Cycling UK Forum

If you're not in the know, this is an 85 mile loop around Bristol and I've ridden parts of it I've never done the whole route in one go and feel this summer is the time to do it. I do have some knowledge of the route from riding parts of it many years ago but think parts have changed since then.
Does anybody know of a fairly recent gpx file I can download?

I don't have a personal one but found this on line.

https://www.gpsies.com/map.do;jsessioni ... anguage=en

You can also create your own in Cycletravel.

http://cycle.travel/map

I've been riding it about once a year for approximately 10 years and it hasn't changed greatly. The one change there has been is when I first started there was a sign directing you to a fly-over across the M5 but when you got there it was just a dead end ramp, a large gap and another bridge to nowhere on the other side of the motorway. A lorry had driven into the bridge sometime before and it had been removed, although this has now been replaced I usually still take my detour through the industrial estate (see second route below). There's less broken glass and burnt out mopeds and on a weekend the estate is relatively quiet. There's also a burger van on Poplar Way East, waypoint 2 on my route, usually open on Monday to Saturday but it was closed on a Saturday in January when I last rode.

I will try that route whoof - last week there was loads of glass and remnants of burnt car near the m5 bridge...

For the op was going to suggest looking here https://www.facebook.com/Avon-Cycleway-242785135751206/ but no posts since 2015 so might be a dead end...

It is well signed in most, but not all, places - i always use a map rather than gps. Years ago i picked up a free map of the whole route but not sure if they are still around.

Watch out in the section near lulsgate - can be busy if timed for rush hour traffic.

whoof wrote:I've been riding it about once a year for approximately 10 years and it hasn't changed greatly. The one change there has been is when I first started there was a sign directing you to a fly-over across the M5 but when you got there it was just a dead end ramp, a large gap and another bridge to nowhere on the other side of the motorway.

This bridge with the soft surface so you don't hurt yourself when you fall off

[youtube]z4CXIec5s54[/youtube]

whoof wrote:I usually still take my detour through the industrial estate. There's less broken glass and burnt out mopeds and on a weekend the estate is relatively quiet. There's also a burger van on Poplar Way East, waypoint 2 on my route, usually open on Monday to Saturday but it was closed on a Saturday in January when I last rode.

I know the industrial estate very well as that's where my commute ends/starts, the burger van wraps up about 13:00 on a Saturday I think. The bridge above forms part of Lawrence Weston Road and is a favourite dumping ground for burned out vehicles and fly-tippers. Another hazard in the area is a pair of swans and if they want to sit on the path they will and won't move for a cyclist, they've done that to me a couple of times and only had to turn round once. There is also a pair of herons which confused me as I saw one then thought I saw the same one again so soon but a few days later I saw them both together.

Thanks for the route, I'll have a proper look and tinker with it slightly.

I did this ride yesterday - great ride and apart from the climb up to the airport, very flat.
I created my own GPX as it allowed me to add a small detour to include my home. I called up the Sustrans map https://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/avon-cycleway and plotted the route on the RideGPS website
The route is signposted NCN 410 but it does help to have a GPS guide.
One thing - Its a lovely ride using a lot of quite country lanes but the road surface on some of these is very bad. I wouldn't advise riding it on tyres less than 28mm.
Hope you find it as pleasurable a day as I did

There’s an audax doing this every year. This year it’s the 30th of June (if I remember correctly). May be worth having a look at?

Here’s a link to the audax event, which also has a gpx for the whole route on it: http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/18-244/

You don't have to be a member of AudaxUK to enter this ride - just an extra £2 on the members entry fee.

You don't even have to pay the extra £2 (which is for event insurance, I think) if you're a CTC/CUK member.

If your thinking of doing the audax, I did it last year, it's a great route and well organised. It's not quite the route of the cycle way, but it's close enough. It cuts a few unpleasant bits out.
If you enjoy this there are a number of other audax rides around the 100km mark near Bristol. ( There are longer ones as well, some are very hilly!, But are all good routes and well run)
Martin