Bikepacking the Old Chalk Way – Part 1 – Jurassic Coast, Gold Hill & A Big D*%#”

Welcome to part one of my four-part bikepacking adventure along the Old Chalk Way, a 358-mile journey from Lyme Regis on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast to Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. This historic route loosely follows Britain’s oldest road—the Greater Ridgeway, a prehistoric pathway dating back 5,000 years—traversing rolling green hills, farmland doubletrack, tarmac back lanes, woodland bridleways, and forestry fire roads.

In this episode, I kick things off in Lyme Regis, known for its stunning white sandy beaches and classic seaside charm. After indulging in some fresh fish and chips, I pedal north through the North Dorset Downs, setting up camp in a serene woodland spot before visiting the Cerne Abbas Giant, a fascinating chalk figure shrouded in mystery.

From there, I tackle one of England’s most iconic climbs—Gold Hill, made famous by Ridley Scott’s legendary Hovis advert—before wrapping up the day with another stealth camping experience deep in the woods.

Join me as I embark on this epic ride across ancient landscapes.

made it to the start Beautiful beach It’s quite busy but it’s a lovely white sandy beach I think we should go and dip the wheel in the sea I suppose if we’re going to do this properly Hopefully not my feet Right just demolished the massive trail chips and we’ve got 357 miles to go 2:00 in the afternoon and I’ve just got to the start So I’m not sure how far we’re going to get I need to really do another 30 miles So fingers crossed we can get that done today I think we can cuz I got nothing better to do than just ride So yeah we’re going to set off I’m feeling a little bit full now but I figured there’s just too much temptation here I could probably spend all day here just eating but I figured I’d just uh grab something to eat now and then I don’t have to worry so much about food later So yeah let’s go and get on with it I just realized I didn’t explain what the old chalk way is Still new to this YouTube thing So it’s about 360 mi just under 360 miles It starts in Lime Reges in Dorset It finishes in Wales next the sea in Norfolk So it’s kind of like a coast to coast but it sort of follows the greater ridgeway which is an ancient road the oldest road in Britain believed to be about 5,000 years old And yeah takes in some of the nicest sites in the south of England I guess or hopefully Anyway I’m bike packing it and uh yeah hopefully most nights I’ll be wild camping That’s the plan We’ll see how it goes Let’s get on with it I guess First bit of off-roading Let me tell you it is nice to be off road Probably won’t be saying that in a minute I’ll probably want to be back on the road Look at these trees They’re incredible I’ve said it before I love a good tree Although I wouldn’t want to be in that underneath that one there when that branch fell down I think they call them widow makers That’s a view ain’t it if there’s a little bit less fog I think it’d be incredible I mean it’s incredible now but I think how incredible it would be there And you can see for miles I reckon So I’ll be honest with you this ride pretty much nearly didn’t happen So last night I hadn’t packed I hadn’t got ready or anything and I just wasn’t feeling it I was just so shattered from all the stress from uh job searching and interviews and everything I just didn’t feel like I could do it Um but Haley convinced me to get out and just give it a go And I’m glad she did because so far today I’m enjoying it So yeah but I don’t know Maybe we won’t get to the end I’m just going to take each day as it comes We’ve got about 20 mile left to hit our target and it’s about half three Not sure if we’re going to hit the target today We’ll see Bit of a blockage here Few big trees come down So we’re going to have to carry the bike over it [Music] Oh Ow See where to go Yeah I did it I think there’s an issue with my uh dynamo hub not charging So yeah I mean it’s just not really doing charging anything My lights on the dynamo are working So that’s one thing I don’t know We might have to stop in a hotel one night just to charge some bits up I’ve got two power banks so I should be all right at least for a few days like a little river This is Oh dear look at that Hopefully we can get around it Oh this climb is huge and it’s very slippy But the thing I forgot about being loaded up is that extra weight over the rear wheel really does help with some traction I mean I’m on like a a semi slick rear tire and I can get up this stuff which is quite difficult Although I’m probably going to burn it in a second Can we make it to the top oh Oh Oh man Think we walking for a little bit for a little push Sometimes with bike packing you just should just get off and have a little bit of a push to be honest Especially if you’re doing long distance stuff cuz it just gives you a bit of a rest but you’re still moving You’re still getting towards where you need to get Um and a lot of the time you’re fully loaded and trying to ride up stuff like this you’re probably not going any faster If not you might be going slower than if you were riding up So it just makes sense to vary things up a bit Back on the bike Let’s get moving How deep do you think that is i think I might be able to sneak around the edge hopefully without getting wet I never know if it’s going to be like an inch deep or like four or five ft Oh it’s stuck Made it to