Join me on a bikepacking adventure of the West Country starting at Winchester in Hampshire. The plan is to travel towards the coast traversing Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall 750miles. My bike of choice is a hardtail mountain bike with tailfin panniers and I will be wildcamping throughout.
In part 1 I start at Winchester Cathedral and end up cooking my dinner outside Salisbury Cathedral before wild camping at Old Sarum nearby. Next day I quickly reach Stonehenge and pass through Glastonbury and end the day wildcamping at a bird sanctuary.
Conditions were good albeit too hot in the middle of a heat wave. Great for filming and getting the drone out.
Join me for part 2 and 3 as I reach the coast and head towards Devon. Enjoy!
Hello. Come join me on my 340 kilometer bike packing adventure in the West Country. For part one of this adventure, I’ll be starting at Winchester Cathedral. From there, I’ll head towards the magnificent Salsbury Cathedral where I relax cooking some food and flying my drone. Shortly afterwards, I search for my first wild camp spot at the historic sites of Old Surum. The next day, I head towards the historic site of Stonehenge, the most visited tourist attraction in the UK, before following the beautiful canal tow path all the way to Bath, taking in all that Bath has to offer. [Music] Hello. Good afternoon. It’s uh the 8th of July. I’m at Winchester by the King Alfred statue. You can see that behind me. And I’m just about to embark on a 750 mile epic bike packing tour of the southwest of England. Starting at Winchester, but I’m going to head towards the coast. First of all, I’ll be heading towards Bath. I’ll probably reach Stonehenge by tonight. And then from Bath, I’ll be heading towards Mine Head. From there, I’ll stick to the coast um through Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall and do a loop of uh the southwest coast. On the way back, I will be um hopefully camping out or at least passing through Dartmore and um passing through traversing through the New Forest. So, it should be epic. It’s going to be a hard one. It’s a little bit on the hot side this uh next week or two. So, I think um I will stick to the coast and hopefully it be a bit cooler. [Music] Wait, is it an automatic Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Northern Europe and the longest in overall length. The building shows the development of the architectural building styles from the dramatic normal work of the transeps right through to the late perpendicular Gothic work in the East End. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hi. I’m about 8 miles in now. Left Winchester behind. There’s an absolute massive hill getting out of Winchester, but that’s behind me now. I think this route’s going to be quite hilly. Um, according to my Garmin, there’s 16,000 m of ascent over 750 mi. So hopefully if I spread that out over a couple of weeks, it shouldn’t be too bad. But I’m sure there’ll be some killer days in there somewhere. But uh, yeah, it’s already quite a little bit hilly, and this is meant to be the flat part in Hampshire. And uh by the time I get to uh Devon and Cornwall, it’s going to be hills galore. Okay, just stopped. These hills are already killing me. Um one of the reasons I’ve chosen this trip is uh not because of the hills, although it does add to the fun in a type two kind of way. um is I just want to explain before that um I was going to do the rebellion way but after doing the Wolf way in Suffukk I decided that was that route was going to be too similar and taking on board the conditions I considered doing the Yorkshire Divide but uh it’s going to hit about 30° this weekend um still going to be warm here as well but hopefully I’ll be by the coast by that point but on the Devon coast uh somewhere near Minehead. head in a few days time. And [Music] [Music] Well, that was a bit sad. Apparently, a cyclist died at that spot. I thought it might be something celebrating the tour to France or something. But uh no. Make you realize how vulnerable we are as cyclists though, even on these quiet roads. You have to uh have your wits about you. So far so good. But uh you just never know what’s around the corner, do you? So, it’s my first bit of off-road now. Um, done about 10 miles altogether. So, a long way to go. It’s nice to do some off-road. This route has been uh planned on commute by myself. And it’s mainly on the road to be honest. So, I did put it in mountain bike mode to try and get as much gravel and off-road as possible. So, I think I’ve got about 15% which is still