King Alfred's Way part 2: mud, stones and heavy metal

Some 10 months after I started my King Alfred's Way mini-adventures I finally got around to completing the next chunk. This leg saw me get the train to Winchester, head out north west to Salisbury, then on to Stonehenge and then finally on to Westbury. This last stage is a 10km or so detour off the KAW route, but I'd seen some blogs about cycling through the huge Army training area on Salisbury Plain through an evacuated village called Imber, and was keen to see for myself.

Anyway here's the GPX file below. 110km and some 1,000m of climb.

t293379696_kaw 1-3 to westbury.gpx

Download GPX • 431KB

To be honest, I found it pretty tough. Partly I think, because the UK has seen the wettest winter on record pretty much. So while there was no rain on the days I was cycling, much of the route was pretty soggy. I should also mention that some of the worst sections were the BOATs and Open ByWays where the 4WD and trail bikes have left flooded ruts that are simply too deep and narrow for a pedal bike.

Stage 1 of the KAW proper from Winchester was generally in good shape - though of course plenty of rain and sun meant that the nettles and brambles were luxuriant. Ouch. There's lots of farm tracks and a bit of tarmac. The leg ends at Old Sarum, on the outskirts of Salisbury - formerly a castle and rotten borough - now a National Trust site. There's also a Harvester pub with a big garden if you're looking for a pit stop.

Next stop Stonehenge - the end of Stage 2. I've passed this so often when on the A303 and the number of people visiting never ceases to amaze me. Particularly given that the perimeter is quite a way back from them. There's also quite a few people living close by there - in old coaches, combis, teepees and the like. Plus the obligatory ice cream and strawberry sellers.

Stage 3 then goes on West into the British Army Salisbury Plain training area. There are a number of barracks scattered around the area, including the Land Warfare Centre at Warminster and the Royal Artillery at Larkhill. The KAW route uses the Imber Range Perimeter Path for quite a way. This is quite varied under tyre - some parts deeply rutted and some parts incredibly wide gravel tracks designed to fit two tanks abreast I guess.

At around 80km I then veered off the KAW route, sneaking around the closed range guardpost to head towards Imber. I'd checked the range notice so I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to get blown up, but technically I was breaking the law I guess. As soon as you get beyond the road block there are numerous signs telling you to stay on the road.

And then you arrive at Imber - a combination of old buildings and new additions - all with empty glassless windows and bereft of any furniture. It was early evening and I felt a bit like someone from a sci-fi / Zombie movie - the only living soul left on earth.

As you go beyond Imber you pass fields of rusting tanks - target practise?

Eventually I left the range, sneaking around the road block as before to get back into a more normal world. You pass a small army base with it's own - less rusty - tank at the gate. Time for a quick selfie.

And that was pretty much it for the day. I found a great place to bivvy - https://what3words.com/league.pigment.accompany

Flat, under trees and with a great view over Westbury. In another post I wrote about my Stealth Stove and used it on this trip. It worked really well - easy to put together and much more stable than perching my mug on a gas burner and cylinder. It was a still and windless night, so I can't tell how a breeze might affect the set up - but I'm guessing less than the gas burner. Following my usual dinner of pasta and chilli oil. I hit the sack. It was a warm night. So warm in fact, that with my combination of 3 season sleeping and thermals I was way too hot.

The next morning was only 10km to get to Westbury - though with 1 very brutal hill. And that's that. Just 164km to go until I've completed the full 350km circuit.

Easy.