Oakland’s no [Applause] more Church can only mean one thing We’re going to try and find some water outside tap Um shoulder pain started to rear its ugly head So yeah I’m going to try and find the next best spot to put the tent up and call it a day So we’ve done 55 miles so far but I I don’t know how far that’s going to be the next the next good spot So it could be 2 miles could be 10 could be 20 Hopefully not 20 Uh let’s see if we can find a tap There we go Hopefully it works Yeah it does It’s always a good idea to give these things like a a bit of a look over before you drink them And uh yeah it’s a bit murky It doesn’t smell the best I think I’m going to I’ll fill my bottle up with it and I can boil it but I’m not probably going to try and find some other source of water Hey sheep Oh this is a big hill I’ve hit the 60 mile target for the day Actually I haven’t found anywhere to sleep yet I think there might be somewhere up here So the reality of bike packing in England is you got to try and be a bit stealthy about it And I came up here thinking I’m going to be able to sleep in this in this little bit of woods And yeah it’s just too overgrown and stuff to even get in there So we got to find somewhere else So it’s not really the ideal dream campsite but I think it’ll do morning So I slept pretty terribly It’s like 6:00 a.m now I’ve been awake since 5 Um just after I set up the tent last night I heard um someone or people talking quad bike and um yeah I was convinced that they were going to come and find me um and make me move So I was like really really quiet until I definitely knew that they’d gone and then yeah we had dinner Um but I kept thinking through the night like someone’s going to come and find me Um so anyway I thought it’s best to just get up and get going So that’s what we’re going to do I need to sort out my power situation cuz I’m already halfway through one of my power banks Um so I need to try and fix that dynamo hub really So that’s something I need to do this morning I need to get some water and then we’re going to go and see a man with a big dick I’ll see you in a bit It’s a beautiful morning Not bad eh good news and bad news So the sun giant is over there and is a bit of a massive let down Good news is I think my uh dynamo hub has magically started working Woo so you can actually get a better look at the giant if you come up this uh past the abbey and then up this path Um you can go and have a look at him up there Although um unless you’re using a drone I don’t think you really get like appreciate the full giant It’s been a bit of a slow start this morning but at least my dynamo is charging now so that’s good It’s been pretty chilled out start day I need to just find some water now That’s the next the next goal of the day Got to give you some facts on the CER giant So some people believe he’s 5,000 years old Other people think is a few hundred years old drawn by a few lads um when they had a little bit too much to drink and they were just messing around on the hill I made a really nice van of what you don’t help yourself do you oh yes I see van Very mature Um or yeah it could be the Romans Um no one really knows This route has got some epic views Like seriously I’m just walking across this because it’s just that freshly plowed bum destroying stuff Um where you go no faster when you ride and then end up paying for it later In fact it’s probably the first bit on this whole route that is uncomfortable to ride on I think this is easily my favorite part of the route so far Do you ever wonder why there’s just a random tree just on its own in the middle of Yeah Um love a tree tip If you see a manky old water trough like this one obviously you don’t want to drink that water but [Music] fresh water I am going to put some um purification tablets in it But it looks good Look at all this wild garlic It’s everywhere It just makes me want garlic bread I need to find somewhere actually to go and have a a nice big breakfast I think Cheers Not a full English but I did just have uh iced coffee bag of crisps an ice cream and now I’m working my way through a bag of jelly babies just seen a farm shop and I thought I’ve got to stop I’ve got some other treats as well for later So yeah All good Oh I got some deodorant as well so I don’t have to smell quite as bad Up again Here we go Another hill I think I picked a really good time of year to do this because if you like wild flowers and blue bells they’re just everywhere Like the whole route so far is just lined with blue bells and wild garlic It’s absolutely stunning That downhill was a lot of fun But you know when you have a little bit too much fun and you just keep going and going and going and you think this is going on for a while and then you look down on your um GPS unit and realize you should have gone up this hill instead Yeah I just did that So now I’ve had to do just a little bit of extra climbing just to make up for that fun little downhill Just stopped for lunch uh cheese and bacon and toasty was very nice and a coffee and um a bit of free power from the from the uh plug sockets at the cafe Um although it didn’t really have much of an effect on my power bank Anyway it’s still plugged into the dynamo So hopefully by the end of today it’ll be fully charged Although I doubt it Yeah So we’re about halfway well just under halfway We’ve done about 23 mi and I want to do about 60 I planned it So if I do about 60 we’re going to get to like a big wooded area So