I’m pondering a little tour at the minute, Weymouth to The Wash could be a way of picturing it, linking up places I’ve wanted to see but never got around to, like Bovington tank museum, Beaulieu motor museum, Pitt Rivers in Oxford among others.

The Sustrans site is helpful in that it tells me these routes exist, sort of:

Short unopen sections exist through central Portsmouth; south of Southampton; out of Brockenhurst (New Forest), and within Christchurch but otherwise Route 2 is continuous across Hampshire.

Anyone from the area give me a bit more clue as to what to expect, road? Rail Trail? Tarmac? Gravel? Traffic or no?

Thanks.

Generally speaking, the default bike for a sustrans route is a hybrid/cyclocross/gravel bike- something that can take 40c tyres that have a bit of grip. WTB Nano tyres are excellent.

I’ve no knowledge of the specific ones you mention but my experience of Sustrans (i’ve done Aberdeen to Hull and various other short sections around the country) is that one minute you can be on smooth tarmac and the next, a rutted farm track.

I’d suggest planning your route on http://cycle.travel/map which on the whole I find tends to give accurate terrain descriptions. It also allows for easy routing when planning by dragging the route around so that you can avoid the off road sections if you’re riding a road bike.

Sounds like a great trip idea btw. Enjoy!

cycle.travel has come on leaps and bounds since I looked at it years ago, good work there from somebody. Yes, it’s a bit of a meander, I’m looking at taking in Bletchley Park, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh house in Northampton, Wicken Fen, and the Stump in Boston, because it’s not really a proper tour unless it starts and finishes at the seaside, is it?