"Each step forward has a sacred meaning of its own"   Sri Chinmoy

Avon Cycleway ride - Bristol, North Somerset, Bath & NE Somerset, South Glos, UK - October 25th 2025

I'd had this ride on my radar for ages but not got round to doing it, so with a break from running on the cards (achilles hassle, hopefully nothing major) I decided to load up the route and try and get round it in roughly 7 hours. Based on my 100k ride 2 weeks before that shouldn't have been too much of a challenge - I felt I knew most of the route from previous rides and remembered it being fairly flat and mostly on lanes and B roads.

The late October weather had suddently turned cold, so I started out in several layers on a pretty baltic morning - leaving home in Filton before dawn and optimistically riding my Merida rather than my winter bike with mudguards. There was no rain forecast until around 2. Hopefully I'd be finishing up round about then?

Since the GPS route problems on my last ride, I'd drained the power in my wahoo and set it up again, but it soon became clear that hadn't cleared the fault. It was jamming up a lot, failing to update, sometimes losing the map altogether. I wasted time faffing with it but soon decided to ride without navigation, as after all the route was supposedly signed? I took a wrong turn early on, missing a left-hander and cruising in to Tockington, only to have to double back to Elburton and re-join the route. From that point onwards I was more careful, only once or twice missing a sign because a car was obscuring it or I'd been distracted and riding down on the bars without paying enough attention to the route.

Under lightening skies I came into Thornbury on some back lanes, skirting round the town with views of the magnificent church and the entrance to the castle before having to backtrack a bit to find the right route up towards the A38. More lanes and silent roads lead to Cutts Heath and a descent through glorious woodlands, deserted but for a couple of horse riders, before a climb back up towards Cromhall. I was in familiar territory, out to Wickwar and down on to Inglestone Common where the sun was just coming up over the Cotswold Edge behind the Somerset Tower.

Once across the common an unexpected shower made me stop to hurriedly pull on my race cape and then I was heading for the testing hill at Hawkesbury, only to find that I had totally misremembered the Cycleway route which doesn't include that hill. Instead I took a right (with GPS restored now, for some reason) through Horton and over the vast, open common at Sodbury. After that came a long, fast section on Mapleridge Lane to loop me back towards home, an intricate route on lanes around Engine Common and Frampton Cotterell eventually spilling me out on the Ring Road Cycle Path. The cycleway led towards Bristol briefly, a few runners and the odd cyclist now starting to appear, then at Old Mangotsfield Station, a ghostly cathedral of stone on its deserted triangle of platforms, I u-turned and began to make good time towards Bath. When I finally began to pass the old cranes and wagons of the Avon Valley Railway, then roll into Bitton Station for a break, I had clocked up 47 miles which I guessed was around half way. The cafe here has seating in an old railway carriage - very atmospheric! I was on course for my 7 hour target after a quick break to down a hot pastie & large hot chocolate - I also refilled my single bottle with lucozade as I never drink enough on these rides, especially in the cold.

Memories of many rides, running time-trials and even marathons came flooding back as the B&B Cycle Path has been a favourite haunt of mine over the years. There weren't too many people out as it was still pretty early by normal-human standards, so I only occasionally had to slow right down and weave between families on foot or riders in bunches. I was worried I might miss the turning for Chew Valley, as I usually steam straight through to Bath from Bitton, but it was called out with massive signs and you couldn't really miss it if you tried. Saltford was a surprise - I usually bypass it as it hides between the A road and the cycleway - all old stone and heavy with history. It took a while to get over the A4, but once that was behind me I was into the Chew Valley and making pretty slow work of it thanks to the numerous hills. I had assumed this part would be flattish as it followed the river, but the road went up and over spurs of land between the meanders, climbing up and diving down in a rapid succession of climbs. I recognised a lot of landmarks from my hike on my birthday weekend four months before - the church at Publow and the bridge at Compton Dando among others. At Pensford I paused the photograph the impressive victorian viaduct and in doing so got overtaken by a mixed bunch of cyclists on road and mountain bikes - that inspired me to speed up and not lose them, as it usually does. By the time we approached Stanton Drew I had got back ahead of them as they slowed to the speed of their slowest member to stay together. The hills and headwind were sapping my pace and it was becoming hard work, but the skies were clearing and the views were incredible.

Deeper into the Chew Valley, I started to feel the headwind strengthening, perhaps funnelled by the valley sides or sweeping down off the Mendips? Whatever the geography it was making life tough. Glorious views over Chew Valley Lake made up for it and after riding over the barrage, I had more climbs to negotiate towards Felton. An easyjet plane came in low just ahead of me and I realised the testing hills were over as I dug in to climb the last one up towards the A38 and the airport.

Next came Brockley Combe - a long, easy descent through fields, woods and finally the lovely gorge itself. This went on so long that my temperature dropped a fair bit in the shade, but the good news was that the road towards Chelvey after crossing the A370 was recently resurfaced and not the pothole-carnage I was expecting. Ancient Chelvey was serene in the sun - it was only early afternoon but the sunlight felt like early evening, because of the time of year and it being the last day before the clocks changed from BST back to GMT reality. The hoped-for tailwind was nothing of the kind as I came out on to the moors near Nailsea, and the blustery headwinds or sidewinds continued all the way up to Clevedon. Here I dropped in to the BP garage as there was only around 20 miles to go and it was a good spot for a feed. The Wild Bean Cafe was takeaway only of course (should they really call it a cafe if there are zero seats?) but their flat white and pastry hit the spot. I ate it sat on the concrete in the sun while 2 motorcyclists discussed their engines on the forecourt. Next came the long, twisy lane towards Portbury - a great ride as always - then the part of the Cycleway I know best through Easton in Gordano and the traffic-free section past a scultpure of a giant hammer and spanner that leads over Avonmouth Bridge. The next part of the route was a real surprise though - I'd been expecting a haul along the roads through Lawrence Weston but the GPS and signs I was following had other ideas, taking me out across the marshes on an uneven pavement, peaceful and idyllic in some ways but dominated by the sound of the motorway too. It was a slow section but perfectly flat and easy.

The maze of cycleways and lanes eventually ended at Berwick Lane, then the pull up Blackhorse Hill to Cribbs and down on the tri bars, TT-ing it home from there. The hills and headwinds had made it a slow ride in the end, I had underestimated how challenging the Chew Valley section was, but I felt strong right through and had plenty of energy left afterwards which augurs well for a 100+  miler next and maybe a 200k in December? This one came in at 95.3 miles, 12mph average (total, including the time-out for stops, so moving time would have been a fair bit faster), 4300 feet of climbing, average HR 131, total time 7.54.

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