Cycling to Bristol from London

let us know how it goes! i'm doing london-Bris sunday/monday.

I've tried some of the NCN4 before and it can be quite slow going. Very pretty but lots of gates/fields/bridges/mud so difficult to get a rhythm going.

Enjoy! Everything past the M25 is glorious.

Hey! Looking to do this ride on Good Friday.

Any route based tips based on the below?

https://www.komoot.com/tour/722847121

Any thoughts or feelings on this route out to Brizzle?

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1262604527

this is the route we used to use for TNRC into Bath (pre-two-tunnels) https://www.strava.com/activities/134490111 it dips a little lower but the route is mostly flat and takes in some beautiful countryside.

I would recommend your route into Bath through the two tunnels if you haven't done it before but the canal tow path is fine on a dry day and takes your straight in from Monkton.

The canal towpath is very narrow for some stretches between Devices and Bradford on Avon. Perfectly cyclable but you might end up negotiating pedestrians, dogs etc.

That's my experience too. I'm no lover of surfaces that aren't tarmac anyways, but I found it very stop-start / get off and be over-polite to a big group of ramblers etc. Took bloody ages in high summer

Yep, the towpath and to some extent the bath-bristol cycle path will be busy during the school holidays. It will be more pleasant than the roads but it may be slow in places.

Thanks for advice @benjam @fabfurrymarmots @honk and @eskay

Years ago I got a train out to reading then rode to Aylesbury, Bradford on Avon to cheddar then up to Bristol.

Reading to Marlborough via Avebury also nice and can include ridgeway/explore all the long barrows.

Did the London to Bristol and it was lovely. The route has some gravel sections but majority was tarmac. Got rained on in the section between Bath and Bristol but by that stage I was in a paceline of sorts with another rider and a few raindrops weren't going to wipe the smile off.

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1262604527

Highlights included U. bakery in Crowthorne, bike park somewhere in Wiltshire, Persian takeaways in Newbury, riding through the North Wessex Downs, having local farmer in a Land Rover coming across me when I was all curled up in my sleeping bag (he was fine with it) and the tunnels between Bradford upon Avon and Bath. Would definitely recommend particularly with a weekend as mild as last one