a decent amount. But um yeah, I got to put up with those cars a bit on this route, but I’m sure there’ll be plenty to see along the way. One of the reasons I brought my hard tail mountain bike is so that uh I’ve got good gearing for the hills. I don’t really need it that much for the surfaces. A gravel bike will suffice, but uh some good gearing in Devon and Cornwall is a must really for my experience. Just approaching S Sbury Cathedral. Hello. It’s 8:00 in the evening and I didn’t make it to Stonehenge, unfortunately. But uh guess what? Instead, I’m at Salsbury Cathedral, which is um absolutely epic. Hopefully, you can see that behind me. Hopefully, I can get a better shot in a moment with the drone, but it’s absolutely amazing. The in the uh commute description, it said that it was the best cathedral in the country, if not the world. and I thought, “Yeah, a bit of marketing hype.” But when you see it for real close up, it really is something special. So, I’m going to have to head off for camp shortly. I’m not going to make it to Stonehenge, but I will pass Stonehenge in the morning. So, hopefully I can take a few close-up shots um as I pass by uh first thing in the morning at dusk. So, look forward to that. Salsbury Cathedral is one of the most magnificent churches in the UK, if not the world. Built between 1220 and 1258, the cathedral’s intricate main body took a whopping 38 years to complete. Standing at 123 m, its spire is the highest in the UK. You can also visit the finest surviving original copies of the Magna Carta and one of the world’s oldest clocks. Salsbury Cathedral, formerly the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican Cathedral in the city of Salsbury. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of English Gothic design. Salsbury became the seat of a bishop in 1075. At the time, the city was at the now abandoned site of Old Surum on a hill about 2 miles north of the present-day cathedral. Old Sarum Cathedral was built in the years after and was consecrated in 1092. [Music] Old Sarum is one of the most enthralling and historically important sites in southern England. Uniquely, it combines a medieval royal castle and a cathedral within an Iron Age fortification and for 150 years was a major center of both secular and ecclesiastical government. Neither castle nor cathedral was occupied for long. In 1226, the cathedral was moved to nearby Salsbury. Although the castle remained an administrative center into the 14th century, old Sarum lived on. However, as a notorious rotten burougher, which was continued to elect members of parliament until 1832. Good morning. It’s day two. Uh, sorry I didn’t get time to report in last night. it. Um I arrived as it was getting dark about4 to 10 so not really enough time for that but uh you can see behind me there is a a wonderful view of Salsbury Cathedral. U absolutely lovely view was a lovely cathedral I must admit. This morning I’m uh going to head towards um Stonehenge. I think I’m about 9 miles away from Stonehenge. So, I hope to catch Stonehenge on the way to Bath, which um I’ll arrive there later on this afternoon. It’s going to be a hot one today. So, it’s going to be a bit hot and sweaty um uphill to begin with and then um the last part of the journey is downhill towards Bath. So, I’m looking forward to that part of it because it was already a little bit hilly yesterday. Um especially compared with the Wolf Way, which was completely flat. So, uh, this is going to be a much hillier ride, so you’ll be hearing about that quite a lot. Okay, that’s all for now. Speak [Music] Hello. I just thought I’d mention um my bike and my gear very briefly. I’m riding a hard tail 100 mm travel mountain bike for this trip. Um most of the uh trip will be on the road, but there are some gravel sections. Um probably over 100 miles of that. So I brought it along for comfort and for the mountain bike gearing which will come in useful for Devon and Cornwall. I think time will tell. I’ll let you know how I get on with that. So I’ve got some of the uh relatively new tail fin um pas which I find really good. um speaking to some bike packers yesterday about that. They uh are very stable, very easy to pack, very waterproof, although I haven’t fully tested them in the in the uh rain yet. And um yeah, really pleased with those. So um there’s a new version out apparently, so um there might be an even better version of those. They are a bit pricey though, beware. So, um, yeah, apart from that, I’ve got a, uh, a Dynamo hub, which they no longer make anymore, but it’s a pedal cell from America. They went out of business. Bit of a shame because it’s a very good a very good dynamo. And, um, yeah, you can see that’s the bike I’m I’m running for this trip. You can use a gravel bike, no problem, on this trip. Um maybe even a road bike um with some decent tread on the tires. Okay, that Come [Music] on. [Music] [Music] I mean, this is just a lovely commute. So, I’ve been doing this for years. This is your commute to work then? Yeah. That’s nice, isn’t it? 7 miles in, seven miles back. It just keeps me together. Are you going towards Stonehenge or I I head up along this uh path here? So, you’d like to get into bike pecking? