London to Bournemouth

wibbles

I am attempting to ride from London to Bournemouth with a friend soon.

I just wondered if anyone else had cycled this route before.

Any particularly tough sections? Any tips?

Cheers

Wibbles

Monty Dog

Getting out of London safely is probably your biggest challenge - not having ridden the whole route at once, but suggest a route that heads via places like Staines, Bagshot, Frimley, Farnham from where you are more into open countryside - I would then head towards Winchester, Romsey and then towards the New Forest. There's no big hills - it gently rolls but they do accumulate - it's certainly not flat. Steer clear of the likes of the A30, A31, A27 if you can help it - they get pretty busy.

wibbles

Monty Dog wrote:

Getting out of London safely is probably your biggest challenge - not having ridden the whole route at once, but suggest a route that heads via places like Staines, Bagshot, Frimley, Farnham from where you are more into open countryside - I would then head towards Winchester, Romsey and then towards the New Forest. There's no big hills - it gently rolls but they do accumulate - it's certainly not flat. Steer clear of the likes of the A30, A31, A27 if you can help it - they get pretty busy.

Thanks Monty - Cheers

bice

I have been reading a biography (of Lord Northcliffe, who made his Daily Mail fortune out of cycling magazines). As a 16 year old in the 1880s he would bicycle from London to Bournemouth on a whim with friends and sleep in barns en route.

Must have been fantastic then, with no motor traffic. They used to stop in a pub at Weybridge, which was apparently legendary in the early days of cycling.

More relevant, I have ridden from Alton to London: the dangers are the big roads. I would go out of London via Richmond, Esher, on the old A3, cross the M25 down small country roads past Send prison, through centre of Guildford to Shackleford. Cross A3 to Compton and then along south side of the Hogs back to Farnham. Once there, the best bet is the northern side of the A31 to Winchester: nice back roads all the way through places like Medstead, Arlesford and Itchen Abbas.

Don't know a Winchester Bournemouth route, though should be good through New Forest.

Doing Alton-London took a long time in order to avoid busy roads, but some of these do have quite good cycle lanes which are probably safer than smaller country lanes. Good luck

wibbles

bice wrote:

I have been reading a biography (of Lord Northcliffe, who made his Daily Mail fortune out of cycling magazines). As a 16 year old in the 1880s he would bicycle from London to Bournemouth on a whim with friends and sleep in barns en route.

Must have been fantastic then, with no motor traffic. They used to stop in a pub at Weybridge, which was apparently legendary in the early days of cycling.

More relevant, I have ridden from Alton to London: the dangers are the big roads. I would go out of London via Richmond, Esher, on the old A3, cross the M25 down small country roads past Send prison, through centre of Guildford to Shackleford. Cross A3 to Compton and then along south side of the Hogs back to Farnham. Once there, the best bet is the northern side of the A31 to Winchester: nice back roads all the way through places like Medstead, Arlesford and Itchen Abbas.

Don't know a Winchester Bournemouth route, though should be good through New Forest.

Doing Alton-London took a long time in order to avoid busy roads, but some of these do have quite good cycle lanes which are probably safer than smaller country lanes. Good luck

Thanks Bice - I'll let you know how I got on and also how the route turns out.

Cheers Wibbles

Aidan280

Hi . I saw your post and was wondering how you got on with London to Bournemouth. I am doing in August with a friend . I was hoping to do it in 1 day but my friend wants a break .Any route suggestions and advice welcome.
Aidan

daniel_b

Wibbles has not visited these parts for nearly 5 years. I think you might have a bit of a wait :-(

I have heard good things about the Strava route planner though, utilises popular roads with cyclists, and you can minimise climbing if you want.

milemuncher1

Aidan280 wrote:

Hi . I saw your post and was wondering how you got on with London to Bournemouth. I am doing in August with a friend . I was hoping to do it in 1 day but my friend wants a break .Any route suggestions and advice welcome.
Aidan

I can give you 2 Gpx routes of mine, if you want that will get you from London to Bournemouth. I've done this trip several times. As far as advice goes, I'd say, although it's do able in one day, you might not want to do it in one day. If it was me, I'd do it over 2 days, with a stop over somewhere like Winchester, or maybe in the New Forest somewhere ( Brockenhurst would be good )