King Alfred’s Way
Bike
1 May 2021
King Alfred’s Way is a 350km circular loop connecting gravel roads, byways and off-road tracks in the south of England. Named after King Alfred who, in the ninth Centrury, transformed the Wessex area. The route heads west out of Winchester to Salisbury, then up and around to the outskirts of Swindon, across to Reading, and down to Surrey before heading back east to Winchester.
This route was recently pieced together by the charity Cycling UK, who spent a lot of time connecting the well-known cycling trails of the South Downs Way, the Ridgeway, the Thames Path and the North Downs Way with lanes and cycle paths, creating an ideal long weekend tour.
I planned to take this loop on over three days, wild camping for two nights over the May bank holiday weekend, with four friends from London. This will be the first overnight trip in a long while for all of us due to Covid restrictions, so the excitement had been building for a while for this one. With easy train access to Winchester and the route not straying too far from a village pub or town shop, we’d get away easily and be good for resupply points. April 2021 was the coldest in 40 years so we were in for a few chilly nights camping!
The man of the moment, King Alfred
Day 1: Winchester - Liddington Castle. 140km | 1850m+ | 8/13 hours
Leaving Waterloo early on Saturday morning with clear blue skies, we arrived excited in Winchester and I was relieved we’d all got through the train journey without being split up. We headed for Coffee Lab for pastries and coffee before visiting Kind Alfred and setting off around 9am. We were all excited, however, about 2km in, on the first incline, Pete’s jockey wheel fell to pieces. We managed to get it back together and on our way again, and we phoned ahead and planned to pick a new set up in a bike shop in Salisbury. A few kilometres later, at the next uphill, my chain snapped! This was fixed easily, but it was now midday and we’d only got about 15km out of Winchester.
We pressed on, the ground nice and dry so we made quick progress through the Salisbury Plains, despite a couple of showers. Even in the short amount of riding we’d done so far, we have covered a wide mix of terrain, keeping the riding exciting and varied, and we cruised along with nothing too technical or steep. We pulled in to Salisbury for Pete’s jockey wheels and a quick lunch, and came off route to pit stop at Stonehenge, which was surprisingly busy, then continued on through the North Wessex Downs AONB and up towards Swindon.
We rode through the military training ground and passed through a training exercise, which was entertaining! We hit the 100km mark at 6pm, so we still had a way to as it started to get dark. After joining the start of The Ridgeway, Britain’s oldest road, we dropped into Ogbourne-St-George and the pub we planned to have dinner at, The Inn with the Well, just as the sun was setting. We just missed last orders though, so had to make do with a bowl of chips, some peanuts, a tin of baked beans and a loaf of bread between us. We were cold and hungry now though so this went down surprisingly well.
We then set off up the road in the dark to find the grounds of Liddington Castle to set up camp for the first night. We were in our sleeping bags at midnight, it had been a long day and I was hoping I’d be warm enough through the night in my two season bag.
Day 2: Liddington Castle - Grayshott. 145km | 1450m+ | 8/14 hours
An early, 6am wake up with a light frost and bright blue skies, we woke and got our porridge going. As the sun came up and over the mound we camped behind, we warmed up quickly, and once setting off I quickly peeled off layers as we rejoined the Ridgeway. We were running low on water and were sweating in the sun, hoping for a water tap soon. It came at the top of a loose, dragging climb and we all drank and refilled in the bright sunshine.
This section out the whole route was the highlight of the route for me, fast-flowing tracks, some short, rocky climbs and gentle, flowing descents. The variety was great and the dry ground meant we could ride quickly. The latter part of the day was much more technical than the previous, with several rooty and lumpy descents and sections. Down the first of these I felt sealant spray up my shin from my front tyre, which thankfully sealed as it should have. A following descent didn’t go down so well with my back wheel, and once we rolled in to Goring-on-Thames and sat enjoying a fry up, we heard a spoke on my rear-wheel sheer off. We all looked at each other in disbelief but when I looked over at my bike I could see the snapped spoke dangling from the rim.
