Has anyone experience of the North Downs Way cycle route?

[mark manley]

I see cycling UK has plotted out a route along the North Downs Way that you can cycle, some of the original route is footpath so cannot be ridden, does anyone have experience of some or all of it? I am wondering how easy it is to follow as there does not seem to be a printed map of the route, I have ridden the South Downs Way a couple of times which is bridleway the whole route and easy to follow.
Yes I know this is a cycling question but I fear it will be missed in the cycling section.

[backofbeyond]

I guess not then Mark. I've run part of the North Downs way but on foot you're not subject to the downgrading from bridleway to footpath. The bits I've been on were easy enough to follow but they were only short sections and spaced out in time.

There are a number of guidebooks to the route. I don't have any of them but I do have books from the company below for the Ridgeway and the Cotswold Way and they're very good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/North-Trail...s%2C697&sr=8-3

[mark manley]

Originally Posted by backofbeyond

I guess not then Mark. I've run part of the North Downs way but on foot you're not subject to the downgrading from bridleway to footpath. The bits I've been on were easy enough to follow but they were only short sections and spaced out in time.

There are a number of guidebooks to the route. I don't have any of them but I do have books from the company below for the Ridgeway and the Cotswold Way and they're very good.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/North-Trail...s%2C697&sr=8-3

Thanks for that, if there was such a detailed book for the cycle path it would be just the job, I am tempted just to turn up and find my own way but until the weather improves I am staying local.

[Two wheels good]

The council website might help. It should have the definitive guide to RoW designations.
Surrey council provided interactive OS maps but it's been a while since I looked.

[backofbeyond]

The downgrading from bridleway to footpath seemingly at random on a lot of these paths is not only a PIA but is done with nothing more than placating the local landowners in mind. I can understand why you'd restrict vehicle access to what are now leisure trails but to boot out horses and cyclists on what are often no more than individual house 'bypasses' is nonsensical.

I 'often' (maybe half a dozen times a year!) run a few local 15/ 20 mile sections of the Ridgeway near here but my wife can't come along on a bicycle because of cycle restrictions on a couple of short bits that go past 'lord of the manor' type buildings.

There's a couple of small country roads near here that in the past used to be the direct link routes between villages. In the last five years large houses have been built part of the way along each of them and the road restricted. On one of them there's now a 100m section changed from vehicle access to footpath only. The second one put up their own gates on the road - which the council then took down. However, a year on I notice the gates are back - this time with the council's blessing. There's also a large notice from them downgrading a 400m section to footpath only - despite the road still being tarmac covered. So it doesn't surprise me that a lot of the North Downs Way would be restricted. It's a very desirable area to live!

[mark manley]

Originally Posted by backofbeyond

The downgrading from bridleway to footpath seemingly at random on a lot of these paths is not only a PIA but is done with nothing more than placating the local landowners in mind. I can understand why you'd restrict vehicle access to what are now leisure trails but to boot out horses and cyclists on what are often no more than individual house 'bypasses' is nonsensical.

I 'often' (maybe half a dozen times a year!) run a few local 15/ 20 mile sections of the Ridgeway near here but my wife can't come along on a bicycle because of cycle restrictions on a couple of short bits that go past 'lord of the manor' type buildings.

There's a couple of small country roads near here that in the past used to be the direct link routes between villages. In the last five years large houses have been built part of the way along each of them and the road restricted. On one of them there's now a 100m section changed from vehicle access to footpath only. The second one put up their own gates on the road - which the council then took down. However, a year on I notice the gates are back - this time with the council's blessing. There's also a large notice from them downgrading a 400m section to footpath only - despite the road still being tarmac covered. So it doesn't surprise me that a lot of the North Downs Way would be restricted. It's a very desirable area to live!

Yes I have been reading up on this sort of thing which generally does not happen down here, try downgrading a bridleway to a footpath and the local horse riders of which there are plenty will be onto their councillors and MPs straight away. A few years ago someone from away bought a property near to here and decided to do his own downgrading and fell foul of the local horsey set, that cost him dearly in money and reputation.
I have ordered the Ordnancy Survey map of the NDW footpath and hope to mark the cycle route on the map and follow that.

[Jay_Benson]

There is now the King Alfred Way circular cycle path around ancient Wessex - some 220 miles in length that links up with the North Downs Way, South Downs Way, Ridgeway and Thames Path:

https://www.cyclinguk.org/king-alfreds-way

Looks interesting.