The Ridgeway longweekend

[Mike]

We decided ( AW n myself ) to ride the ridgeway trail a couple of weeks ago now, over a four day period. Arriving in Calne and leaving the car there added an extra 22miles to our route which turned out to be some nice riding on country lanes/ sustrans / singletrack. We started at 1pm and arrived in Avebury around 2ish where we went straight to the pub for a drink ( i think we picked the hottest weekend to do this ). Cricky it was hot. We made our way to the start of the ridgeway in no time and off we went. The first 5 miles was pretty rough going as we both took the CX bikes. The trail is pretty hard packed and rutted from 4x4 and horses. After this the trail is really nice apart from a couple of sections. Its rides fast on the cx bikes with skinny tires. We got to the end to then turned around and rode back.
In total we rode 216 miles in three full days and we were both pretty spent afterwards. Very enjoyable and can highly recommend it but do go in a dry spell as the chalk surface will be horrid in the wet.
P8080025 by mjc_226, on Flickr

P8090039 by mjc_226, on Flickr
Night 1 was spent in the ancient hill fort at white horse

P8090042 by mjc_226, on Flickr
Sunrise from here was stunning

P8090044 by mjc_226, on Flickr
We did have to move up onto the mound to get the sun though in the morning

P8090057 by mjc_226, on Flickr
Having made it to the end on Sat evening we decided to start riding back and find a bivy spot which happened to be on a common

P8110070 by mjc_226, on Flickr
Our last night was another late arrival and very windy, luckily i remembered a wood we passed on the first day. It turned out to be a grand spot with one other wildcamper beating us to the prime spot by the bench.

P8090058 by mjc_226, on Flickr
The route.....have a go its nice!!

[Dave Barter]

Looks like one bivy (woods) was on Liddington Hill, you can see my house from there

[benp1]

How hard is it? I'm up for doing this at some point, not sure if i'll have time for the double though

Which direction did you prefer?

Thinking SW to NE is better for wind..

[Zippy]

Thinking SW to NE is better for wind..

It wasn't when I did it

Looks far more civilised than thrashing it out in one hit, photo's look ace

[Pete-G]

Looks like a good trip. Love the look at that first spot. The Ridgeway has caught my attention for my first multiday trip as its not a million miles from work/home.

[Mike]

Dave those trees on Liddington hill were our first choice for night 3 but it was late n dark when we arrived there and it was bloody spooky. Some weird shrine thing to loads of people who've passed away so we decided to carry on the woods we stayed at were just south on the byway near Upham farms. Much better spot. If we knew u lived so close we would of called in mate.

The route would be fine in either direction as a one way route but I personally would prefer it starting at Avebury I thought there seamed more climbing coming back and the descents seamed nicer going south. As for it being the first multi day route/trip its a cracker theres loads of bivy spots as it very remote up on the Ridgeway for most of it. I will defo do it again sometime.

[benp1]

Cool, so southbound might be better

I'd hopefully do it with a mate so we can have a car at either end

[ctznsmith]

What prompted leaving the car at Calne?

Considering riding some of this and wondering where to leave a vehicle for a couple of nights mid-week to start at Avebury?

[Mike]

I left it at the fire stn there and the route from there to Avebury looked quite nice along the sustrans. However there were loads of safe parking on the side streets tbf.
As for Avebury parking on the road there wasnt much room around the village as it was really busy.

[Mart]

As I come from Midlands, I opted to leave the car near the M40 near a village called Chinnor, for ease of getting on route. There was a good off road bit to park up

Worked out quite well in the end, and had the option to go either way from there. In the end I had a blast form there to Ivanhoe Beacon and back then the following weekend I did the longer half to Avebury and back. Ivanhoe end is more shady wiith tree cover in contrast to the Avebury end which is more open through the fields and open to the elements

[Zippy]

As I come from Midlands, I opted to leave the car near the M40 near a village called Chinnor, for ease of getting on route. There was a good off road bit to park up

For similar reasons, but coming from the South East, I started Ivanhoe end (as it was possible to get there fairly easily after work) and setup camp at this place:

https://goo.gl/maps/vU9jZ

It was an alright campsite and good basecamp for a Ridgeway double attempt - owner didn't mind that I left at just before 7am and rolled back into my tent 19 hours later at 2am. I suspect he wouldn't mind if you spoke to him to leave your cars there (providing you're gonna actually camp)

[ctznsmith]

Thanks. I assume leaving it at the firestation was a 'work perk'?

I was planning on starting at Avebury as I'm thinking of riding part of the route with a newbie bikepacker. So a slow easy ride over a couple of days to Wallingford would mean you could get a train from Didcot to Chippenham to complete a loop.

[Mike]

yeap! it comes in handy sometimes, especially in scotland when im away for 10 days or more

[Mike]

If ur doing it over two days to wallingford id aim to bivy at the fort at white horse hill, its a great spot and about halfway for you. Just wait till all the peolpe have dissapeared and ul have it to urselves!!

[jameso]

Nice sunrise pics.

i'm very near the Ivinghoe Chiltern end of the Ridgeway, about 4 miles, should anyone want a parking spot or kit drop point etc for a ride on the route. It's a great ride, nothing too hard and lovely countryside on a nice day.

Took my OH for a first bikepacking weekender a few weeks ago, 80-ish miles on the Chiltern end and stopped for sausages on a camp fire at a well-used spot above Goring. She has an e-pinnacle proto so she carried the cherger and her own kit, worked really well. Particularly the 2 1/2 hr pub-stop for a recharge : )

[Farawayvisions]

That looks great.