Bit of help with London > Exeter route

spearmint_wino

I'm planning on riding from London to Exeter at some point in the next few weeks, ideally hoping to do it over 2 days.

I'm pretty fit, and will be on my road bike traveling light with just a saddlebag for civives and change of cycling clothes.

I plotted this route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14892704
Picking up the Kennet and Avon canal at Reading, although is probably quite a bit slower than roads?

Here's another option I did which cuts south before Bath: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/14890563

Is there a viable road option? Ideally I'd be avoiding busy A roads if possible.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Mad_Malx

Can't see your second route but the K&A is much slower than the road.

I'd head south from Pewsey via Market Lavinton and Westbury, then toward Froome, Mells, Wells. This is mostly decent traffic wise but not too much winding lanes. Westbury & Froome urban areas will slow you up a bit.

spearmint_wino

Thanks, will give that a look

mrfpb

Why not try a Surrey Hills/New Forest/South Coast route. Much more scenic. Sustrans have a south coast route map

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/route-2

Mad_Malx

^Wilts and Zummerzet is pleasant enough ....

spearmint_wino

I'm resurrecting this thread - I didn't get to make the trip yet, but the idea of doing the whole route in one (very) long day has taken seed in my mind.

Inspired by the Plymouth > London thread somewhere on the first page of this subforum, I was looking at this:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22495126

Are there any glaring mistakes on there that will have me duking it out with articulated lorries and wishing I'd stayed at home?

briantrumpet

spearmint wino wrote:

I'm resurrecting this thread - I didn't get to make the trip yet, but the idea of doing the whole route in one (very) long day has taken seed in my mind.

Inspired by the Plymouth > London thread somewhere on the first page of this subforum, I was looking at this:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22495126

Are there any glaring mistakes on there that will have me duking it out with articulated lorries and wishing I'd stayed at home?

All the stuff west of Shaftesbury looks fine to me - well, I don't know all your detours off the A30 before Chard, but on the basis that the A30 from Shaftesbury as far as nearly-Honiton was fine when I rode it in 2012 (apart from some of the Somerset drivers ), I'm guessing that the detours are fine too. And right to come off the A30 before Honiton - you've plotted the route I'd take there. Two nice coffee stops in Honiton too - Boston Tea Party and Toast both with a nice big garden round the back to put your bike & eat cake.

Tiesetrotter

I planned this route and did it to get to my sisters. However It is not quite right. Once I hit Winchester I was sent on byways as I forgot to take the bike path option off. That means the nice seemingly short cut out of Winchester is actually some ancient byway which turns into a dirt track for about 2 or 3 miles. However not turning the byways off also meant it found some cut through which saved me a lot of time. The byway out of Winchester would be perfectly OK, I would imagine, in the summer. However in winter it was a nightmare of chalky clay, luckily I found a jet wash in Salisbury and carrying panniers didn't help!

However my route through the Cranbourne chase was very special (except the little bits of the A30). I stopped the other side of the Chase as my trek was down past Exeter to the Dart Estuary and the pub in Ludwell The Grove Arms was exactly half way. Nice pub on the main road with nice rooms and good old fashioned hearty fare. They locked my bike in their outside boiler room so it dried out nicely.

Tiesetrotter

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/17980656

spearmint_wino

Tiesetrotter wrote:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/17980656

Thanks very much, will take a good look at that!

briantrumpet wrote:

All the stuff west of Shaftesbury looks fine to me - well, I don't know all your detours off the A30 before Chard

Before importing into RideWithGPS I plotted the route using the Strava 'popular' routes feature on the planning tool they have, so hopefully it's sending me along some good, quieter cycling roads. Good to know the western end of the route is sound, thanks.

Dorset_Boy

Your Salisbury to Yeovil sections looks fine to me, though you'll have a 'nice' climb at 195 km up to Winn Green!
Coombe Bissett to Berwick St John is lovely through the Chalke Valley.
Careful on the descent into Fontmell Magna - it can be very fast and then narrows onto a poor surface.
The pub in Fontmell is pretty good and I'm sure would be happy to fill your bidons.
Sweat Pea cafe in Sturminster Newton is also nice.

spearmint_wino

Dorset Boy wrote:

Your Salisbury to Yeovil sections looks fine to me, though you'll have a 'nice' climb at 195 km up to Winn Green!

Excellent info, thanks for all this 8)