King Alfreds Way

Five of us set off on the 23/09/21 to undertake a 5 day trip of KAW starting at Farnham where they have a good quality and secure car park next to the station. Our first stop was Petersfield, then Winchester followed by Devizes and Wantage before returning to Farnham. We were lucky with fine weather for the duration of the trip.

In terms of bikes, we had two Gravel bikes both TI, with  11 speed , 38 and 40 front chain rings coupled with 11/46 rear cassettes, one running G allround 35 and the other 42 WTB SG2 Resolutes. A hardtail mountain bike, a touring bike fitted with 38 Specialised tyres , triple Sora and an electric Specialised bike with a standard GRX set up.  Age range 55 to 68. The terrain is very different across the route from sandy loam, which will eat your drive chain up if not washed off that evening , to hard pack chalk across the Ridgeway . Make no mistake, some of the route is punishing and a good level of fitness is required. You will end up pushing your bike up some of the climbs such as Buxted Hill. Recommended is a tyre with a minimum width of 35mm. The rewards are on a clear day, some of the most fantastic views England has to offer in areas which only cyclists and walkers can access . We booked Hotels in the aforementioned stops and travelled a total of 233 miles . Elated but exhausted on our final day.

Some tips - If riding a gravel bike or something similar , buy the Redshift stem shock absorber and seat post version. I do not work for them but it allowed me to keep up with the MB on fast gravelly descents and saved my hands and wrists from the pain of riding for 7-8 hours a day. The saddle was a Brooks B17 and when coupled with the seat post suspension took the sting out of a lot of the bumps and ruts. I had no saddle soreness or bruised sit bones after 5 days of riding an average of 7 hours a day. Yep, we are not the fastest of cyclists. I cannot recommend these items highly enough. It does not provide full suspension but has a brilliant dampening effect. Not cheap but worth it in the long run and you can transfer the items to a new bike. Ensure you take a well-stocked tool kit. Punctures will happen and you need to take account of the delays they will cause when you decide on how far you will travel daily and your start time. Remember, once you are off road, your average speed will take a serious knock and you don’t want to be riding in the dark . For example on our last day we suffered 6 punctures between us caused by riding over open land with Gorse bushes and the thorns took their toll. A good quality pump is essential or even easier lots of CO2 cannisters but make sure you take it all home. 

The future- It took about a week for my thighs to recover from some of the hills we climbed and all of us came off our bikes due to the rutted narrow paths , of which there are many ,  sunken down below the adjacent ground level. This means it is very easy to catch a tyre on the edge and you are over.

The assembled view was that KAW was a fantastic circuit , well thought out but we were all glad that we finished and one to tick off the bucket list. Would we do it again? Not in a hurry , certain sections like the Ridgeway ,which was stunning, may be attempted again. 

The one area that concerned us all was the state of parts of the course which need flattening out. This of course may be too costly and access may be difficult; but if not some sections within the next few years will be almost impossible to ride.

Good luck to all who decide to ride KAW. Make sure you plan ahead and enjoy.