King Alfreds way off road adventure day 4. East Kennett to Reading

 King Alfreds Way Day 4

After yesterday’s toughie, with nearly 8 hours of actual cycling. Today looked pretty straight forward. 5 miles less and not so many metres to climb with just the small matter of a 3 hour drive back to Norwich tagged on the end.

We had heard the earlier part of today was the hardest so Big George’s plan b was to skip this bit and meet me at the first planned cafe stop after 18 miles. All sounded pretty straight forward, what could possibly go wrong?

There was no early Breakfast option but it was still pedals down at 8.45. Big George waved me off and then went off to the read the paper as he’s trip would be at least an hour shorter. rendezvous time was 11:15.

With a chill in the air I was quickly on climb 1 (of 5) of the day up to the Ridgeway. The track was awful with deep ruts. So no chance of this being climb of the day.

Once at the top it was even worse. However it appears Wiltshire council are on it as apparently roping of an area and hoping the ruts will disappear seems to be their strategy. I would suggest a lorry load of tarmac would be a better way ahead.

I continued to bump along the top of the ridgeway averaging no more than 8mph. I ended up cycling over many fields in the middle of nowhere and in one, again came face to face with a herd of angry cows who won’t get out of the way.

I eventually turned off to meet up at the cafe stop. I was very impressed to get there on time at 11:15. Big George, on the other hand didn’t turn up until 15 minutes later only to claim I was early.

It was a very average stop and everything was good but not exceptional. So it didn’t prove decisive In my gravel vs road bike cafe science experiment.

With Big George back we returned to the Ridge way so he too could enjoy being vibrated.

The next 40 miles along the Ridge way were a slog. We were shaken the whole time as we rode along bumpy or stoney tracks and the view was pretty much the same throughout. Regular stops were needed to let our wrists and bottoms recover.

As my science experiment had pretty much fallen apart and wanting to get off the Ridge way as soon as possible we decided to miss out the next cafe stop and save ourselves a 4 mile detour. Instead I set up a pop up cafe offering water, flapjack or energy bar and we took it in turns to be the barista.

It was with much relief that we eventually got off with 15 miles to go in the day. Most of which would be on the Thames path, which sounded flat. I even said we will get back to the car much earlier than our 6pm estimate, but when will I ever learn.

All seemed well when we found the Thames

But when we reached the path instead of it running along side the river it headed inland and over some ridiculously steep slippery sections with much bike pushing needed.

Then with all the bumping and rattling of the last few days one of the screws must have come out of my cleat and my shoe was stuck in the pedal. We tried for 20 mins and couldn’t get it out so I just had to continue and remember not to use that leg when stopping. As they were the only pair of shoes I had with me it meant any walking required during the rest of the day would be done one shoed.

We finally found the nice river path we were expecting but there was still time to get lost in Reading before we found where we had parked the car and our King Alfreds Way gravel bike adventure was complete.

But what have we learned.

1. Gravel biking on King Alfreds way was much harder than expected

2. Cycling across fields takes a long time

3. The jury remains out as to if gravel bike cafes are as good as road bike ones

4. Don’t use a handle bar bag when on a gravel biking trip and always pack cable ties and gaffer tape on any cycling adventure 

5. I prefer cycling my gravel bike on the road as does it as it took one hell of a beating.

6. King Alfred must have been a very good cyclist

7. Big George doesn’t like being photographed pushing his bike up hills. Which considerably limits the number of photos he can be in

8. Don’t ever consider taking Mrs Crusader on a gravel bike adventure as she hates to be jiggered on her bike.

9. If you feel your cycling guest may not be available to rate the guest hot drinks at all the planned stops then pack a spare one

10. Have another cycling adventure in a couple of weeks but this time stick to the road (which is exactly what I plan to do)

Map of todays route

Day 4 route

Day 4 elevation

Cafe ratings

Cafe	Hot Choc Quality	Guest Hot Drink Quality	Cake Selection	Cake Taste Quality	Atmosphere and Ambiance	Total
Wellington Farm Shop	7.2	6	6.8	7	7.8	6.96
Brown bear book shop Farnham		8	7.3	8.6	5	7.23
Queen Elizabeth Country Park	6.3	6	8	6.5	5.5	6.46
Heale Garden tearoom		7	7.5	7.9	8	7.60
St Arbucks cafe	Never made it
Three Trees Farm shop cafe	7.6	7	6.4	7.5	6.5	7.00
Saddlebank farm cafe	Never made it

Stats 

Route	Miles	Average Mph	Time on Bike	Metres climbed
Reading to Hindhead	47.6	9.81	4:50	791
Hindhead to Winchester	49.7	8.91	5:34	1132
Winchester to East Kennett	69.7	9.1	7:40	1316
East Kennett to Reading	61.1	9.1	6:43	1007
Totals	228.1	9.2	24:47	4246