King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
User avatar
honesty
Posts: 2658
Joined: 16 Mar 2012, 3:33pm
Location: Somerset
Contact:

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by honesty »

It’s an scenario. Do you build a good route and hope the route generates enough revenue for local business to create overnight sleeping places, or do you compromise the route to fit to existing overnight options.

My main problem at the moment is I need an off-road bike... ;)
Richard Fairhurst
Posts: 2030
Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

horizon wrote: 5 May 2021, 2:21pmWith both the KAW and the new Cornish route, I don't think this has really been thought through. They are indeed called bikepacking routes and, taken to their logical conclusion, this is what you would have to do. It might mean hefty work on difficult terrain (even with a bike only lightly laden with camping gear), possibly some wild camping and being fairly self-sufficient. This could be a great adventure but I'm not sure that's what the proposers had in mind on its own (and I'm not sure that the various landowners and indeed GWR are fully cognisant with what is being encouraged in their name).
KAW works really well because it's basically in the South-East. So there's lots of easy commuter trains which don't require booking for bikes, there are Premier Inns close to the route, all of that. You can do it as a roughty-toughty bikepacker if you like, but if you're a wuss like me, you can enjoy a more comfortable ride with a shower every night (and a posh fish stew at Rick Stein's in Marlborough!).
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
mattheus
Posts: 5043
Joined: 29 Dec 2008, 12:57pm
Location: Western Europe

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by mattheus »

horizon wrote: 5 May 2021, 2:21pm With both the KAW and the new Cornish route, I don't think this has really been thought through. They are indeed called bikepacking routes and, taken to their logical conclusion, this is what you would have to do. It might mean hefty work on difficult terrain (even with a bike only lightly laden with camping gear), possibly some wild camping and being fairly self-sufficient. This could be a great adventure but I'm not sure that's what the proposers had in mind on its own (and I'm not sure that the various landowners and indeed GWR are fully cognisant with what is being encouraged in their name).
Good points.

(if by GWR you mean the train company, I was on their vessels to/from Devon at the weekend; a touring brother had rims of too deep a section to fit on the hooks, and if he'd left his panniers on there is nor way we could have both fitted our bikes in the teeny cubicle!)

Perhaps the best way to concoct these routes would be for cyclists who own hospitality/accomodation to plan/publicise routes. The market would control the evolution of these routes over time.

Or *maybe* a modular approach makes more sense. Even with Le-Jog most riders aren't too bothered about following exact classic routes. It's nice to stitch together some classic bits. Leave the "North Coast 500" type routes to the Jaguar drivers!
GideonReade
Posts: 410
Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by GideonReade »

I suspect that when some cycling (any activity) bodies conceive of such a route, and (as bodies do) seek support & funding from councils and area/tourism promotion bodies, the latter will be mostly focussed on hotel/B&B type accommodation. After all, in our society, people who like being out of doors more than briefly are basically wierd, so statistically won't be involved at the council/tourism. And campsites probably pay less Business Rates. Cynical, moi?

KAW may well work best on a B&B basis, but it needs a healthy bank balance and a pandemic-free year.

We (well, my better half) has now pieced together, and prebooked, a set of campsites for us, although at one point we're resorting to a fortuitously located cousin of mine (thanks Anne!). Only a week or so now 😁.

In a normal year WarmShowers might help, although being on a short tourist loop might get a bit exploitive. I hope not, we're close to the South Downs Way, only had 2 lots of (lovely) visitors before lockdown, nothing too onerous.
GideonReade
Posts: 410
Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by GideonReade »

Green overnight stops. Blue shops. Red route.
Green overnight stops. Blue shops. Red route.
Well, we dun it. Last week, 5 days riding. For the record, totally dry previous and riding week. "Heavy" drop bar tourers stripped off and 40mm tyres (appreciated). 2 small panniers each & some odds/mats on top. Lovely ride.

