King Alfred Way

Not a map as such...
https://www.roughrideguide.co.uk/King-Alfred-Way-accommodation-guide

KAW. Best avoided after the recent rain-a-thon? It would be daft to set off Thursday morning, right?

Look at the resources map

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1oWVjQK_wRcOmlrOGriD9Xa8mZZaJW965&ll=51.2715918989906%2C-1.351163999999998&z=9

I rode it Friday/Saturday/Sunday and there only occasional patches that were very wet. The ridgeway was actually dry.

The sand in the easterly half of the route was a drive train killer though. I started from Goring and to beg to use a saw mill's hose to clean the chain and mech after about 4 hours of riding .

General route is great. When I do it again, I will just go straight through the centre of Reading, rather than following the route proper.

Oh and one definite downside of the rain/sun we've been having. Nettles and brambles are all encroaching heavily on the trails. My arms were buzzing by the end of each day

any photos?

Thanks Ben. That's useful. The plan is to head anticlockwise from Reading where my brother lives. So we'd hit the drivetrain wrecking zone late in the ride. I've ridden the area you're talking about and it's very sandy.

There's talk of cancelling the trip due to all the rain recently, but you'd have had similar last weekend and clearly survived so maybe we just need to grow a pair and get on with it.

It’s not the KAW, but I rode with @Chalfie from London to Canterbury at the weekend on the Pilgrim’s Way. There were a few wet sections, but overall it was fine.

I'd say just crack on and ride. I'd probably take my supercaliber next time, but would strip and regrease all the pivot bolts afterwards.

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My arms were buzzing by the end of each day

I know this pain all too well, did it with 800mm wide bars. Quite a few paths where my hands and arms got stung and sliced to fuck by nettles and thorns :S

Yep. It might even be fun to do it from Canterbury, but then you'd have to settle for shit fish and chips.

On a cargo bike! Epic!

Weather looks decent in the pics, but I'm sure you had your fair share of showers.

It was spot on. I had maybe 10 min of rain the whole time. Somehow

Lucky, you could have carried waay more lux camping kit on that!

On the train back into London now and the second half (anything beyond Hindhead) is pure shitfromabutt. I've ridden in that part of the world a few times last winter and this was much worse. If the sun blazes for 3 or 4 days you might be OK though. First half was great, a few puddles and quite greasy in places but lots of lovely views.

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Er, thanks, I think!

That looks sub prime. Haha.

Nice one for completing it is far from perfect conditions.

I was riding with @leggy_blonde and say crack on! It’s great fun! Just sketch out some road options between Hindhead and Winchester. If you’re carrying camp gear dropping in and out between the SDW and roads when it’s sloppy is achievement enough. And if it dries out all the better. More pictures!

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Looks awesome. Looking forward to it now. Thanks.

We did day 3 (out of 4) today, near Swindon to Near Hook. Muddy bits were muddy but everything else drained fairly well (thou was a bit slippy). Bring capable tyres.

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Thanks to everyone who encouraged us to not bail out. Thursday/Friday were actually pretty pleasant with only occasional gloop. Yesterday from Winchester to Reading was a total shitfromabutt fest though. Didn't spoil a great trip. Did wreck some bike components.

My fave bit was seeing numerous couples riding in the opposite direction. The gravel bro on a suitable bike, with flannel shirt, tin mug hanging from the ample bike packing bags. His significant other with a face like thunder trying to drag a cheap looking hybrid with a tent loosely strapped to it through the BB deep gloop. Hope they've all got sturdy relationships.

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Looks excellent!

Looks great! We did this last week, Sunday to Wednesday. Weather was so so but overall good fun. Loved the variety in trails.

Best bit was when we found ourselves in the middle of ~15 tanks on their way back to base (i assume) after a training exercise on Salisbury Plains. It was a weird "I think we're allowed to be here? This is still a bridleway right?" moment as we waved to the next tank we passed. Wanted to get a better photo, but wasn't sure how they'd react!

DAS!

We just finished day two of five (Tilsbury to Wantage) traveling with tents but no cook ware and we're getting melted. Neither of us are the most gifted bike handlers but I thought we were on relatively capable bikes with larger than 2.0 tyres. Spend half the day nervously riding ruts, the rest of the time picking through mud. Big kudos to the people smashing around on cargo bikes and rim brake 26ers.