Anyone ever cycled London to Bristol

anonymousblackfg

I'll be doing this on Saturday

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/BRTWebUI/Course/687634

I will need a couple of water/cake stops in the latter half, anyone ever done this or know any good stops? else I imagine i'll find cafes near newbury/devizes/bath as needed?

• Sunbury
• Chertsey
• Ascot
• Farley Hill
• Spencers Wood
• Just north of Tadley
• Brimpton
• Crockham Heath
• Hungerford
• Mildenham
• Marlborough
• Just north of Devizes
• Melksham
• Bradford on
• Avon
• Bath
• Bristol

FoldingJoe

I'm sure ITBoffin will stick you a brew on when you get to Marlborough!!

secretsam

My Mum knows a local fireman who does this on a regular basis

Have you done a Map My Ride, so we can take a look? Place names mean nothing to me

marcusjb

Tutti Pole in Hungerford is a good stopping point at about halfway. Worth it for the weird uniforms.

Unless you are through super-early - avoid Ascot as it's Royal Ascot this week

Once you are past that halfway point, you're getting into cutesy little villages with tea shops a plenty - so you should have much to worry about.

anonymousblackfg

Does the Bikeroutetoaster link not work?

gbsahne001

anonymousblackfg wrote:

Does the Bikeroutetoaster link not work?

works fine, good luck

elbowloh

Its Chase the Sun this Saturday, which means loads of people will be riding from Isle of Sheppey to Burnham on Sea...not sure of the route yet, but probably a bit south of our route.

Myself and a load of friends are following the route on Saturday too, but only joining from Richmond Park to the end (147 miles ish).

marcusjb

Minor thoughts on route - once you leave Hungerford, go via Church Street and then follow the river along via Little Bedwyn, Burbage, Pewsey, Urchfont etc. - really nice route. Good cafe at Bratton as well.

Another alternative is the cafe at Avebury - Avebury might be an interesting place to be on Solstice!

elbowloh

Actually, here's our route

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5046255

anonymousblackfg

That chase the sun looks good, it seems I cut on and off the route until devizes where I head North West. Had I known about that that would have saved me some route planning! but it's on the Garmin now so i'll not faff about changing it.

Good point about Ascot. I'll be through there by 8:30am so that shouldn't be too much bother.

apreading

+100 Tutti Pole at Hungerford
+1 for a stop at Avebury

I know the local Audaxes use the place in Bratton on the 200Km - I think they have a big fry up there. They also use the Tutti Pole as it is a bit of a Mecca for cyclists and tourists alike.

holiver

I did a couple of years ago on my Scandal (albeit with slicks). I took a very, very similar route to you, although I did it in two days. I even finished in Stoke Bishop too!

The weather absolutely sucked on the second day - I was drenched from Marlborough to Bath after staying overnight in Newbury. I also felt like it wasn't until I was past Bracknell that I was in the countryside.

The most scenic part of the ride is definitely from Hungerford to Devizes. Ramsbury was lovely, and the white horse on Pewbury Downs was a good sight.

Enjoy! Here is my course:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/1335610

apreading

I am doing the opposite way on the Action 100 Bristol-London in August: http://www.action.org.uk/action_100_bri ... ndon/route

They used to have two options Bristol-London or Bath-London (joining the same route). I did the Bath-London last year as my first imperial century and loved it, but the A4 was not ideal in some places - it was very flat compared to all the Sportives etc I do though! This year they seem to have routed away from the A4 around Newbury/Reading, which is probably a good thing. They have also dropped the shorter option from Bath - so I am having to 'man-up' and do the full thing! They also have the best feed stops I have ever seen and one of the few that does hot drinks at the stops...

anonymousblackfg

holiver wrote:

I did a couple of years ago on my Scandal (albeit with slicks). I took a very, very similar route to you, although I did it in two days. I even finished in Stoke Bishop too!

The weather absolutely sucked on the second day - I was drenched from Marlborough to Bath after staying overnight in Newbury. I also felt like it wasn't until I was past Bracknell that I was in the countryside.

The most scenic part of the ride is definitely from Hungerford to Devizes. Ramsbury was lovely, and the white horse on Pewbury Downs was a good sight.

Enjoy! Here is my course:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/1335610

I think I might have cribbed your route off a previous post... I've just spotted i've scheduled in some off roading so I need remember to road based detour to avoid it.

I head past the Tutti Pole front door so I think that will be my major target. witha couple of top ups elsewhere.

holiver

Aha!

Yeah there was a short bit off road. I remember it being a well kept path though, very smooth with fine gravel. It was fine on my MTB, but I'd probably stick to the road if I were doing the same ride on my Kinesis.

mtb-idle

London to Bristol eh?

That always makes me think of Tim Moore's superb "French Revolutions" where he compares the distance a Tour rider covers to the equivalent of riding from London to Bristol every day for three weeks but with a snow covered peak placed somewhere in the vicinity of Swindon...

secretsam

MTB-Idle wrote:

London to Bristol eh?

That always makes me think of Tim Moore's superb "French Revolutions" where he compares the distance a Tour rider covers to the equivalent of riding from London to Bristol every day for three weeks but with a snow covered peak placed somewhere in the vicinity of Swindon...

A snow covered peak instead of Swindon would be a huge aesthetic improvement

secretsam

anonymousblackfg wrote:

I'll be doing this on Saturday

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/BRTWebUI/Course/687634

I will need a couple of water/cake stops in the latter half, anyone ever done this or know any good stops? else I imagine i'll find cafes near newbury/devizes/bath as needed?

