Following the SDW

booldawg

Will be riding a section of the SDW this Saturday from Cheesefoot Head back to QE park, Petersfield. How well is it signposted? as I know the SDW in the Meon Valley splits into two routes; one for walkers, the other for cyclists.

My OS map is a bit out of date as I beleive they've re-routed it recently. Theres a fantastic site here http://www.bikedowns.co.uk/Sections.htm that has some really good pictoral references but unfotunately I'll not remember it all for the ride!

Harveytile

Myself and three mates rode the SDW on Saturday. I realise this is too late to help the OP but for anyone else interested, the signage is pretty good on the west half but is less obvious towards the east.

A shade under 14 and a half hours and a major "TO DO" ticked off the list.

booldawg

Thanks for the info. I'll be riding this section on Saturday so your post is in very good time for the ride.

I'll probably go on as far as South Harting and then road it back to my house as I'm only about 10 miles from there.

I take it you rode the whole thing? You all must be crazy!

anjs

The Harveys maps is good for this

Harveytile

Yip, the Harveys maps are pretty good, especially for the watering spots. They do get pretty scarce in some regions.

Yes all done in a day. West to east. The views are certainly worth the pain of the climbs. 8)

gregsd

You'll be in good company this Saturday as it's the BHF SDW Randonnee bike ride.

booldawg

Thats good. I'll follow everyone else! If you see someone pushing an Orange G2 up the hills - that'll be me :oops:

beechtree

http://www.amazon.co.uk/South-Downs-XT40-Route-Maps/dp/1851374779

Harveys map on amazon. Well worth the investment, shows the revised / temporary route. BUT believe the old route is still available as a right of way for cyclists.

Unless you're making an early start, most of the BHF riders will be past cheesefoot by 7:00 (starts at 06:00 from Chilcome Sports Ground which is only a couple of miles west of cheese foot).

beechtree

Oops BHF actuallt starts at 05:30. Got this from BHF this morning:

The team will be at Chilcombe at 05.00 hours to set up for the event and riders can set off from any time after 05.30 till about 09.30. It depends on how quickly they think they can complete the route and whether they are doing the 65 or 100 mile route.

We have plenty of check points (about 7) so roughly one every 14 miles but they are mostly in the middle of nowhere. The first check point QECP (about 20 miles in) has refreshments and food and there is also a pub at the 65 mile mark. We always recommend people bring their own food. We have water at all the checkpoints and taps on route which are on the map for a constant supply.

In the past we tried doing food energy bars etc but people had such varying tastes so we felt it best to recommend people bring their own.