I’m after suggestions for an off road route between Winchester and Andover please.

I’m trying to link Portsmouth and Andover – I can get to Winchester via Meon valley and SDW but need route suggestions from there.

Ideally it’d be a resonably direct route but happy to divert slightly if there’s a decent descent / bit of singletrack or other bit of interesting trail nearby.

Hmmm, a cursory glance would suggest that a fairly direct route would be dull. The River Test does offer some pretty scenery with charming well-thatched villages.

How far are you prepared to convolute for a more interesting route?

Let me come back to this, I know the area, and am sure there will be others offering suggestions too. 🙂

Thanks for the response.

I need to get Andover in time for lunch, I know the route as far a Winchester fairly well – it’s fast and not particularly technical so I’d be willing to take the odd detour in order to add interest in the latter stages of the ride.

To quantify that I’d be happy to add an extra 5 -10 miles over the most direct route to add interest but any more than that will mean I’ll struggle to do it in the time window I’ve available.

I’ll take a look at the map also. I used to drive that route regularly, there are some quiet back roads, eg via Leckford/Stockbridge or Wherwell (the Tour de France went via there many years ago). Not what your looking for but ok on a bike away from traffic.

Head W towards Farley Mount Country Park, pick up the nice little singletrack descent off Beacon Hill. Head towards King’s Somborne for the Test Way, which isn’t very exciting.

Using the Test Way as much as possible would make it quicker, with a compulsory refreshment stop at The Mayfly! Head towards Wherwell, crossing the Test at Chilbolton Common. Then pick up bridleway that crosses A3057.

Another option is heading NW and picking up bridleways around Littleton and Crawley. You can make up time on these, then head towards Chilbolton.

@cinamongirls route sounds a decent one. The Test is lovely although possibly with all this rain it might be very wet around there. (I remember when the pub was called the Seven Stars !)

There is a roman road between Winchester and Andover, half of it is now the B3420, then it goes through Harewood Forest, not the most exciting alternative but certainly direct. Looking at the map I am assuming there are footbridges over the Test, otherwise you will have to skirt round and go via Wherewell. It’s marked as a footpath officially. If you are tired on last leg of your ride this route might appeal.

As I posted above there are lots of small country roads running to the East of the A34/A303.

Takes me back this does, it was 35 years ago I used to drive between Home (outside Andover) to Winchester twice a week ! Parents still live in Kings Sombourne.

EDIT: Depends what you are interested in but the radio telescope at Chilbolton is quite cool, the River Test is lovely and has some of the best (and most expensive) Trout fishing in England. Also compared to the South Downs the area is flat but it does have a few undulations.

Thanks CG and JB.

CG – just had a look at the map and your route seems exactly what I’m looking for.

I’ve a couple of questions if I may:

How easy is the single track descent off beacon hill to find; I’m assuming it’s not the BW? Looking at the map I assume I turn left off the Roman Rd by the parking spot and head for the trig point; could you hazard a guess at a GR for the start or is it obvious?

What’s the surface on the Test Way – I’ll have mud tyres on but given proximity to the river is flooding likely? Any other year that would be an odd question in mid July…

Did this as a bivi route in the winter (well as far as Longparish). I’ll stick something on the Newforce forum for you.

Allan

Thanks Allan – hoping to get out with you guys again at some point over the Summer pre-Autumn rainy season once work and family commitments allow.

Tallie

I think CG’s decent off Beacon Hill is the bridleway just before you hit Parnholt Wood.
She’ll correct me if I’m wrong though!
The Test Way surface (traffic free from where the Mottisfont road hits the A3057 all the way north to Cottonworth) is a disused railway line so should be perfectly rideable if muddy in places. It’s generally far enough away from a very well managed/controlled river for flooding to be a problem.

If you want some alternative routes, head north from Winchester via South Wonston, Sutton Scotney, Barton Stacey and Chilbolton.
There’s also singletrack running parallel to the old Andover road (A272 NW of Winchester) which will take you to the woods close to Crawley. There’s more tracks that’ll take you to Chilbolton. A lot of it’s very overgrown right now though.

tallie – grid ref for Beacon Hill descent, ie where bridleways split, is SU397290. It’s very short and has a few roots, interesting in the wet!

There is another option – at above grid ref turn into Parnholt Wood and at SU391284 turn R onto gravel forest track. This provides a very fast and long-ish descent almost into King’s Somborne.

If the Test Way is dry, you can hammer along but mind the odd dog walker or two.

Also worth bearing in mind that if you decide to use any Byways, you can guarantee that the MXers have been there.

I’m not sure how easy it will be to navigate from the end/start of the SDW at Winch to exit the city but someone will be able to advise.

Oh and of course it goes without saying that we want a full report when you’ve completed it! 🙂

Good luck.

Thanks all – going tomorrow morning so I’ll let you know how I get on.

Do hope the weather is kind to you, fingers crossed!

Looking forward to the write-up. 🙂

I did the ride yesterday following the Meon Valley Cycle Way up to the SDW then across to Winchester and then CG’s route to Andover; one word sums it up – muddy!

It took me just under 5 hours with one stop but I’m fairly sure that I could take at least an hour off that, without thrashing myself, in drier conditions. The Meon Valley is a disused railway line and as such was fine on the embankment sections but pretty dire through any cuttings – 6 inch deep, gloopy mud. The SDW had mostly dried to sticky chalk by the time I got up there at about 1000 with the exception of the last section of BW before Winchester which was virtually unrideable; with hindsight I’d have avoided it.

I enjoyed CG’s route down from Farley Mount but the rooty steps section wasn’t the most technical bit – trying to ride a 4 inch wide, 6 inch deep muddy rut with tyres completely clagged up further down the descent was far more challenging!

The Test Way was in a similar condition to the Meon Valley and by the time I got to Longstock I was fairly hacked off with the mud and was running out of time so cut up through the Clatfords to Andover via the road.

I was riding an io-id with Bonty Mud-X which was probably the right bike for the job but still I had to stop a couple of times to clear mud; overall a rides always better than not riding but I probably won’t repeat that route when it’s this wet.

Thanks again to all that offered route advice.

tallie – thank you so much for reporting back and well done! Your timing definitely wasn’t ideal so that was quite an achievement. 🙂

The descent from Farley Mount – am surprised it was so bad unless it’s been used by MXers? Also surprised about your comments on the Test Way, I’ve been along there in Winter and it’s not been that bad.

Perhaps give it another go in Autumn? 😉

@talle – thanks for the update. How far do you think the ride was ?

JB – it was 49.4 miles door to door according to my GPS.

CG – thanks. I don’t think there’d been any MXers down Farley Mount just the odd Mountain bike and lots of water finding its way down a hill.

The test way may have been slightly better than MV but had lots of standing water; I just think the recent levels of rainfall have been huge – unprecedented in recent times – and it’s affecting even good wet weather surfaces.