I've got a few days off after easter, 7th to the 9th.

I was thinking of doing some kind of mini cycle break type thing.

I live near Reading so I was thinking of doing the ridgeway. I know its a bit boring MTB wise but should have some good views ? And plenty of stuff to see ie White Horse, iron age forts etc ?

I really want to just head out from my house I dont want to have to drive anywhere this way my other half can also just come and pick me up in the evenings if I get bored.

Basically Im only going to do this if the weather is reasonably good. So say it takes me 45 mins to 1 hour to get to goring/streatly how far would I be likely to get in 1 day ?

If possible I wanted to get to here -> on the first day which is a bit north of avebury.

hostel Clyffe Pypard

I then wanted to head to Devizes for lunch on the second day and then start heading back a more southerly route. Possibly along the white horse trail joining the kennet and avon canal near newbury ?

Do people think this would be about right timing wise ? I dont want to be killing myself.

In terms of fitness I've done the StBees to RobinHoods bay in 5 day many years ago (but that was too hard id have prefered 6/7 days personally), although Im much fitter now. Also I'll quite happily cycle from say reading to milton keynes on road or from london to brighton with plenty of energy left, and I come about midway in the open gorrick races.

Also any ideas where I could stay the second night.Possibly hungerford.

I think I could plan this reasonably well on road but Im not sure how "offroad" the ridgeway is. There does appear to be a large part just near wantage where you stay above 200m for a long time so I would assume this section is reasonably fast/quick ?

It's a while since I've been down to the Ridgeway, if its dry the going is good and fast, if it's wet, I'd rather not bother, the wet chalk is like riding on grease. Don't know about taking a few days over it though, I rode from Court Hill to Avebury, then doubled back Streatly and Goring, before returning to Court Hill, all in the day, about 13 hours including pub lunch and tourist time at the white horse etc.

The Ridgeway isn't too bad at the moment, i'm just outside Wantage and its pretty smooth, but it can change to being like glue with a days rain.

If its dry i definetly think your stop over is possible. I've done Wantage to Goring and back again in just over 3 half hours when it was dry and managed to keep up quite a high average speed with a few downhills around wantage to keep it interesting.

Hope the weather holds as it is quite scenic around the white horse, and you do get some very good views from right at the top.

Hey guys cheers,

Sounds like I can probably go a lot further than I thought, although I was planning on stopping and doing some sight seeing ie white horse/waylands smithy. Although I suppose that wont take much time.

Yeah I heard it was pretty pointless if wet like I say I was only going to go if the weathers good. My boss is pretty good with holidays so if its raining I'll just go into work and try again another day.

Really I want to just head out and not plan anything but at the same time I dont really want to spend much money on accomodation so though I might need to book or I'll turn up somewhere and the only place to stay will be like £100 a night.

Try here, I've stopped a couple of times before, that was back when it belonged to YHA though.

Home

Ridgeway is a day ride end to end of the bridleway bit and a half day longer if you go all the way to Ivinghoe Beacon sneaking about on the footpaths

swindon to didcot in 4 hours easy, but only in the dry

muddy wheel breaking slop in the winter tho so pick your time of year carefully

dont really want to piss on your bonfire….

we rode the ridgeway a few years ago, it was wet, it had rained pretty much non stop for a week and it lashed it down on the day.

we set off from avebury about 10am, with a vague eye on 4hrs + lunch to get to Goring.

Eventually arrived in Goring at about 7pm.
Pedalling hard downhill and travelling around 5mph is not fun, ice-skating up slick chalk, equally not fun.

Did it the next year in the dry and it was a breeze.
Check the weather.

+1 for don't bother if it's really wet as riding through treacle would be more fun ,and quicker than the clay/chalk of the Ridgeway

The longs flatish section near Princes Risborough is either quagmire or dried up quagmire, horrid.
The area around Ivinghoe Beacon and onto Wendover requires some map work or cheekiness. It's just that section below Bledlow Ridge that's awful.

Cheers for all the info guys 🙂 Although most of you have nt read my posts 🙂

Yeah I heard it was pretty pointless if wet like I say I was only going to go if the weathers good. My boss is pretty good with holidays so if its raining I'll just go into work and try again another day.