I’m hoping that there’ll be somewhere decent to to put the tent up and yeah fingers crossed So far today it’s been quite slow going particularly the start of the day although it seems to be speeding up So fingers crossed it’s going to be nice and fast flowing So we’ve got this flat bit now So hopefully that should make let me make up a little bit of time I think this is another one of those classic inverted railway lines that we’re riding on at the minute Got some old steam trains back there See I didn’t want to curse it by talking about it but I thought if I ignored it it go away But my shoulders starting to hurt again And we not even got that far through It’s ridiculous Oh well Hopefully it’ll go away I thought my chain was sounding bad until those roadies pass me Don’t know if I’m going to be able to I haven’t bought any oil because I didn’t have room Just oil beforehand But h it’ll be all right So we might have to find some along the way 297 miles to go We’re under 300 A long way to go yet eh i’m not religious in the slightest but I do love a good old church Anyway we’ve just I’ve just taken a few ibuprofen because I haven’t got time to have issues with my shoulder So hopefully that’ll work I won’t spend the rest of the day in pain I think the flat section is now officially over I think we’re going up hills now But there’s been quite a lot of road this afternoon which normally I’m not a massive fan of but it means we’re covering ground fast It’s nice and smooth So yeah I’ll take it for now God this is big hell It’s making up for that flat That’s the first bit done The next shop I see I’m buying sun cream Don’t let me forget It’s probably a bit too late to be honest It’s probably going to be a bit crispy Right This is the famous gold hill Apparently it’s on a bread advert I don’t know God just got on it Thank you Oh that was rough But I did get a standing ovation I know It was fun It was fun If you’re watching this and you never been to England and you think this is what England looks like I hate to say it but you’re wrong This is what one part of England looks like Southern England Very rich area of southern England And a lot of it doesn’t look like this unfortunately So don’t take this as what the whole of England’s like because you’re wrong It’s not back on the old gravel hills Uh Dynamo’s charging but it’s not charging my power bank very fast because I think all the hills that we keep going up Anything where I’m below 5 mph it doesn’t charge it’s not going fast enough Um cuz I’ve had it plugged into this camera which tells me when it is charging and when it’s not And uh yeah But I’m going to try charging the camera for a bit because I need to do that anyway So yeah we’ll try that [Applause] This is like the longest stretch of road ever It’s just going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on Gravel That’s what you call gravel right proper gravel So these are the woods I was eyeing on Promising right i reckon we can find somewhere here Think this will do me I’m not going to put the tent up yet I’m just going to cook some food and just hang around for a bit cuz it’s still quite early But I can’t ride any further because if I ride any further I’ve got to go over Salsbury Plains where they do the military training definitely won’t be able to sleep there and possibly it won’t even be open for me to ride across So I don’t want to have to worry about that tonight So we’re gonna stop for now We’ve done 56 miles A little bit short but it’s fine That’ll do Yes So let’s cook some food and uh we’ll put the tent up in a bit Right So I thought I’d show you around camp So here I’ve got this little sculpture I made It’s for drying out your clothes Need to dry out my shoes and my socks because my feet turning into trench foot Here is the bike garage And then down here we’ve got my pile of crap So we’re just going to make a cup of tea just eating chocolate thinking I spent um like three weeks in Canada in British Columbia a few years ago and I was just so impressed We uh hired a pickup truck with rooftop tent and um there’s just so many free campsites um with fire pits uh toilets like compost toilets those ones that are big a hole in the ground will hut on the top and it’s all free and they’re in like the most stunning places but out here in the UK there’s nothing like that that’s free everything you have to pay for and yeah I don’t want to stop on a campsite with you know like loads of other people and stare at caravans um I don’t mind a campsite if it’s like a little one that’s sort of a bit more rustic I guess but like caravan and camping club sites Not my thing Why are campsites so expensive now they’re like at least 25 quid a night I remember when they used to be like a tenner I sound old now Um yeah so that’s why we’re doing this Anyway tomorrow we are heading over Salsbury plane which is where they do the military exercises It’s I don’t know whether it’s going to be open the route So we might have to do a bit of a diversion but I didn’t want to deal with that tonight And then after that we’re going to Stonehenge My um camera’s just beeping at me because I filled the SD card I’m not actually sure if I’ve got enough SD cards to finish this trip So I might have to try and buy one along the way You know I haven’t really planned this trip very well have I um yeah So anyway going to have dinner and then I’m probably That’s it I’ll probably see you in the morning Hopefully I’ll have got away with it Goodbye