• Sunbury
• Chertsey
• Ascot
• Farley Hill
• Spencers Wood
• Just north of Tadley
• Brimpton
• Crockham Heath
• Hungerford
• Mildenham
• Marlborough
• Just north of Devizes
• Melksham
• Bradford on
• Avon
• Bath
• Bristol

have now checked out your link :oops:

Looks like you're riding into Bristol on the cycle path from Bath? If so, good cafe on there at Bitton. Need to be aware that the 'old' Bath Road between Bath and Hanham in Bristol is fcuked following some rain, so if you were planning to take that...don't!

mtb-idle

SecretSam wrote:

My Mum knows a local fireman who does this on a regular basis

Have you done a Map My Ride, so we can take a look? Place names mean nothing to me

do you call him 'uncle'??? :twisted:

mroli

I've done it on a tandem over 3 days on the cycle route 4 and 5(?) on the Kennet and Avon and various other tow and bike paths. It was wonderful...

CiB

Did part of it a couple of years ago on Royal Wedding Day, from Hungerford staying on the old A4 through through Marlborough, Calne and on as far as Cheltenham, as part of a longer ride - 102 mls that one. Really enjoyed it, not many hills to bother with and not much traffic, altho being RWD might have been a big factor there.

Each to their own but cake stops are whichever Spa shop / Esso / supermarket looms into view when I need sustenance. There were enough, and usually it's better to press on rather than go off looking for somewhere.

anonymousblackfg

SecretSam wrote:

Looks like you're riding into Bristol on the cycle path from Bath? If so, good cafe on there at Bitton. Need to be aware that the 'old' Bath Road between Bath and Hanham in Bristol is fcuked following some rain, so if you were planning to take that...don't!

I'm hoping by that point i'll be on (old) home turf so autopilot may kick in? If not, by 'old bath road' does this form part of the Bristol Bath cycleway i'm likeley to hit? I havn't ridden it in years but the route means I can head through the two tunnels into bath.

mudcovered

anonymousblackfg wrote:

I'm hoping by that point i'll be on (old) home turf so autopilot may kick in? If not, by 'old bath road' does this form part of the Bristol Bath cycleway i'm likeley to hit? I havn't ridden it in years but the route means I can head through the two tunnels into bath.

No it doesn't don't panic . The closed road is the A431 and the road closure is quite blatantly obvious with warning signs on all approaches. I think of you are coming from the 2 tunnels to the bristol bath path you might see one of the very early warning signs about it but that's all.

Mike

redvee

The A431 at Kelston is passable on a bike cause there is a 'bypass' for bikes and peds though you'll be on the wrong side of the river to pick up the A431 if coming from the Two Tunnels route, you'll end up at Inverness Road onto the A4 and pick up the B2B path by the pub less than 100yds away.

The A431 'bypass' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kISU9dNVfzM

itboffin

It's a nice route you've picked but make sure you have a map as well as Garmin, those back roads between Newbury and Burbage are a maze, I ride then practically everyday and still sometimes find myself going the wrong way.

Oh and the road out of shalbourne has a 20% hill up to the main road, I hope you eat well before you get there.

Why are you doing this BTW?

anonymousblackfg

itboffin wrote:

Why are you doing this BTW?

I'll save a detailed pdf map on the phone as a backup map.

As for why, i've thinking of doing it for a while, the dorris has the car and is driving down later so it's a good excuse for some mileage. i'm from Bristol so it's essentially just heading home for the weekend. In the future I may do there and back over a long weekend.

Kieran_Burns

CiB wrote:

Did part of it a couple of years ago on Royal Wedding Day, from Hungerford staying on the old A4 through through Marlborough, Calne and on as far as Cheltenham, as part of a longer ride - 102 mls that one. Really enjoyed it, not many hills to bother with and not much traffic, altho being RWD might have been a big factor there.

Each to their own but cake stops are whichever Spa shop / Esso / supermarket looms into view when I need sustenance. There were enough, and usually it's better to press on rather than go off looking for somewhere.

I thought all bikes were RWD?

greg66_tri_v2.0

anonymousblackfg wrote:

• Sunbury
• Chertsey
• Ascot
• Farley Hill
• Spencers Wood
• Just north of Tadley
• Brimpton
• Crockham Heath
• Hungerford
• Mildenham
• Marlborough
• Just north of Devizes
• Melksham
• Bradford on
• Avon
• Bath
• Bristol

Man, what a suck-ass route!

Better:

Sunbury
Heathrow
A4
Bristol.

Much easier to remember, too!

itboffin

anonymousblackfg wrote:

itboffin wrote:

Why are you doing this BTW?

I'll save a detailed pdf map on the phone as a backup map.

As for why, i've thinking of doing it for a while, the dorris has the car and is driving down later so it's a good excuse for some mileage. i'm from Bristol so it's essentially just heading home for the weekend. In the future I may do there and back over a long weekend.

My recommendation for good food is the Swan in Wilton your passing right pass it, you'd be mad to miss it.

depending on the time of day its quite likely that i'll be there stuffing my face and drinking my own considerable body weight in Ramsbury ales

itboffin

Oh and if you dare try a take any of my few remaining KOMs i will hunt you down and kill you ...

Twice!

anonymousblackfg

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Man, what a suck-ass route!

Better:

Sunbury
Heathrow
A4
Bristol.

Much easier to remember, too!

A4, wimp, middle lane of the M4 drafting a stobarts truck...