I rode the route over 3 days with my wife last week, starting on the Friday in the rain. Rained all day the first day also making the next 2 days pretty damp to say the least. We both rode gravel bikes and while there are certainly places where a mtb would’ve been a bit better overall we were both happy with our bike choice. The route doesn’t have any technical downhill bits and there’s no particularly difficult climbs apart from butser Hill, but even that is over pretty quickly. Biggest problem was how overgrown some of the paths have become. Head high nettles are not fun. Also, I used to live close to the ridgeway but not been there for a few years. Forgotten how dull it is.

I wild camped the first night

Looks like you packed pretty light!!

did the KAW back in the beginning of March over 3 nights starting in Salisbury. Kinesis Tripster AT with 650b 50mm tyres and a spur of the moment purchase the day before a Redshift seatpost, a great descision! slightly overpacked but had suncream for day one and waterproofs for day 2, wild camped and cooked too.
Plenty of others out there in the wind and rain, luckily we had it behind us on the Ridgeway though some unlucky groups going straight into it on the worst day.
Bike handles all the downs fine, pushed up maybe 4 hills, Butser obviously, one up to some ramparts that I can’t remember the name of and one with the steps. GRX double 30/46 – 11/42.
Would I do it on my Solaris? no. I think it would be boring personally and the route doesn’t warrant it plus my Kinesis is set up so it is comfortable off road, thinner 700c tyres and rigid seatpost and I might change my mind just on the comfort stakes.
We did leapfrog a rider just as you hit the off-road after Winchester where he started. He was dressed in full lycra, descent stuff too, road helmet and road shoes on a DMR Rhythm 24″ jump bike single speed with slick tyres, long seatpost and big back pack. He’d told his wife he’d be home by the weekend! He overtook us up the hills as he had only one speed and we caught him at every junction as he was using a map. Lost him in the end when he had to find a shop for water. Love to know how he got on.
Not much in the way of pubs open in March but managed to park my breakfast in supermarkets and petrol stations when necessary.

My shocking conclusion after day one of the KAW is that mtbs and gravel bikes are both absolutely fine. Ride what you have.

I did this on my Salsa Cutthroat last year and it was great. I’m really new to off road riding but really enjoyed the route. I did have 2.2 Vittoria Mezcals on thought which helped – no way I’d have wanted to do it on skinny tyres. I’ve seen promo with a touring bike which I think is actually really misleading and could be pretty disappointing if you start something and have to abandon, or end up pushing the whole way round.

I did it fully laden on a gravel bike over 4 days in the heatwave during the summer. With the exception of a couple of small sections i was delighted to be on a gravel bike instead of an mtb. Horses for courses, ride what you want etc.

Gravel bikes are the latest ‘thing’ (before that it was plus bikes, before that it was fat bikes). I wait to see what the next niche will be.

I do see the appeal behind them, but their use case over a CX bike or XC bike seems extremely limited.

i know it’s dragging up an old comment, but the flaw in this attitude is the assumption that you already have either an CX bike or and XC bike. At which point, a gravel bike probably is superfluous.