Researching a 2 day ride daan saauth. Thinking Portsmouth to Brighton then Brighton to Guildford. All via Sustrans routes, there appears to be good quick rail connections twixt Guildford & Portsmouth and the downs link looks to be one of the longest off road sustrans routes, but, is it any good?

Verrrrry boring ride apparently (I’ve only ridden short sections of it however).

It’s a pan flat gravel path, with lots of dog walkers and that. Most of the pubs have even closed! I do sections of it regularly, and I’ve done the whole thing plenty of times, it’s just a pleasant ride for a bimble, but it’s not mountain biking!

So dull it will bring you out in a rash.

It’s mainly along a disused railway line so that should give you an idea of the terrain.

However its mostly away from traffic and the countryside isn’t unpleasant and as way of getting from A to B or getting the miles in its fine.

So dull it will bring you out in a rash.

You miserable git!!

Yes, the Downs Link is flat and lacking features…but so is a road…

Get a CX bike, treat it like a road, and it soon becomes interesting… (there are a few walkers, but the path is wide, so plenty of passing space)

Try and steal my KOM from Southwater to Partridge green…pretty long segment!

DrP

I commute up it sometimes….It’s quite enclosed by trees so there’s not much to look at. On the plus side that means it’s pretty sheltered from the wind.

Down side is dog walkers and dog shit where it passes through towns and villages.

Maybe I’ll head the other way then, I quite fancy some coast but there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of coastal riding with marked cycle paths.

Take a good book for the Downs Link.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You would be much bettere offusing the sdw to link up some bridleway loops.
Or the Wiggle ride that was down here the other week was a corker.
Plus a Hindhead Punchbowl loop

You miserable git!!

Yes, the Downs Link is flat and lacking features…but so is a road…

Exactly…rather be on the Downs Link than a road any day. I wouldn’t do it very often but it’s not featureless and some of the old station houses/etc are nice.

I use it to link NDW where I live and the SDW to Eastbourne, as said above it’s an old railway line so it’s pretty flat and fast, why not just do the SDW?

It’s OK as a means of getting places but I wouldn’t ride it for its own sake. SDW is much more interesting