KAW in a fortnights time?

Might be ok if it's frozen!

I’m no exactly on the route but I’m in the correct sort of terrain and area. I’d be wary even if doesn’t rain for 2 weeks.

There are 2 concerns

The time and energy spent riding a bike through soft ground. If I had the correct mindset I could do this

Getting to the end of the day with everything covered in mud. Then camping or arriving at accommodation. I think by the second night this would get wearing.

Maybe find a jet wash at the end of the day. Ask B&Bs if they’ll do a washing load and lend you a hose

I live on the route, the section south out of Reading is currently about 16ft wide and 1ft deep in mud.

Most of the (quieter) roads south of Reading are underwater too, so I wouldn't hold out hope of the trails drying out in a fortnight!

I don't know the exact route but I think it takes in part of the Ridgeway and the Thames path in Berkshire/Oxfordshire? if so, that bit of the thames path was under 4 foot of water last weekend and the ridgeway is as wet, muddy and churned up as I have ever seen it. I'd wait a bit longer if I were you.

I wouldn't bother personally. I'm not far from the ridgeway and after recent rain it's as bad as it's been this winter for slop, and the ground is so saturated that it'll take weeks of warm temperatures to dry out the surface. You'll end up doing shorter, filthy days. Grinding slowly through muck for a few days isn't that much fun, is it?

Thanks for all the replies, if not what I was hoping for.

that bit of the thames path was under 4 foot of water last weekend

Which bit floods? I don't recall any of the section between Reading and Goring being that low to the river?

Thanks for all the replies, if not what I was hoping for.

It's so bad even the roadies were posting on facebook about the amount of mud/filth this weekend.

I ran the bit between winchester and broughton and back yesterday and basically came back with trench foot

We're doing it in July or September, so may have dried out a little by then !

What is KAW?

King Alfred Way

It’s going to be brilliant conditions in late July!

Which bit floods? I don’t recall any of the section between Reading and Goring being that low to the river?

The bit near Goring/Streatley. It can be avoided if you know where you are going but it isn't immediately obvious due to houses and the start of the town.

Are you confusing the Thames Path bridleway with the towpath? The bridleway climbs upto Gatehampton (the few houses just before you head into Goring itself) just before the footpath turns left (if heading Pangbourne to Goring). I've seen the BW turn into a muddy slog, but never underwater?

Having said that, I've rarely seen anywhere as wet as it is right now so I'm potentially wrong!

Probably, possibly. It isn't an area I know too well but happened to be over there recently.

Ignore me then 🙂

I'm with the others on this, some sections would dry, others are going to take longer. The bit before getting to Old Sarum hasn't been mentioned but that retains mud when much of the rest of the area is dry.

We really have had a soggy winter and it's going to take a good period of little to no rain with some winds to help shift the underlying moisture.

Sandy bits around Frensham should be okay though 🙂

I live on the route, the section south out of Reading is currently about 16ft wide and 1ft deep in mud.

Most of the (quieter) roads south of Reading are underwater too, so I wouldn’t hold out hope of the trails drying out in a fortnight!

Yep, Reading based also I went out Westwards on Sunday afternoon.

The sky fell on/around Swindon Thurs/Friday and by Saturday night the Kennet was trying to escape sideways, Thames was up too.
Low temperatures mean the ground will probably stay waterlogged for most of March and into April I reckon.
I went up on the Ridgeway near Streatley briefly, fine up on the top, but some of the byways either side of the main route were a bit boggy, I'd expect it's the same mixture of ground conditions further west.

I'm on the route. It might be OK after a couple of months of hot, dry weather, so September-ish. Never seen it so wet around here. Also saw half-a-dozen green laners in Land Rovers basically turning a track into the Somme and impassable for anybody else. Great work, geniuses.

I live near the section between Old Sarum and Stonehenge. Struggling to walk some of my usual trails it's so sloppy! Not a chance in hell would I be riding it.

We did KAW over the May BH a couple years back. May conditions were perfection!

Low temperatures mean the ground will probably stay waterlogged for most of March and into April I reckon.

Ground conditions this time of year have little to do with temperature and everything to do with trees budding, leaves appearing on plants and everything bursting into life over the next few weeks and sucking the moisture out of the ground.