“Aren’t off road miles a lot harder in the winter?”
I nod in agreement as I shove the last morsel of a sickly-sweet petrol station doughnut into my mouth and wash it down with a gulp of hot chocolate. I check my Garmin. It’s only 5pm but it feels a lot later and we still have 20km to go until we reach our accommodation for the night. By accommodation I mean a warm cottage with a hot shower and a soft comfortable bed - there will be no bivvying outside in the bushes on this trip, that’s something I save for the warmer months.
This was the first of three December days spent riding the new North Downs Way Riders' Route.
I’ve just spent a long dry summer hacking around my local hills in the South Downs National Park. Fast rolling grass downland, flinty farm tracks, dry dusty woodland singletrack and chalky bridleways have been my staple for the last 8 months. Its home to the South Downs Way (SDW), a long-established shared route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders and whilst it’s certainly not easy riding, particularly once you throw in nearly 13000ft (3960m) of climbing, it is possible to ride the length of the 100 mile (160km) route as a long day out with a decent level of fitness and a lot of snacks.
Historically the North Downs Way (NDW) has been a trickier proposition on a bike - unlike the SDW, large sections of the NDW are footpath-only so cyclists have had to find their own detours.
A few years ago, Cycling UK launched the original cycle friendly version of the route which with further research, trail improvements and a £300,000 investment by Kent Downs AONB has recently become the newly launched North Downs Way Riders' Route. Despite living just 30 miles from the start point of Farnham I have never ridden the route, so jumped at the chance of being one of the first riders on the updated version, even with the questionable winter launch date.
The new 153 mile (250km) Riders' Route is largely traffic free, following the original North Downs Way where possible, but also including parts of the Greensand Way, Pilgrims Way and Via Francigena with sections of quiet country lane to link it all up. Passing through both the Surrey Hills and Kent Downs areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty there is plenty of variation in the landscapes and terrain as well as numerous historical sites including eight castles, three cathedrals, neolithic sites and roman forts.
We rode the route over three days, but it could easily be split into shorter sections to make for a more leisurely ride with time to visit some of the landmarks or maybe one or two of the selection of quaint country pubs on route and in the drier summer months the route could even be completed in 2 days by the fitter and faster among us. There are train stations with easy links to London and the south, not only at the start and finish, but also at various points along the way so it would be easy to split the ride over a few separate visits if you didn’t fancy it in one hit. Part of the recent investment was spent on creating an interactive map that shows transport links, food, accommodation, bike shops and points of interest on or near the route, making planning a custom trip an easy job.
Cycling UK recommend riding a mountain bike for the route, but I rode a Mason ISO for this trip. It's not quite a mountain bike and not quite a gravel bike either, but the perfect tool for a multi-day off road adventure with its fast rolling 29x2.3 tyres, dropped bars and multiple luggage possibilities. My ride partner was on an old rigid mountain bike with more knobbly tyres that had the edge on the more technical and muddier terrain but was slower on the easier bits and road sections, so both bikes had their plusses and minuses. In the drier months the route would be ridable on a gravel bike, but I would still recommend squeezing in the chunkiest rubber that you can as the terrain and riding surfaces vary hugely as you move along the route.
Kit wise, it was a simple matter of packing some clean riding kit and waterproofs, some clothes for the evening in case of a visit to a pub or restaurant, toiletries and bike repair kit. It turned out that both of our cottages had washing machines so we could have packed even lighter. Having accommodation booked is a great way to keep luggage weight down and make those hills slightly easier.
Starting off with the beautiful ancient woodlands and sandy trails of the Surrey Hills, we were blessed with stunning autumnal colours, but if you ride here in the springtime you will find fresh greenery and bluebell woods.
We skirt around Guildford and follow a little of the Wey Canal before the real climbing starts, up and over Ranmore Common before dropping back down to pass through Denbies Wine Estate and over the River Mole. After navigating a crossing of the busy A24 we bypass the roadie mecca that is the hairpins of the Box Hill road climb and head straight upwards on the steeper but shorter stoney bridleway option. There’s the reward of a café and panoramic views once you reach the summit. We stay high for a while just dropping down briefly to wave at the cars passing below us on the M23, probably oblivious to the beautiful countryside that’s rushing past them.
At around 85km, the town of Oxted is the suggested first stopping point for the three-day itinerary but after the aforementioned petrol station forecourt refuel, we had enough energy to push on further. The old version of the route heads north from here but instead we take the new version which takes us south of Sevenoaks towards the High Weald. I’m not sure if it was just the tiredness and darkness kicking in but this final 20km of our 105km first day seemed to squeeze a lot of small but punchy climbs in and we were both off and pushing our bikes at various points. Even the flatter parts took a lot of effort due to a thick covering of fallen leaves that prevented us from picking a drier line through muddy patches.
