London to Portsmouth / East Wittering, ever done it?

Hi all, i'm off camping this weekend near East Wittering (PO20 8PJ) and I can't decide between heading down on my fixed wheel and heading down on my motorbike... Its about 75 miles from me(Dulwich), anyone attempted it before? Sound like a good/bad/terrible/legburning idea?

Chris

It will take you much of the day, but perfectly possible.

How will you be carrying all your stuff?

You could always cycle one way and take the train back or only cycle part of the way back and get on a train.

I'll have mates going down in a car, so they can take my kit then camping for 2 days and train/cycle back......

Motorbiking down in also appealing though.......

Could be quite hilly as you are going over the south downs. Why not train down to Guilford or something then ride the best bits.

By the way what motorbike you got?

There's a bunch of people doing a Friday night ride down that way, you might want to join them:

http://bikereader.com/forum/index.php?topic=32290.0

Hmmm I am thinking that those hilly south downs might turn out to be a bit of a pain..............

the start of my french trip last summer was the ride down to portsmouth out of london via chichester set of about 11.30 got there about sun down in august 94.8 miles time 7hrs 06min taken from my cat eye which i think is pretty close. beautiful roads all around goodwood and the road from the a3 that goes down to a272 petersfield / midhurst ish i think great journey nice pub lunch and a pint or two

yeah im from petersfield,i would recomend the pubs.....but they tend to fill up with a bunch of tossers quite quickly. im concidering riding that, when my fixie's complete

I've ridden to Havant and back quite a few times, the fastest I did it was 4.5 hours from Brixton, hills aren't too bad if you go near Petersfield you'll probably only have to go over no more than one biggish hill......Nice ride, beautiful countryside, but don't rate Witterings much as a destination!...I used to "surf" there....I say surf....more like I used to ride a surfboard on lines of windswept mush.

that's 4.5 hours one way!

make it South harting Hill if you want a tough one....the Tour de France went over it last time it was in UK....it's quite steep, but not that long.....the descent is really nice and long, you'll be halfway between Petersfield and Chichester before you know it..

Anyone willing to comment on how good a route this is for Portsmouth on a fully loaded bike (catching evening ferry)

[ame]http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/London-to-Bilbao-Part-1-London-to-Portsmouth[/ame

It appears to be having you on the A3 after Petersfield, that should be avoided to say the least, high speed dual carridge way with no safe cycling space.

The route to Petersfield looks good in my 'unknowledged of the area' eyes, Once you get to Petersfield, I'd recommend heading west to East Meon, then down to clanfield then back on that purple line from Clanfield and you're set.

Like this :

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=petersfield&daddr=East+Meon+to:Clanfield&hl=en&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=19.123242,39.506836&geocode=FdVECgMdzL_x_ymD4ggxijV0SDHYwQ-pqML7eg%3BFZAhCgMd60Dw_ymBs-udrDh0SDEjD6bDo8UmJw%3BFYBcCQMdEMDw_yldCvLUkEZ0SDE5zJdo4VuVmg&vpsrc=0&mra=ls&t=m&z=13

The other alterative is to head down through South Harting / Compton / West Marden and then through Havant then along the marshes.

King Saxlingham's road West from Petersfield isn't much fun - narrow and fast with heavy traffic. Much better to go south on B2070 which is wide and lightly used thanks to the A3 parallel to it, then make your way along the quieter roads into the Meon valley. If you want more miles and fewer hills then go East Meon, West Meon and on down the Meon valley to Fareham. But you really should climb both the South Downs and Portsdown hill. King Saxlingham's route goes over a wooded bit of the south downs so you miss the view. I'd climb Butser hill, because it's amazing, then take the back roads up onto Portsdown hill, like this: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Dragon+St&daddr=50.99594,-0.94482+to:50.9868065,-0.9688373+to:50.9766455,-0.9985251+to:50.9430984,-1.0106598+to:Lovedean+Ln+to:50.8836039,-1.0760698+to:Portsdown+Hill+Rd%2FB2177&hl=en&ll=50.994851,-0.943108&spn=0.046404,0.087461&sll=50.936364,-0.996494&sspn=0.046462,0.087461&geocode=Fe5ACgMdpr3x_w%3BFeQiCgMdTJXx_ynxw9Sx70d0SDG3o_SbrmGdQg%3BFTb_CQMdezfx_yl7ebh5n0d0SDEvdKQIZG19eg%3BFYXXCQMdg8Pw_ylHhIG1Ikd0SDGV58bD39JZDg%3BFXpUCQMdHZTw_ymHBVZut0Z0SDHgHoqtLa4OEw%3BFTToCAMdck3w_w%3BFRNsCAMdm5Tv_ykZ_JZnVkJ0SDHzCzqvp3N-VQ%3BFWj9BwMdj4Xv_w&t=p&mra=dpe&mrsp=4&sz=14&via=1,2,3,4,6&z=14 (point B is where you turn right at the 'Bird in Hand' pub)

Will you be fixed or geared? and how will you be navigating?

yer i did it about 2 weeks ago. i cycled from Ipswich to Plymouth in 6 days with one rest day. it was a hell of a long way and the A3 from Guildford onward is miserable! especially in the rain i stayed the night at hazlemere and then went onto Bournemouth the next day and after that exeter then thurlstone and finally Plymouth.single speed for 6 days is a silly idea and the south downs are a bitch, although some of the views and the senses of achievement were amazing!

buriton, finchedean, rowlands castle (best place name in UK, there is no castle) is the prettiest, recommended.....does leave you with the main road through Leigh Park council estate though!

Your route out of london to Shere looks fast but not so much fun. Here's a route makes getting out of london a bit more interesting and avoids hills. The countryside from Cranleigh to Midurst is a bit boring though.

If you do want to go via Haslemere, here's a prettier route that follows a Surrey Cycle Route from Shere to Haslemere. There's a cycle path along the section of the A3 from Liphook to Longmoor camp, and another little section that allows you to avoid Liss a little further on. That should be all the A3 you ever want.

i,m not gunna lie but the cycle routes along the side of the A3 are rubbish! they have so many potholes and loads of pedals and thorns you have to go at like 3 miles an hour. there is a really nice b road from haslemere through liphook past liss and into petersfield.

Good luck with that!

I found those cycle paths noisy, but otherwise not too bad. The sections of B road you mention are smooth and direct, but quite narrow with fast traffic which tends to spoil my enjoyment so i prefer to meander along back roads, and those paths connect them up quite well. But then i also go out of my way for extra hills and don't have a ferry to catch.

So anyway, here's one that takes your point, goes through the nice rolling hills south east of Godalming, and takes Winston's route through Buriton and Rowlands Castle (which i agree is really nice).

There's a nice climb out of buriton, short and sharp, used to do it a lot on my MTB after coming down the super fun track out the back of QE. Worth a stop at Buriton for the duck pond and a nosey round the church.

Are you local Moth?

No. My mum lives near Waterlooville, so i've explored the area a bit and ridden back and forth a few times (though never at anything like Winston's pace).

Thanks everyone for your advice...v gratefully received