Bike tour in of the southwest uk

Dihnekis

I'm going to stay with family in Sherborne for about 10 days, and I was thinking about taking 5-6 days to bike around the countryside.

Can anyone give me some advice regarding riding on the roads in the UK, and staying in hostels? I'm 21, male, from Florida,USA, and I bike to class every day (7 miles) and I'm in pretty good overall shape. I'm not sure what kind of bike I'm going to have access to, but it should be at least decent. So far I was planning on maybe doing one of the big biking trails, like the West Country Way or something. I've never done anything like this so just overall general tips would be excellent. So far all I've thought of bringing was bike lights, spare tubes, good biking shorts, and a lock.

Also, if anyone has recommendations of stuff to do in that area that would be great too. I've been to England once before.

andymiller

Something like the West Country way sounds like a good idea. My top tip for route planning would be avoid A roads if you can. Oh and don't drink too much 'scrumpy' and avoid 'snakebite'.

Thomas the Tank Engine

If you have a look on bikely.com and enter Sherborne , there a few routes posted by members for you to look at.....

I live in Bournemouth and cycle out that way sometimes as there are some really typically English villages in Dorset....Milton Abbas (south) , Fifehead Magdalen (East ) and my favourite lunch stop at Stourton Caundle (south east).

Happy biking

nicktheluddite

add to your kit list cycling mitts. Don't use a rucksack to carry your stuff - your back will hurt by the end of the day and get really sweaty. Borrow a pannier or put stuff in a waterproof drybag and bungee it to pannier rack.
Sustrans website www.sustrans.org will show you UK National Cycle Network but the mapping is frustrating. www.opencyclemap.org is better, but it's open source so comes with health-warning over accurary. I've ridden along roads which aren't on opencyclemap.
Like previous post said, stay off A-roads (& obviously motorways!), they're no fun.
From Sherbourne you could head north to Bristol/Bath. Plenty of tourist stuff in Bath, Bristol is laid-back city. Two fairly easy days would get you there. Over Somerset levels (Glastonbury/Wells) for a bit of flat land so you feel at home.
Or could go west Quantocks/Exmoor/Dartmoor if you like hills.
Afraid I don't know anything useful about hostels.

andymiller

My recommendation (now that I know where Sherbourne is) would be to head south:

- Cerne Abbas giant
- Maiden castle
- Dorchester and Hardy country
- The Purbecks
- the Jurassic coast with gorgeous beaches and scenery

But you could probably make a 2-3 day loop of it and then do a 2-3 day loop headed north.

If you're interested in prehistory the area around Stonehenge and Avebury is amazing.

Probably the best online mapping is the Ordnance Survey mapping on multimap.com. this also shows the NCN bike routes.

trickeyja

If you are looking to stay in youth hostels, http://www.yha.org.uk/ is a good place to start. They provide a fairly good standard of accommodation - you generally share a room, with your own bed, bedding provided, towel hire available and shared facilities. There is normally a communal kitchen where you can cook for yourself- sometimes there are restaurants in the larger hostels. Often there is also a supply of communal food or at least basic things like sugar, spreads and conserves.

There are also a number of independent hostels in the UK, which can be found here: http://www.independenthostelguide.co.uk/ I recently stayed in Caerhafod Lodge, Pembrokeshire which was very good and in a fantastic location with a sea view. Hostels are generally reasonably priced from about £10-20 per night. One of the best things about staying in a hostel is meeting other like-minded adventurers.

If you have a bit more money to spare you could consider B&B'ing - these are usually £25-35 upwards and provide more hotel-like accommodation, but are run by local people. To find these just search for "bed and breakfast near x". You should get a room to yourself, although if you are travelling alone there may be a supplement. Facilities may be shared but the number of guests is usually smaller than in a hostel. You can expect a large traditional English breakfast to start the day, and sometimes an option of supper the night before, though you could always try a local pub.

Cycling on roads in the UK I would imagine is pretty similar to riding in the USA. The main differences are that it's on the other side of the road, and that there are many more roundabouts! I don't know how well maintained the roads will be compared with those in Florida. Generally, A and B roads are well surfaced, but unclassified roads vary and you would be doing well not to find a few potholes to avoid.

Best of luck with the trip, wherever you decide to go.

Dihnekis

Thanks for all the excellent replies everyone. I've been using google earth and clicking "avoid highways", but I'm not sure how dangerous these roads are going to be for me on a bike so I'd love if anyone has firsthand experience on them, and potential alternate routes. I definitely plan on picking up a road atlas (and maybe some OS maps?) as soon as I get to England, so I'll hopefully be able to find more backroads routes. Right now I'm doing the planning and so far this is what I've got. I've been unable to locate a map of the west country way, but I was wondering if I'd be able to purchase one at a store when I get to England.

Sherborne to Bath on the A359 - 42 miles
Bath to Street on the west country way - 40 miles
Street to Exeter on the west country way and then B3181 - 55 miles
Exeter to Bellever in Dartmoor on the B3212 - 25 miles
Bellever to Beer on A3052 - 50 miles
Beer to Litton Cheney on A3052 - 30 miles
Litton Cheney back to Sherborne on a 352 - 30 miles

I hope to avoid roads as big as the one's I've listed, and this is just a tentative plan. Any advice would be excellent! I will probably begin my journey on the 4th.

Also, I'm a history major at the university of central florida, and I am really interested in English history, especially Roman stuff (I've already done the roman baths - absolutely incredible!). Thanks again!

I've recently been advised to avoid the A roads as much as possible, so my goal is going to be finding alternate paths that parallel the main highways and don't add too many miles to the trip.

Going south is definitely an option, as this current plan isn't set in stone at all and I don't really have many actual plans in each village.

nicktheluddite

<http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/products/5049-ncn-the-west-country-way&gt; for the map you want.
history major - but you've already been to Roman baths in Bath? Salisbury has lots of old buildings, Stonehenge is a bit underwhelming IMO (overun with tourists) but the surrounding area is full of pre-Roman stuff. Avebury has a large stone circle - pretty impressive.
I find road atlas is only good for planning - generally the scale isn't good enough for navigation. You can look at maps in most public libraries - if you have time/desire to routeplan once you're here. OS Landranger 1:50,000 scale maps are detailed - but you'll probably cross a map a day so buying lots might get costly. If using these then stick to unclassified roads (yellow & white) and you'll be sure they're quiet. (1:25,000 are probably too detailed for cycle touring - show field boundaries etc). <http://www.goldeneyemaps.com/cycle.php&gt; are 1:100,000 but don't cover all of the area you want. <http://www.sustransshop.co.uk/by/category/1-maps--books&gt; do maps of particular long distance cycle paths which are generally all on quiet roads.
Sorry for length - I could write stacks about this but would get a bit dull.......

nicktheluddite

forgot to say, PM me if you want.