King Alfred's Way ( 2020 Jan -> Ongoing )

Trips, adventures, bikes, equipment, etc.
Queens Park Pete
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Joined: 7 Aug 2020, 8:08pm
Location: Brighton

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Queens Park Pete »

FJ1001 wrote:Thank you so much for the advice!! Yep sounds like waiting for next summer is best... are there any other routes in the South East that might be better to do at that time of year for us, even if it’s a shorter (overnight) one?


Where are you based? Lots of options for days out depending on that!
FJ1001
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Joined: 13 Sep 2020, 6:42pm

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by FJ1001 »

Thanks everyone! Sounds like for beginners this isn’t an option until next summer... the group is London based and to be honest I think we got over excited at the look of this route and going on a camping adventure, we should really try some beginner overnights first and get used to long rides, carrying our gear, what could go wrong etc. Any shorter and easier routes near London would be great.
Queens Park Pete
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Location: Brighton

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Queens Park Pete »

Heading out from London there are masses of decent days out which can easily be linked into two or three day expeditions. Just build up the distances gradually so you don't turn it into an outdoor treadmill.
http://www.cyclingfromguildford.co.uk/ was a website I dipped into to widen my cycling horizons- they are good for a wide area of the south east - not sure whether the guy writing it posts on here but its an excellent site and gives lots of advice on route surfaces and rail links etc.
You could do worse than head out along the Thames towpath and then drop onto the Basingstoke canal from Woking to Fleet where you can join the KAW in either direction to Reading or Farnham.
North Kent also makes for extended easy off road coastal cycling most of the way to Margate.
If you want more mud and bumpy bits linking the Downslink with sections of the South Downs Way and then getting a train back from Brighton, Eastbourne or Havant would be fun.
North of London there are lots of canals and old railways asking to be connected with the Ridgeway The Icknield Way and bits of the Peddars Way all the way to Norfolk if you fancy! Use cycle.travel which is the best route planning mapping for cycling IMHO.
FJ1001
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Joined: 13 Sep 2020, 6:42pm

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by FJ1001 »

Awesome, thanks QPR!
Pendles
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Joined: 28 Sep 2020, 11:28am

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Pendles »

Hello
I have bought the excellent guide book for The KAW.
How do I download the GPX route on to Google maps?
Thanks for helping
Mike
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Sweep
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Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Sweep »

Pendles wrote:Hello
I have bought the excellent guide book for The KAW.
How do I download the GPX route on to Google maps?
Thanks for helping
Mike

I'd be inclined to get OSMand and download it onto that. Very simple to download GPXs onto OSMand and you can then look at them offline superimposed on OSMand's offline maps.
Sweep
mercalia
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Joined: 22 Sep 2013, 10:03pm
Location: london South

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by mercalia »

Sweep wrote:
Pendles wrote:Hello
I have bought the excellent guide book for The KAW.
How do I download the GPX route on to Google maps?
Thanks for helping
Mike

I'd be inclined to get OSMand and download it onto that. Very simple to download GPXs onto OSMand and you can then look at them offline superimposed on OSMand's offline maps.


or get the cartograph map viewer that works on pcs and mobiles costs a few £ and the maps are free - offline
https://www.cartograph.eu/


Andromaps/Mapsforge

https://www.openandromaps.org/en

also has styles that are superimposed over the basic map for special interests like cycling or hiking
Last edited by mercalia on 29 Sep 2020, 11:20am, edited 1 time in total.
Richard Fairhurst
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Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Pendles wrote:I have bought the excellent guide book for The KAW.
How do I download the GPX route on to Google maps?


You'll want to use a mapping app that shows bridleways, byways etc. - i.e. something with either OpenStreetMap or Ordnance Survey mapping. This will help you identify the correct turn at some of the more remote trail junctions. Google Maps (which is basically roads only) won't cut it.

