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Any forum members from Burghfield way who can comment on the road cycling / gravel / mtb. We originally were looking north of the M4, but have had to have a rethink. The area does seem to have a lot of smaller back roads, which I am hoping will be relatively quiet for winter / night rides.. The gravel / mtb are more summer for me, and if it's not great in the immediate area, I am conscious that I can get to the downs in no time for the gravel fix.
Some really good road rides from that area. Decent gravel too.
I'm round that area in South Reading, road riding is good on the weekends, normally you can head south on back lanes via places like kingsclear or Bramley and then head to the west side of Basingstoke and maybe on down to Winchester.
I have friends over in Earley and we often meet up near sonning and head north to Wallingford, then back south via stonor and Henley.
It's easy to pick up the Kennet tow path on a Gravel bike or loop up to Streatley to pickup the Ridgeway, lots of options...
For mtb its not brilliant imho, but as above, down to canal and cam loop by going to reading via canal out to pangbourne n of river and back via theale,
There are a few footpaths/bridleways out around Burghfield common/Mortimer/tadley/silchester and south ish and some nice woods tracks BUT the gamekeeper is NOT Friendly and is not clever (somebody had flytipped about 20 lorry tyres and he didn’t seem to understand that I felt that accusing somebody on a mtb of doing it was somewhat implausible)
Whatever you do though, get up early one blazing summer morning and cycle round the outside of Roman walls (and the track thru the middle) and go and stand in the amphitheatre, which is next door, truly awesome place.
It's not exactly 'around' there but not too far away either - there's some great mixed terrain riding to be found (if going w>E) between Rivar, Ham and Inkpen hills then SW towards Ashmansworth to cross the A343 and then NE towards Watership Down and Kingsclere. I went out that way one weekend as I'd seen the hills from the Ridgeway and wanted to ride a bit further to see what the next hills were like, was back a number of times that summer. A great area to explore.
Yep I've gone Kingsclear -> Watershipdown way a couple of time on the Road bike, and then headed south towards Overton and round that way but it might make good sense to get out there on my Gravel bike so I can chop on/off road, I think there's more options to avoid traffic and find nicer views...
I moved from south of Reading to the border between Tadley and Pamber Heath.
For riding its brilliant here. I tend to head south towards Kingsclere and use the lanes over Watership Down (from there either west or east). I also know the area west of Burghfield very well having had a previous job in Compton: again great riding though prone to flint on the road in wet weather. I typically use the CX bike on the road, so am able to head off down any track I like the look of. The woods north of Upper Buckleberry are great for this (quiet roads and off road sections). I stumbled across some mtb tracks in the woods to the east of Hermitage during the summer (think jumps and berms); worth exploring. The ridgeway is also on hand just avoid it when wet.
I very, very rarely head east towards the roads over the Chilterns as I find it just too busy and congested with other road users (its also horrible mtbing in the west).
If your looking to move; my house is up for sale (moving to the IoW). If you fancy meeting up I am more than happy to go for a ride.
Burghfield you say… shhhh
So sounds quite promising, I was concerned that I was going to be told it was pretty busy on the roads. Thanks all for the comments.
stumbled across some mtb tracks in the woods to the east of Hermitage during the summer (think jumps and berms); worth exploring.
Amazed we've not met. There and upper Bucklebury woods are regulars for my riding.
We should meet up for a ride. Any time before xmas?