My wife & I are planning a long weekend away mtb’ing the South Downs Way. Neither of us have ever been to the area, we live near York.

So the outline plan is;
Day 1 – Friday – Drive down to Winchester, check into accommodation & have a look around town.
Day 2 – Cycle 50 miles to hotel (somewhere?)
Day 3 – Cycle 50 miles to Eastborne hotel.
Day 4 – Train back to Winchester & drive home.

Is there a better way? Where would you stay mid distance?

Sounds like a decent enough plan..

Prob a good place to stay would be Amberley as although it’s not quite halfway.. it gives you an easier first day if things are tougher than you expected/ weather etc

The Bridge inn does great food and accommodation

You may want to push on further.. someone will be along to suggest a stop further along.

Don’t underestimate the SDW – good luck mate

Wow, it Ian a long way to drive but quite a fun ride.

I have done it twice, well once fully completed and once got to Lewes before rain stopped play. So first of all try and go for a good weekend weather wise.

Tried 50/50 first time, stayed over in Amberley. First time I tried was in a group and good fun for the beers in the evening. The Second time I tried to do 60/40, stayed on my own cheaply in a pub. It did work but I was lucky enough to meet up with with someone from here to help motivate me the next morning. It was my second attempt that I completed.

There is a decent map that is worth getting and if you can get a gpx file, It is helpful to keep you on track. There are some tricky turns where you can miss the route easily.

Pack light and don’t bother with a full susser, unless it is light.

I’d aim 60/40 as the last part is harder than the first. A B&B in Steyning would be ideal.

Someone here will get you a gpx.

There is a YHA at Truleigh Hill if that floats your boat. About 55 miles in, otherwise Steyning is slightly less.
YHA

Worthing is about half way (where i live) but is a couple of miles the main route. Not sure of anything at Washington.

What time of year are you thinking of ?

I have a GPX if you need one.

It gets hard after Brighton which means 50 miles isn’t really half way. I’d be tempted to go more for a 60/40 split minimum.

Winchester is a great place for a meal out, loads of decent eats. Let me know if you are struggling for weekend parking, you’re welcome to leave it at mine.

Edit: beaten to it by just about everyone!

The Castle Inn in Bramber is a decent place to stay. Good food & beer.

YHA at Truleigh is a very good call.

Check out the Bikedowns website if you haven’t already.

You’re not planning on doing it until it gets drier amd the days longer are you? It’ll be a tough push in every sense of the word if you go this side of april!

As has already been said, best attempted in the drier months. I’d go as far as to say you’d be mad to do it in winter. Main reason being that farmers use large sections of the SDW and it gets heavily churned up.

It’s definitely best to do more on the first day too. The hills get tougher in the 2nd half of it and your legs won’t be so fresh anyway.

Radical suggestion. You stay at Amberley and use that as your base as it’s roughly half way, right on the SDW and got a train station there. You can either start from Amberley both mornings and ride East to Eastbourne or West to Winchester or get train to both locations each morning and ride back to Amberley or mix the two up, i.e train to Winchester and ride to Amberley day 1 and then start at Amberley day 2 and ride to Eastbourne and train back.That way you should have the prevailing westerly winds to help. Must be easier to book one place for three nights than three places for one night, saves you having to carry extra overnight kit, you can get an early start on day 2 if you feel good as you’re right on the route but also if you don’t feel up to it or whatever you’re not stuck without your kit and car.

Downside is that Amberley is just a pub, a station and a museum so not as exciting as Winchester but you could always visit Winchester or Brighton for the day on the way home and Storrington or Arundel are both 10 minute drives from Amberley and have more restaurant choices. There’s also a decent bike shop at Storrington if you need it. The Bridge Inn at Amberley does great food.

April or May time would be my suggestion.

Another thought on staying at Amberley.

Day 2 / second half is tougher as others have said so you could do this section first while you’re fresh and do Winchester to Amberley on day 2 which is (marginally) “easier.”

The Amberley mount climb is a great way to warm up!