(Just back from two days on KAW, going almost halfway round - will write more later...)
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
Pendles
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Joined: 28 Sep 2020, 11:28am

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Pendles »

Thanks Sweep
I now have the app OSMand
Sorry to be a numpty but where can i find the KAW GPX file to download
Mike
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Sweep
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Joined: 20 Oct 2011, 4:57pm
Location: London

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Sweep »

Pendles wrote:Thanks Sweep
I now have the app OSMand
Sorry to be a numpty but where can i find the KAW GPX file to download
Mike

Ta - it is a great app - on a recent trip I discovered that I had neglected to put my planned freecamping spot on the garmin. But I had recorded it on OSMand on my android tablet. So I just copied (manually) the co-ordinates over. All this offline sat in a Lyndhurst car park. Did you get the OSMandPLUS (the paid for version - a fiver for life last time I looked) which allows you unlimited maps?

The gpx - wasn't it upthread?

I'll have a look.

edit

here you are

https://www.cyclinguk.org/route/king-al ... -gpx-route
Sweep
Richard Fairhurst
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Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

We (little sister and I) rode this from Reading to Salisbury anticlockwise this weekend - the wrong way, in other words. We'll come back and ride the rest later. I was on my Genesis Vagabond, little sister on a flatbar Specialized Crossroads (a fairly typical hybrid).

A couple of thoughts...

It's a remarkably well designed route. Chapeau to all the CUK folks who've worked on this - with very occasional exceptions it was thoroughly enjoyable.

The GPX file and guidebook together were enough to keep us on route with only a couple of missed turns. The GPX line was rounded off at a few corners, which made the guidebook useful as a backup.

I was surprised how many cyclists were (presumably) riding it: we encountered plenty of riders with overnight packs/panniers of some sort, even on the more remote sections.

The three-sides-of-a-square diversion between Orcheston and Tilshead is worth it. We were unsure whether to do this or take a shortcut along the road, but since we'd seen the red flags flying earlier on, we decided not to risk the road. 100% glad we took the long way round - this was some of the remotest and most memorable riding of the weekend.

You get quite used to choosing the best rut (or ridge) after a while!

Between the old Bustard Inn and Orcheston, there's a parallel gravel military road and tarmac lane. The gravel road might get the off-road miles up but I wouldn't recommend it. There were military vehicles speeding past every couple of minutes kicking up clouds of dirt that lingered for a long time.

Between Larkhill and the Bustard Inn, the parallel track is fragmentary and rough, so the road is in theory a more appealing choice. Unfortunately traffic on the Packway (west of Larkhill) is very heavy and fast. In retrospect, I'd have preferred to divert directly past Stonehenge on the old road and permissive paths, even though it would have meant a bit of pushing and going across the A303.

Very much looking forward to returning and finishing the route. Perhaps not over winter though!
cycle.travel - maps, journey-planner, route guides and city guides
Zulu Eleven
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Joined: 26 Oct 2018, 9:25pm

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Zulu Eleven »

I really don’t understand why people are so wedded to OSM as a mapping source.

The rights of way data on there is very often utter sphericals.

For £20 quid a year you get access to the whole country on OSmaps - an organisation that spends hundreds of millions of pounds every year developing the best mapping in the world, that you can actually navigate with, and if you know how to use one can even work out where you are with when your GPS gets jammed by the Russians

You even also get a downloadable OS Map with every paper map you buy.
Richard Fairhurst
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Joined: 2 Mar 2008, 4:57pm
Location: Charlbury, Oxfordshire

Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by Richard Fairhurst »

Zulu Eleven wrote:I really don’t understand why people are so wedded to OSM as a mapping source.


I've followed this up in a separate thread to avoid derailing the useful KAW discussion - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=141344
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mjr
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Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
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Re: King Alfred's Way

Post by mjr »

Zulu Eleven wrote:I really don’t understand why people are so wedded to OSM as a mapping source.

Is this why CUK haven't added King Alfred's Way to OSM?

The rights of way data on there is very often utter sphericals.

Then correct it. The way type data (tarmac? gravel? grass? motor-free? width?) on Ordnance Survey maps isn't even "often utter sphericals" - it's often completely missing and we're not allowed to add it. Then to add insult, we have to pay to access something originally tax-funded.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
BusterB
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Joined: 1 Oct 2020, 8:45am

King Alfred's Way - Difficulty and places to stay

Post by BusterB »

My friend and I are looking to do this loop in spring and was looking for someone who has done it to say how far we should plan each day.

My friend is a good cyclist but I am average so looking for suggestions and stops , as we will do it over several days with overnight stops in Local, Hotels/B&Bs

Anyone done this and could offer help?
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