King Alfred Way

Anyone done this then?

Thinking of doing it as a 4/5 day trip.
Plenty of bivy / camp spots on route and not too far from civilisation if everything goes bad.

Gravel bike friendly but as always - probably better on an MTB.

. 360km / 223 miles
. 3736m / 12257ft Climbing.
. Links with SDW / Thames Path / NDW / Ridegway
. History and that.

Route

Have not fully checked the route yet - this I think is a draft I knicked off someone.

Looks good.

Edit:

TLDR:

Please go ride this route instead which is much better.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33393196

Doesn’t go to Wantage where was born or Chippenham where he got mugged at Xmas dinner. Athelney where he hid out and might have burnt some cakes or even Eddington where he merked Guthrum.

Nice ride though

nice, hadn't heard of this one before
is it clockwise or anticlockwise?
checking on WTP it has a good chunk of singletrack so will be fun, definitely one for the MTB
count me in, I guess

long read, but interesting
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e1971793333e41a8a6d32327b2722057

As a result, the trail is within easy reach (1 hour travel time) of somewhere in the region of 17 million people. We therefore believe that the overall offering, and value, of this trail for both rural tourism and the promotion of health and wellbeing via exposure to nature to be immense.

:)

I was raised in Wantage, aside from a pint at the Oak you’re not missing out on much. There’s a statue in the square and the local museum is an absolute must if you’re doing it for history reasons.
Grew up actually living on the ridgeway so ridden tons of stuff round there. Depending on weather it’ll either big gravel bike or mtb with mud tyres.
Chalk slime will eat your drivetrain in the end round there.

This has been launched today:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/king-alfreds-way

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/aug/28/like-cycling-through-history-220-mile-king-alfreds-way-launched

https://www.pannier.cc/journal/wessex-wanderings-bikepacking-king-alfreds-way/

Looking forward to doing this

I'm keen. Goes past my front door almost, in Reading. Not sure I could do it in less than 4 days though

Pending weather I'll be doing this some time between 17-24 October. Anyone is welcome to join.

This looks great. I'd love to make an attempt this year at least for half a loop. @pit over how many days were you thinking?

Aim for 4, but prepare for it to take 6.

this looks good I might tag along for a couple of days with you @pit and @ml1mark

I'd probably only have time to do half of the loop over a Saturday and Sunday, if anyone fancies that.

Train to Winchester > clockwise to Reading (200km over 2 days) > train to London

@mk1mark that could work for me. I've probably got a similar amount of time, just need to fit in with family stuff.

hi, went southampton to collect new bike. I wasnt decided on which way back to london.

Managed to cycle late saturday to winchester and started king alfred. my friend was old school touring fully loaded, we were not fast anti clock wise to franham. the few miles we have done, I would defo recommend that route! well signed, a huge variety of terrain, 90% off-road, barely any traffic.
cons: some little 1-2 miles detour to keep off road from the route, can often be shortened by half a mile on quiet country lanes. no tires less than 32, and lightweight luggages recomended.

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5 Attachments

Excitement intensifies

I’m eyeing this up as an adventure with my 15 year old daughter next summer. I’ll be interested to hear what sort of daily mileage people are doing on this terrain, as I was hoping we’d do it in 3 days, starting and ending in Reading with a B&B stop Friday and Saturday nights.

a good mate texted me about this last night. looks very interesting and I'd be keen to tackle it.

I guess a good 80km a day

Who knows, I might even join for the best bit on the weekend.

Spoiler alert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne4LbLl0qM8

time travel gravel

crap buzzwords thread

the man is very quotable..

When are you thinking of doing it? I could be keen to join, could take a Friday and Monday off work.