday, but giving myself 3 days for it ;D. Will do the easy NCN 4