Last summer i did the Avebury to Streatley and back as a pleasant day trip.

With the days starting to lengthen and thinking about things to do this year i thought i might try Avebury to Ivanhoe and back.

Two questions. first is water, i didn’t see any obvious top up points, i assume there are?????? Somewhere?????? anyone now where etc.

Second, in a normal year when does the trail dry out? I am guessing it is currently damp? Trying to guess when it becomes realistic to do an end to end.

Ridgeway can be a slog anytime of year, you’ll just have to find a dry patch – September could be good but also best avoided when horse tracks have been baked to concrete hardness 🙁 dunno about water, certainly enough towns you’ll pass through/near at Northern and middle sections to fill up

Everything you need to know about the route and taps can be found here:

http://ridgewaydouble.net/

It goes near enough to villages along the way so that it’s only a short detour to go for food and water (watlington, wendover etc) IMO keep an eye on the weather in May, there’s often a dry spell and the days are both long enough and pleasant enough…God alone knows why you’d want to bother though, it’s a pretty dull ride past some lovely wooded Singletrack

thanks for that notmyrealname, do you know how easy the taps are to find, i wasn’t looking so didn’t see last summer, but is it a case of if you look they are obvious, or is it hunt around in the nettles for half an hour and you may stumble across them???

there’s a few campsites along the route which always have water taps, trouble is you have to come down off the ridge to get to them and that can take 30 mins approx down n back up.

The Tap at watlington is about a 10min detour if you’re really trying to take your time!

The taps were pretty obvious from what I remember. A couple are at churches which were straightforward enough, one was near the M40 at the nature reserve place which was signposted and there was another one at a farm which was pretty easy and right on the route.
It’s not the most exciting ride in the world but when I rode it in June it was a pretty good day out.

thanks for that notmyrealname, do you know how easy the taps are to find, i wasn’t looking so didn’t see last summer,

Not obvious if you don’t look around but they’re hardly well hidden. Usually off the track at the sides by a fence or junction. I’ve found a few over time riding there. The church at Nuffield and tap at the farm near Wayland’s Smithy are the ones I use most.

God alone knows why you’d want to bother though, it’s a pretty dull ride past some lovely wooded Singletrack

Variety? Finding more singletrack when you’re more familiar with the main byway access routes? 🙂 I like it as a summer weekend ride, it’s different to the more usual rides. Nice views and a sense of continuity along the western half.

Ridgeway double site is pretty useful. There’s a few no-go FPs in the eastern half and there’s better riding on other tracks in the same area anyway.

Variety?

Is this the same Ridgeway we’re talking about 😆

Sorry, spent too many hours using it as a joining path to more interesting bits of the Chilts. But in all seriousness it’s a nice day out when the weather’s nice, awful if not.

The tap just up from East Ilsley no longer works. Howevr it’s only 6 miles to Streatley/Goring from there which has shops etc.

I enjoy it. We usually get the train from Goring to Chippenham and cruise back from there… it’s nice.

Sorry, spent too many hours using it as a joining path to more interesting bits of the Chilts. But in all seriousness it’s a nice day out when the weather’s nice, awful if not.

I am used to the Cotswolds, so it is variety in that it is different to what i usually ride. Also like to find out how far i can push myself hence the double.

Variety?
Is this the same Ridgeway we’re talking about

Variety from riding singletracks or road miles – longer-distance byway bashing aka ‘UK gravel’ : ) Agree, it makes a good link route in many places.

I started at Ewelme and headed north. I used the tap at Wendover Church on the way out and back and the one at Sparshold Firs out and back plus the one on the side of the house on the way back. That was 5litres in the heat. I had decided to increase energy drink intake as a lighter way of carrying energy. It backfired with 11 pee breaks and nearly an hour wasted.

It’s a great ride – conditions are very weather dependant. I’d only do it bone dry.

It’s a great ride – conditions are very weather dependant. I’d only do it bone dry

As above, if it’s dry it’s very quick with great views on the eastern half…If it’s wet it’s a claggy clay slog.
Did streatley to Avebury last summer and didn’t see a soul in four hours on a Friday morning.

Interesting reading. I’m planning on doing the eastern side at a steady pace with some wild camping in late April. Anyone bivvyed along it at all?

It’s certainly got me interested it shooting over to Chippenham again for the ride back to Goring way… I didn’t do it enough last year and will certainly be doing it when it dries up.

Hi all. I’m the author of http://ridgewaydouble.net/ and the route as posted on that site. The route is (to my best knowledge) 100% legal, which was one of the most important considerations when I was putting it together. There are some sections in the east that may be marked as footpath on maps, but on the ground they are permissive tracks open to bicycles (e.g. National Trust).

The “official” Ridgeway transitions frequently from bridleway to footpath to road, and another aim I had was to stick as close as possible to the real historic Ridgeway whilst remaining legal for bikes. You could of course choose any number of alternate sections here and there if you wanted to mix it up, but I think the route as it is pretty much achieves these aims.

Taps do tend to come and go from an operational point of view. As has been mentioned, some are directly on the side of the trail, some slightly off. There are loads though, so there’s generally another one not too far away if one is out of commission.

Whilst the Ridgeway isn’t the most technical of trails :-), imho as an introduction into longer rides/ITT/multi day riding in the south of England its a nice easy place to start. Lots of places to bivy along the route. Personally I like the stretch a little way after Barbury Castle, some copses with nice views over there.

Cheers. Mark

Cheers Mark. Some useful info there.

Yes, cheers Mark.

I want to do the Ridgeway some time this year. Over a couple/few days, bivvying, just enjoying the scenery on the way and detouring just for the hell of it.
Posting here so I don’t lose this thread also.

Thanks again!

MR MO I ride there quite a bit MTB and Motobike last year wasn’t that dry to often if you fancy not going back and forward same way why not start at Avebury go across to West wood get down to the Kennett and Avon canal ride that along to Reading etc and then go north and pick up the Ridgway back.

It’s not that bad currently. Just did a 40km ride covering a decent section of it. East ilsley to Wallingford

Hi Pedalhead – the double is on my list as a training ride for the American Trail Race I’m doing in June… I’ve done SDW to death, so maybe we can meet up for a bit of Ridgeway action when the trails start to dry?

Rob – I’m also local – would be great to meet when you’re free. It’s actually not bad atm.