West Country Cycling Query

prj45

Ok, so I'm going to be riding Monmouth to Bridgewater next weekend, but I've only got one full day, me, my bike and one car.

Planning on driving car out to Bristol/Bath (train fare is prohibitive). Getting train to Monmouth or thereabouts, staying overnight, then doing the ride to Bridgewater on the Saturday and then getting train back to car and home to get back Saturday night.

Or drive all the way, ride down and get train back to car.

Anybody done anything similar?

vorsprung

I would aim to do a route that didn't involve riding about on a train, so it is circular

I might (for instance) park in a layby near the Severn Bridge, cycle up to Monmouth, stay overnight, do a loop in Wales and then ride back to the Severn Bridge/Chepstow the next day

I wouldn't ride Monmouth to Bridgwater because of the problem of getting round Bristol

To get through Bristol you could aim for the centre of town and the Clifton Suspension Bridge and then use the "Exmouth Exodus" route or skirt round the edge at the north east corner, join the Bristol-Bath cycle path and go through Bath, Frome and Glastonbury to get to Bridgwater. See the Exmouth Exodus website for route info, on the first option and the outbound leg of my 400km audax here for clues on the other

The route through the centre is much more direct and easier
Around Bath/Frome it is quite lumpy

rjsterry

+1 for going straight through Bristol, rather than round the outside. There's a nice symmetry about doing the Severn and Clifton Suspension Bridges as well. The run up or down the Wye valley is rather lovely as well, although there's a reasonable bit of climbing from (quite distant) memory.

staringatthesea

Not sure why no-one has suggested the most direct route. The road through the Industrial area of Severn Beach/Avonmouth is not the most scenic, but is not at all bad, and crossing the Avon alongside the M5 is always quite exhilarating. It's not got the prettiness of the Suspension Bridge but it's better for views.

You can then take the cycle route through the Gordano Valley to Clevedon, which is a nice quiet scenic route along a mostly single lane road, and then work your way across the levels until you hit the Mendips.

Actually, why don't you combine this with the thrgouh town route and go down one way and back the other?

FeynmanC

StaringattheSea wrote:

Not sure why no-one has suggested the most direct route. The road through the Industrial area of Severn Beach/Avonmouth is not the most scenic, but is not at all bad, and crossing the Avon alongside the M5 is always quite exhilarating. It's not got the prettiness of the Suspension Bridge but it's better for views.

You can then take the cycle route through the Gordano Valley to Clevedon, which is a nice quiet scenic route along a mostly single lane road, and then work your way across the levels until you hit the Mendips.

Actually, why don't you combine this with the thrgouh town route and go down one way and back the other?

+1

Avonmouth, across avonmouth bridge, along gordano valley (or over failand if you fancy some more climbing) then over the levels to bridgewater is a nice run (mostly my commute)