Camping/site itinery was as follow:
* Start before Winchester: Southdowns Caravans & Campsite, Liss, Campsite happy with leaving car, which was great. Showers rather challenging though. Site's big shop is caravan bits, no food!
* Folly Farm Caravan Park, Crawley, W of Winchester, no food at site.
* Stonehenge Touring Park, Orcheston, basic food at site.
* A conveniently sited cousin, Chiseldon, S of Swindon, sorry, no help to anyone else!
* Wellington Country Park, Riseley. Big bureaucratic site, gates, age rules, could be difficult for cycle tourists, but ok our visit.
* Liss again (this last was the longest day, over 90Km and very time consuming navigation).
Jdsk
Posts: 24635
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by Jdsk »

Well done.

Thanks for the notes.

Was that in the heat?

Jonathan
GideonReade
Posts: 410
Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by GideonReade »

Yes, it sure was hot! Carried 2-3 litres of water each. Most days there were occasional shops, although the new type volunteer-run community shops are often very tucked away & poorly signed. The exception was the Swindon-Riseley leg, up on the Ridgeway. Gloriously isolated, hot, dusty. Fortunately we'd prepared and had supplies. At one point* there was a little sign to a tap for drinking water, very welcome.

At a point where the 50k map in the guidebook marked "201", GR264835, due east of Bishopstone.
Jdsk
Posts: 24635
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by Jdsk »

Thanks

Jonathan
terrygreen88
Posts: 4
Joined: 15 Jan 2021, 10:30pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by terrygreen88 »

Me & 3 others opted to do the NC4 to reading then join the KAW but go against the grain & go anti clockwise.

Day 1 ended at Pangbourne after cycling from London - Beale Park, nice but no shower facilities. But accessible swim to a clean section of the Thames. Lots of food options in town…

Day 2 we rode from Pangbourne to Swindon, they jumped on a train once we got to Swindon, I stayed at a travel lodge. That said, there are plenty of wild camp spots post Uffington fort.

Day 3 - went back on myself to rejoin the KAW & ended at Brade Acre, Tilshead to meet family and friends. Good facilities, but just a londis petrol garage down the road.

I'll be riding onto Winchester & jumping on a train home.

Highlights so far have definitely been the Ridgeway & Barbury Castle.

The climb out of Avebury was not fun....deep single track & some points I had to balance bike it has the crank was catching the rut.

Didn't see any water points, we were ok for water but there's always some with not enough water.

Overall excellent ride.
spadoodle
Posts: 6
Joined: 17 Aug 2021, 11:06am

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by spadoodle »

GideonReade wrote: 1 May 2021, 9:41am Hi, I was wondering how much experience there is of this yet, and how it's going? My better half has bought the guidebook, we already had all the 50K maps, now marked up, but...

<snip>

Are folks actually doing days of half-route, half getting to and fro, motor camping, or wild camping?

Or have we missed something?
I managed to complete the KAW solo in three days with four nights wild camping. The only real logistics issue I found was making sure I had enough water (minimum 1 litre) by the end of the day for cooking (evening meal, breakfast and tea). The tea shop in Amesbury and the community shop in All Cannings will refill bottles (I was carrying a 1 litre + a 750ml) as I am sure will others. There is an outside tap at the front of the Goring and Streatley Golf Club which they don't mind you using.

For the entire adventure dinner was two dehydrated food pouches, two portions of cooked rice, two eggs (wrapped inside a Buff inside a 400ml mug) whilst breakfast was four portions of porridge, a half dozen teabags and enough dried milk for both. Otherwise it was all down to making sure I was eating enough throughout the day which meant stopping at (almost) every opportunity (cafe/shop) and making sure I left with a few spare snacks, pastries or snacks stuffed into my jersey pockets.

Finding a suitable spot for each overnight meant stopping no later than 7pm (sunset at 8:30pm) and rising early (5:30am) and setting off no later than 7am. I got away with just one damp overnight (thankfully the last one). Wild camping of course meant no shower between leaving home Thursday morning and returning home Monday afternoon but I did manage to brush my teeth each morning.

In total my adventure was five days : one day to ride to Winchester, three days to ride the KAW and one day to ride home. I was given the guidebook as a gift last year and read it cover to cover then downloaded it to my phone (had to photograph all 25 OS map pages on my phone) and followed the extremely accurate GPX on my Garmin.

Would I ride it again? Probably not.