Upon arrival at Ide Hill we were very excited to find a pub with a log fire and the prospect of a hot meal, so just imagine our disappointment at finding the kitchen was closed for a private Christmas function. We took a detour to find food at another pub, before a freezing roll down the hill to our accommodation for the night, a cosy cottage on the Bore Place Estate - a small but worthwhile deviation off route with glamping options for the warmer months.
Our second day was nearly 40km shorter than the previous extended opener, but somehow it packed in not far off the same amount of climbing and a bit more mud that yesterday’s sandy soil had spared us from. There were a couple of decent sized climbs that would have been a challenge to clear in summer, let alone in December whilst feeling slightly depleted from having apparently undereaten the previous day.
It amazes me every year how much more fuel your body burns in cold weather - a combination of keeping itself warm and the additional difficulty of riding on soft ground. Despite running through a highly populated part of the country, the route planning team have done an amazing job of picking their way around most of the busy parts to provide a real sense of peace, wilderness and adventure, so the appearance of a McDonalds came as an unexpected but not unwelcome surprise. It’s somewhere I avoid in all but the most desperate of circumstances, but these were desperate circumstances, so an emergency burger, chips and Festive Pie were devoured to fuel us through the final part of the day which just so happened to consist of two of the steepest climbs of the trip.
Imagine the joy of dropping down off the hills to arrive at our second night’s accommodation just before darkness set in, a joy that doubled (or maybe even tripled) on the discovery that our cottage has its own log burning hot tub and handmade cakes on arrival… I did warn you this wasn’t your standard bikepacking bivvy trip! Stable Oak Farm currently offers cottages only, but they are planning to offer camping for your more traditional style of bikepacking in 2023. We loaded the wood burner with logs and walked into the local village for a huge curry house dinner before a hot soak, full bellies and warmed bones were a perfect end to the day. Lessons were certainly learnt after our previous under-fuelling issues.
We wake up well rested and ready for the final stretch to our finish in Dover, but not before a quick visit to the resident animals. There were alpaca and pigs to feed and a whole gaggle of geese, chickens and one grumpy turkey. We had 75km to cover today, although covering the full extended Riders Route that runs along the coastline and loops back up to Wye would have added on a further 40km. The miles pass by a lot faster today - the terrain is more familiar to us as it’s chalky downlands and open valleys. There’s fast rolling farmland and what would be some beautiful views on a clear sunny day. The ground is also firmer under our tyres which helps and a second breakfast/early lunch comes around quickly at Chilham, before a flat ride into Canterbury on a gravelled cycle path alongside the River Stour.
The route joins onto the Via Francigena at its start point in Canterbury, an ancient Camino pilgrimage route that stretches over 1900km all the way to Rome. I rode part of route during a trip to Tuscany earlier this year and the pathway through Kent felt strangely familiar - a long straight rocky path sheltered between trees and hedgerows. In Tuscany, the foliage provided shade from the heat of the sun, here in Kent it provided protection from a cold easterly wind that had been pestering us over the last couple of days.
We ride in virtually a straight line through fields and farmland all the way to Dover. There’s something exciting about knowing that the route we have been following continued on over the channel through France, Switzerland and Italy. If you wanted to make an extended trip without crossing the channel you can pick up the Cantii Way from here and explore further east around the Kent coastline or west over to Rye and Winchelsea in East Sussex.
The temptation to hop on the ferry to continue on across Europe to Rome was huge. Sadly though there’s bills to be paid, so after a brief visit to the gate of the closed Dover castle and a photo opportunity at the water’s edge we head to the train station to make our way home, our muddy bikes getting a few raised eyebrows from the suited commuters on their way back from the office. On the train we have time to reflect on our journey along the North Downs Way Riders' Route and are both in agreement that it was not only harder, but also more enjoyable than we expected it to be at this time of year. We also agreed that we would definitely come back to ride it again for a totally different experience in the summer.
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16x9 images courtesy of Jo Burt. Square images courtesy of Claire Frecknall
claire frecknall
Testing out a 250km/150mile gravel bikepacking route in the middle of winter sounded like it could be quite miserable. But then the cosy cottage with log-fired hot tub as overnight accommodation was mentioned and suddenly it sounds quite a lot more appealing. Claire Frecknall heads out on the newly re-launched North Downs Way Riders Route.