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there’s a chap I used to work with who was uh big on it. He’s done the um uh American races on at the moment. The uh the uh Central America, you know, going down through Central America, Rocky Mountains, and Wow. Well, the Great Divide. Great Divide. Let’s Yeah. Yeah. And uh Yeah, I’d like to do that one. What got you into it? Um some Spanish guys got me into it, actually. I did a I did a ride in Spain about 10 years ago which progressed into crossing the Pyrenees and then I thought, well, this is just epic. But back then I wasn’t filming anything and the drones were much bigger. Okay. So, it wasn’t really practical. You don’t need a drone to film, by the way. You can just do it all on your phone if you wanted to. Yeah. Yeah. Um I’d like to get uh Ssbury Cathedral yesterday was absolutely epic. I took the drone up there and did a circle and I’ve just been to Old Sarum. Yeah, I camped at Old Sum. Okay. Um, probably not supposed to, but I did. And you stayed up there. Yeah. Campsite down the road from Not at the campsite. No, you just That’s while camping. Yeah, camping out somewhere. Yeah, I know. It’s a bit naughty, but uh Well, that’s the trouble. But that’s only, you know, you’re not doing anything. You have to take some small risks. And the worst that can happen is somebody will say you’ll have to move on, mate. But it there’s no Yeah, that happens. Not really. No, to be honest, I don’t pitch up until getting dusky. Yeah, people say, “Oh, what about having a shower and stuff like that?” You know, you’ve got to put up with a few things. So, Oh, yeah. I think I’ll be very spoiled. No. Yeah. It’s just making that that uh that jump that leap. Yeah. I’ll be staying at the odd campsite. I’ll probably have a couple of rest days cuz it’s going to take me a couple of weeks. So, yeah. I take a ship. You always go out on your own here or mainly. Yeah. I prefer me own company with this. Yeah. Your own pace and do your own things. I think doing your own pace. Everybody’s got their own pace. So it’s And people got different ideas how they want to do it, you know. So some people just want to get drunk every night. So I’m not into that. So um I try I plan this route myself. So I go off road as much as I can. Yeah. That’s what I try to do. Yeah. But [Music] good morning. It’s quart 9 and uh as you can see from just behind me, I’ve made it to Stonehenge. I did want to come here last night, but never mind. Um, I was still at a really cool place at Old Surum, not far from Salsbury. So, on the outskirts of Salsbury, which was really nice as well. That was uh I’m going to have to look into the details of that one. So, yeah, I think uh Stonehenge, everybody knows it. So, uh the most visited tourist attraction um in the country. I think there’s hardly anybody here yet. So, I think it opens at 9. There’s a public byway which I’ve cycled through, but I’m not allowed to put the drone up in this section. So, I might see whether I can pop over to the the main road and uh do a little bit of drone footage as well. That would be cool. But yeah, absolutely uh gorgeous day. I slept quite well. Got full 7 hours. Feeling quite good. I’m going to have some porridge shortly and then uh head towards bath. Okay, that’s all for now. See you. Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, built in several stages between approximately 3,100 BC and 1600 BC. The most iconic part, the stone circle, was erected in the late Neolithic period around 2500 BC. It is one of the most famous and enigmatic prehistoric sites in the world. [Music] morning. It’s uh 20 11 on day two and guess what? I’ve got a puncher. So sealant was flying out of the back wheel. Um I thought it might seal itself, but it didn’t. So I’m going to try and fix it now. I’ve just tried to pump it up and the uh valve came out. So um yeah, it’s turning into a little operation. Let’s see how we get on. I’ve got inner tubes if I need them, but hopefully I can reseal it and get on my way. Okay, just tightening the valve core cuz that came out. It must have been slightly loose when the pump was connected. And then I’ll attempt to get some air back in. And then it’s a question of will it seal or not. Well, it’s nearly an hour later and uh I’ve had fun and games with the tire. um it just wouldn’t seal with the sealant. So, I’ve put a dino plug in now and uh fingers crossed it will work, but uh there might not be much sealant left in there to seal the dino plug. So, it could be an inner tube job still. So, uh fingers crossed. Okay, wish me luck. Impact area keep closed. Well, my roots blocked at the moment in this military area. So, uh definitely not going in there. Could get into a lot of trouble. Could get blown up even. So, I’m going to take the path over to the left here and uh hopefully that will take me to the uh the next main road and I can get on my way. So far, my punch is holding up. So, uh fingers crossed. It’s only been 10 minutes, but uh so far so good. The Salsbury Plane Military Training Area in Wiltshire is a large area used for live firing and other military training activities. It is the largest military training area in the UK, covering over 94,000 acres. Live firing occurs around 340 days a year. and the areas used by the regular army, the army reserve, cadets and NATO allies. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hi, it’s about 4:00 on day two. I’m heading towards Bradford uneven now. Um, I left the Ridgeway some time ago. The puncher seems fine now. I actually managed to fix it with a dino plug, which is the first time I’ve used one to be honest. Um, but it came in handy. So, still running tubeless. Lost quite a lot of um sealant though, so we’ll see how we get on. Hopefully, no more punches. And uh yeah, I lost quite a lot of time. Also um on the ridgeway, I got uh effectively blocked on my route by the military firing range who sent me back to where I started. So probably lost a couple of hours all in all, but uh that’s how it goes sometimes. Um maybe next time I’ll go around that bit, but uh yeah. Okay, I will uh probably report in from Bradford upon even. Speak soon. Bye. Yeah, thank you. Well, I’ve just been to Bradford upon Haven and uh it was a nice place, but uh far too much traffic for my liking, so I didn’t hang around there. I would have liked it if there was a nice quiet spot. Just bought a can of drink from the shop. I’ll try to I’ll try and find another spot somewhere in the shade. It’s absolutely boiling today. I think it’s going to be a really hot week, but uh with a little bit of luck, by the time I get to the coast, the uh Somerset Dorset coast, it should start to cool off a little bit compared with the rest of the country. That’s one of the main reasons I’m doing this route. But it might be wishful thinking cuz thus far I’ve been sweating buckets. So it’s uh saying that at night it’s a nice temperature. Probably nicer than where you at home right now. But uh yep, just make the most of it. I’m traveling along the canal um path, tow path all the way up to uh Bath at the moment. So I’m looking forward to seeing Bath. I’ve been there two or three times, but yeah, it’s a lovely place as well. Okay, that’s all for now. [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh, yep. Hello. Well, I found a quiet spot in the shade um just outside Bradford upon Haven. Just got a little bit lost trying to get from one side of the uh canal to the other, but sort it out in the end. And uh what stunning views between Bradford Pon Haven and uh Bath on the uh canal tow path. Yeah, I definitely recommend that. Going to head towards Bath. It’s probably about 7 or 8 miles now and looking forward to uh doing um some nice filming in Bath. It’s very historic as as you all know. And then uh from there I’ll head on uh to find a camp spot and see how that goes. Absolutely boring today, but uh hopefully in the next few hours it’ll be cooling down. So uh can’t complain. See you later. Bye. [Music] Sorry. [Music] [Music] Have you come far or? Well, I’ve come from Bradford today. Oh, okay. And uh but I’ve cycled from here to Bradford and even Yeah. Then back again. Sure. It’s lovely, isn’t it? Absolutely lovely. Yeah. It’s not a bad little run really. It’s a shame uh there’s so much hedge cuz some of the views over that way are really nice. Yeah. Absolutely stunning. Yeah. This was always called Sunset Strip. I mean really any hedge. Yeah. A tiny little you get the sun all you got a proper cycle tour. How far have