Some pics
Attachments
IMG_3716.jpeg
IMG_3710.jpeg
IMG_3705.jpeg
IMG_3696.jpeg
IMG_3664.jpeg
Last edited by spadoodle on 19 Aug 2021, 12:20pm, edited 1 time in total.
nsew
Posts: 1006
Joined: 14 Dec 2017, 12:38pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by nsew »

I planned to do it door to door ACW but thought sod it at Winchester and jumped the train back to London. Getting hammered the night before was a factor. I took my water from houses and farms along the way. Wild camps were a doddle and received garden hospitality on two occasions. The sometimes cruel but always fantastically remote Ridgeway was the highlight of the trip. I took my time over that section. Wild swimming the Thames and Avon along the way. Wandered off the beaten path on a few occasions and whiled away a couple of weeks.
Attachments
BFD7BE8F-2126-4BCA-A257-2127485D577E.jpeg
65792B16-BAEC-45E2-B4BB-891E6C7CE45D.jpeg
D724C255-6C71-4BEF-8E20-DDF8946CEADF.jpeg
3E687B8D-E05E-4E27-9E21-D52D905A58D0.jpeg
Last edited by nsew on 17 Aug 2021, 6:19pm, edited 3 times in total.
nsew
Posts: 1006
Joined: 14 Dec 2017, 12:38pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by nsew »

More pics
Attachments
D9ADB2A1-B92B-4D21-BE65-C938401C09B8.jpeg
8EA9B2ED-92AC-4B88-B761-42146F94C97F.jpeg
0DA716FA-9DE9-4F04-A71D-1AA661DB7AD3.jpeg
5F61D1A0-09B0-43CF-A04F-CF99BB221109.jpeg
53C4BDAF-FFB6-48B8-9CCC-04D0B1830DB6.jpeg
User avatar
foxyrider
Posts: 6044
Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 10:25am
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by foxyrider »

nsew wrote: 17 Aug 2021, 5:53pmMore pics
where was the breakfast?
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
nsew
Posts: 1006
Joined: 14 Dec 2017, 12:38pm

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by nsew »

User avatar
Sweep
Posts: 8442
Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: King Alfred Way by bike, cycle camping

Post by Sweep »

spadoodle wrote: 17 Aug 2021, 4:23pm
GideonReade wrote: 1 May 2021, 9:41am Hi, I was wondering how much experience there is of this yet, and how it's going? My better half has bought the guidebook, we already had all the 50K maps, now marked up, but...

<snip>

Are folks actually doing days of half-route, half getting to and fro, motor camping, or wild camping?

Or have we missed something?
I managed to complete the KAW solo in three days with four nights wild camping. The only real logistics issue I found was making sure I had enough water (minimum 1 litre) by the end of the day for cooking (evening meal, breakfast and tea). The tea shop in Amesbury and the community shop in All Cannings will refill bottles (I was carrying a 1 litre + a 750ml) as I am sure will others. There is an outside tap at the front of the Goring and Streatley Golf Club which they don't mind you using.

For the entire adventure dinner was two dehydrated food pouches, two portions of cooked rice, two eggs (wrapped inside a Buff inside a 400ml mug) whilst breakfast was four portions of porridge, a half dozen teabags and enough dried milk for both. Otherwise it was all down to making sure I was eating enough throughout the day which meant stopping at (almost) every opportunity (cafe/shop) and making sure I left with a few spare snacks, pastries or snacks stuffed into my jersey pockets.

Finding a suitable spot for each overnight meant stopping no later than 7pm (sunset at 8:30pm) and rising early (5:30am) and setting off no later than 7am. I got away with just one damp overnight (thankfully the last one). Wild camping of course meant no shower between leaving home Thursday morning and returning home Monday afternoon but I did manage to brush my teeth each morning.

In total my adventure was five days : one day to ride to Winchester, three days to ride the KAW and one day to ride home. I was given the guidebook as a gift last year and read it cover to cover then downloaded it to my phone (had to photograph all 25 OS map pages on my phone) and followed the extremely accurate GPX on my Garmin.

Would I ride it again? Probably not.
many thanks for the practical info - would be interested in your views on the route itself - how enjoyable.
Sweep
Post Reply