If you want an extra day and your riding in summer then I’d be happy to show you round the singletrack in Friston just outside Eastbourne.

Thanks for all the help folks!
JN49 – that’s sounds a great idea for all the reasons you suggest especially one accommodation booking.
Was planning on late spring riding – we usually get the best weather in May/June before the summer.

So if we stay in the middle riding west to east both days is best with the prevailing wind at our backs?

Another vote for YHA. Good split of distance, so you’ve got less mileage the second day, but you’ll be tired and the hills are bigger,so you’ll appreciate it.

It’s also at the top of a big hill, so getting going in the morning is a little easier. It’s right on the trail too, so no wasted mileage going out of your way to accommodation. You can taxi to a pub for dinner or if you’re really knackered, order pizza to the YHA.

And it’s a personal thing but, for me, there’s something very satisfying about looking at a map and saying to yourselves “we cycled from there to there!” rather than we cycled that bit that way, then came back and did the the other bit in the opposite direction.

Train back from Eastbourne to Winchester takes about an hour and a half. Fish and chips and a bottle of something is a great accompaniment to the train ride.

So if we stay in the middle riding west to east both days is best with the prevailing wind at our backs?

Most definitely the best direction to ride but can’t rule out an Easterly wind but they are rare at that time of year.
Make sure you book the wind direction in advance….

The Amberley mount climb is a great way to warm up!

Lovely start with cold muscles 🙂

Any recommendations for accommodation in Amberley? Hotel or Pub with en suite.

Late spring would be great, we usually* have a lovely May. It’s one of those places you HAVE to see when it’s sunny. There’s no crags or drama that can be enjoyed in driving rain. It’s all about riding through the Mint Sauce illustrations of your teenage memories.

Looking at the trains back from Eastbourne to Winchester, it looks like it’s three changes. How tricky is it to get the bike on all those trains?

There really isn’t much accomodation in Amberley other than Amberley Castle.

There is this B&B a couple of hundred metres off the route – Sustins

Or this one – Arun Valley

No problem getting bikes on the trains. Try to avoid rush hour if possible.

There’s no crags or drama that can be enjoyed in driving rain.

the only good thing about riding in the rain is if it’s sunny the next day and you really appreciate it.

Not a patch on appreciating 2 sunny days of riding, though!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/south-downs-way-a-weekend-of-contrast

(arms and legs content – and definitely no tensing for the camera, oh no.)

I’d probably recommend going a little further than Amberley on day1. I think you want to be nearer to Brighton for your first stop. I’d recommend either Steyning, YHA Truleigh or thereabouts.

We regularly do the 30 or so miles from Ditchling Beacon to Eastbourne and the last few hills are pretty sapping.

looking at the ride I did from Steyning to Eastbourne in the summer – the last 40 miles has 5000 feet of climbing.

The way in a day we did is showing at 11,000 feet in total. So it looks like a reasonable elevation split across the whole route – But definitely the pointier end is in the east.

Agreed . The feet / mile ascent is similar on both halves. Its just after Brighton the hills are longer , but further apart rather than continous ascend/descend prior to that. my 2p’s worth.
Book a pub or B and B near Lewes . Drive there and drop overnight bag.
Book Hotel in Winch and stay there Fri night .
Ride to Lewes sat 0800- 1500.
Ride Lewes – Eastbourne sun 0800 – 1300 , lunch then train to Winch
Night in Winch .- drive home

I drive down that way from Boroughbridge a couple of times a year to see family and have “done” the sdw whilst there, i wouldn’t make a special trip. Don’t get me wrong it’s a nice ride but it’s not worth a 10+ hour round trip (my “record” is 9.5 hours one way).

There’s plenty of other stuff to do down there too don’t get me wrong, add some other stuff in an you’d have a nice three or four day’s. (Seven sisters is a nice circular walk from Eastbourne along the FP section of the SDW, picking the BW up for the other leg for instance)

Beyond that I’ve little to add to the above in honesty.