you come today? Um well I’m doing about 60 miles today. So yeah. So um I had a puncher at one point. So I lost an hour fixing that cuz I’m tubless. So all the sealant was squirting out. And then I was going through the Salsbury um uh firing range. All right. Yeah. And they had the red flags up. So I they sent me back. So I lost a couple of hours just messing around like that. Where have you come from then? Um, not far from SS Salsbury. Yeah. Yeah. I was at the cathedral last night. Okay. That was uh pretty special. Yeah. I read on Kimoot that it was the best cathedral in the country, if not the world. I thought, nah, it can’t be that good. But yeah, when you see it, it’s uh Yeah, it’s pretty spectacular. Yeah. So, [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, hey. [Music] [Music] Oh, still on the canal. Not too far to go now. About less than three miles to Bath. Done about 50 miles. It’s cooling off a little bit. I’ve just been to a church to get some uh water supplies. So, uh fully replenished on that front. My water was warming up, so it’s pretty disgusting to drink. But uh got some nice fresh water now. So, yeah, this canal is a lovely canal. I must admit, it’s first time I’ve been on it. so many uh canal boats. It’s uh quite a a lifestyle choice for a lot of people. I think I’ve just been past one one boat and they had some uh some goats by the side of the uh the boat. So, I haven’t seen that before. Not quite sure why they need so many goats, but uh maybe they’re just there for pets, but uh interesting to see anyway. Okay, I’m sure reporting at Bath. See you soon. Bye. Bath’s history is rich and spans from pre- Roman times to present day. It’s known for its Roman baths and Georgian architecture, but also has significant historical roots as a spa town and a center for high society. Archaeological evidence suggests human activity around the hot springs as far back as 8,000 BC. The legendary Prince Ladard is said to have founded the city around the hot springs in 863. The Romans established aquis meaning waters of solace in the first century AD building a sophisticated bathing and temple complex around the hot springs. This included the Roman baths, a temple to sol Manurva and other structures. The baths were renowned for their healing properties and attracted visitors from across Britain and Europe. [Applause] In the post Roman period, Bath was captured by the West Saxons in 577 after the battle of Diorum and the monastery was founded potentially in 675 and later came under the control of Mercia. The Anglo-Saxon poem, The Ruin, may describe the Roman site around this time. In the Georgian period in the 18th and early 19th centuries, Bath became a fashionable spa town and a center of social life, particularly for the upper classes. The city underwent significant architectural development during this period with the creation of iconic landmarks like the royal crescent and the circus. The novelist Jane Austin notably depicted Bath society in her works. Bath in the modern era. While the city spa facilities declined in the 20th century, there has been a resurgence of interest in the spa culture with the opening of the ThermaBath Spa in 2006. Bath remains a popular tourist destination and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s half 8 in the evening and I’m just leaving Bath now. What an amazing place. Brimming with history in every corner. Too many tourists for my liking, but uh you can’t have everything. It was a lovely atmosphere in there. I must admit, sun was out. Everybody was having a great time chilling out and uh yeah, just uh a real feast for the ice, as they say. So now the mission is to uh find somewhere to uh camp. Um good news is it’s light until about4 to 10, if not 10:00. So plenty of time hopefully. I’m hoping I can find something while the terrain’s still reasonably flat cuz I can see some massive hills in the in the background. So let’s see how that goes. Okay, bye for now. Well, I hope you enjoyed part one of this bike packing adventure in the West Country. I hope you’ll join me for part two of this adventure where I leave Bath behind and head towards and traverse the spectacular Cheddar Gorge before reaching the amazing Wells Cathedral and the historic town of Glastenbury. I find a wild camping spot at a bird sanctuary whilst trying to sort out my never-ending puncture. The next day, I head towards Mine Head, negotiating the Quantok Hills in 30° heat, where I end up getting another puncher, but eventually arrive at my destination, Mine Head, where I get my first view of the coastline.