Fortunately for me I was carrying an emergency spoke, which we fitted with relative ease but it was time consuming. It was now around 1pm, and we had only clocked up 48km of riding, so it had been another morning not covering much ground in the context of the target mileage for the day. But we pushed on, I took it easy on my back wheel, hoping it would hold for the rest of the day and tomorrow, but that was a lot to ask!
We then had a series of cycle paths through Central Reading which was busy on the bank holiday weekend. The following Thames Path was hardpack mud so was similarly quick rolling and as we began to head south and the riding became flat so we picked up the pace and we made good progress. So far, so good with my emergency spoke. We approached Farnham as the evening came in and so we stopped for fish and chips in the park. The sun was setting and the temperature dropped once we joined a forest track on the way out of Farnsham.
The weather forecast wasn’t so good for the following day, up to 40mph winds and heavy rain, plus the last section of the route was via the hilly South Downs Way. We planned to push on through Sunday evening to leave us with less to do on the Monday and hopefully we’d get back into Winchester before the rain and with plenty of time to get back to London in the dry.
There were a series of sandy trails around Hankley Common which had us sliding around and required concentration and effort at the end of a long day and in low light. We then had a steep climb up Devil’s Punch Bowl which was probably the most challenging climb on the route, but fortunately it wasn’t so steep you couldn’t spin it out. It was a shame to pass through and not be able to see the area, as it was now dark.
Passing out the other side into Hindhead, we filled up with supplies for breakfast in a petrol station before heading into the common forest area to set up camp. The forecast had improved and it looked like we’d be in for a dry night, but we still put the tarp up and took shelter under a tree.
Day 3: Grayshott - Winchester. 80km | 1300m+ | 5/7 hours
Waking up the forecast had continued to improve overnight and the rain had shifted to later in the day. We thought we could now make it back to Winchester without getting drench or drained by a headwind but we were slower to get up and running today. The bright morning and improved weather forecast lifted spirits and we got going, joining a series of forest trails which were fast and flowing, it was a fun morning of riding.
We picked up the South Downs Way had the punchy climbs began. The surface was noticeably different, but nice, fast-rolling gravel surfaces which allowed for quick progression. We also had a few nice, long fast descents in a MTB park and then stopped at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park cafe, which had all the food and coffee we needed. We stocked up and pushed on for Winchester as the skies clouded over and the wind picked up.
Once we were in touching distance of Winchester, there were a few sections of exposed trails where a strong headwind slowed us, and our legs were tired, but we were close now. We dropped down into Winchester and had enough time in town to eat and get some beers for the train back to London.
This trip is an ideal long weekend away that’s rural and challenging enough for an adventure but convenient and short enough to be fun in a group. Despite this being a very popular and current route, plus a bank holiday weekend, we saw few people and cyclists along the route. You really do feel much more remote than you’d think for central England and I think we were all surprised by this element of the ride. Three days to cover this route was more challenging than we thought, there are some technical sections that are time consuming on a loaded bike.
Jeroen Linnebank’s photos
Further info
See more at: CyclingUK.
Useful links: Komoot Collection, Cyclist Magazine’s KAW trip write-up, The Guardian's KAW article, ADVNTR.cc’s route summary, Pannier.cc’s KAW trip write-up, Bikepacking.com’s KAW feature.
Short films: David Arthur’s KAW trip, GCN’s KAW trip, Wahoo team SDW ride, GMBN’s Ridgeway ride, Matt Page’s KAW FKT ride.
Related reading:
- Mountain Biking Adventures: Multi-day routes in northern Britain, Tony Wragg & Hugh Stewart
- Escape by Bike: Adventure Cycling, Bikepacking and Touring Off-road, Joshua Cunningham
- Bikepacking: Mountain Bike Camping Adventures on the Wild Trails of Britain, Laurence McJannet
- Big Rides, Great Britain & Ireland, Kathy Rogers & Marcus Stiltz
Similar trips
Bike
6 Sep 2022