Bristol to London

domcarr

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good Bristol to London (central) route with a decent place to stop midway? I'm doing it over 2 days and would prefer to avoid busy roads (I've heard mixed reviews about the A4!)

Thanks

redvee

K&A canal?

stubbo

this was a regular training route for me last year for the LEL, as i'm pretty central Bristol and the folks are in Kingston.

I always followed the A4 which meant i could cover the distance in a reasonable time, approx 7 to 9 hours. This time is very weather dependant as you generally get a strong either westerly or easterly... head or tail wind.

Might not be what you want for a two day excursion... However......

the route from Bristol to Bath is high usage dual carriage way but once you get the other side of Bath then the A4 is a really nice ride, not much traffic, nice country side all the way upto Newbury. You then get back into the traffic for about 12miles upto Theale.

Places to stop would be either Hungerford (55miles) or Theale (75miles).

Turn right at Theale and your back out in the sticks again, hardly any traffic. This route sidesteps Woking and into Windsor, Chobham and the Runnymede district which is all really nice, until Chertsey, then it's London'ish traffic.

For me i take the route through Shepperton, Hampton Court, Kingston... then kinda onto where you want. Its fairly straight forward to Central London from here personally i'd take Richmond park and the river (scenic) route, others more knowledgeable of the area may offer alternatives.

In summary i really like the route, its a bit crappy in places but on the whole its very pleasant.

If you want, PM me and i'll happily send a gps track/route.

mroli

domcarr - the national cycle route (is it 4?) which follows the Bristol Bath cycle path and then the Kennet & Avon and then the Thames is a nice ride if you want to stay away from traffic. You'll need a MTB or a X bike to do it at this time of the year - we did it in the summer on a tandem (camping) and had to unload and reload at a lot of places around reading due to the barriers. It is a nice ride though and a good effort over 2 days. You'll never go that fast on the Canal, but that's the trade off for vehicle free riding...