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Hi all,
Can anyone please help me out with coming up with a route from Warminster (well Horningsham really since I will be coming down off Cold Kitchen Hill/ Bidcombe Hill) to Bath?
I definitely want to be offroad as much as possible and if there are good fun bits that is always preferred 🙂
Looking at an OS map there seems to be quite a lot of nothingness off road between the two!
The two options I can see are
Head to Frome on the lanes of the cycle route > Radstock on the old railway path > Bath (Shoscombe to Bath has a load of trails of I am familiar with).
Or maybe Warminster > Bratton on the mid Wilts way > lanes and Bridleways/ By-ways to Hilperton/ Semington area > canal path towards Bath maybe going off down Pipehouse and then do some of the fun stuff closer to Bath
The first option seems quite straight forward and off busier roads but maybe not super exciting. The second option maybe looks better on paper taking in more bridleways and byways but I imagine there isn't much that special there and it will be a bit convoluted???
Can any locals help me out please 🙂 Thanks!
What do you recon? Are there any gems (or even semi decent trails!) between Horningsham and Bath to take in?
anyone at all?
I’d say pick the Imber Range Trail up at Warminster and follow it to Bratton. After that I’m not much help. There are trails around Shearwater lake and the Longleat estate but to get to Bath from Warminster isn’t going to be easy.
More like gravel bike territory this is a long way around but you can use the Byways up to Erlestoke and across to Devizes and get on the canal towpath to Bath or get on it at Trowbridge not a great area for MTBs not much help use to go to Bradford-on - Avon a lot but spent most of the time on the road or canal towpath.
Honestly, there's very little between the two that are direct, you might as well just head up to BoA and hit the canal path, then head up to Bath that way, if you want to do some MTB, then come off at the Dundas Aquaduct, just go over the bridge then go right and around that corner that looks like a dead end, then head up the path at the side of the old boathouse hut and you're into Conkwell, where there's some decent stuff, you can play about in there, or head through that area afterwards then through Warleigh Woods, up over the road and through the woods to Sally In the Wood (the road between BoA and Bathford).
You can mess about on bridleways between Warminster and Bath, but they're pretty boring and short, and require messing about to get to link them.
Head to Frome on the lanes of the cycle route > Radstock on the old railway path > Bath (Shoscombe to Bath has a load of trails of I am familiar with).
This is the way i'd go. Coming down off Cold Kitchen Hill can take you straight into Longleat woods, plenty of trails through there and can stay off-road on decent trails to pretty much Frome. From Frome to Shoscombe, without going out of your way i'd just head out on the cycle route and as your thinking pick up on the trails past Radstock...I would suggest making your route pass by Tuckers Grave ;o)
Thanks everyone.
By Horningsham I should be about 3 hours in so the long canal slog from Devizes might test my resolve a bit too much 🙂
Im tempted by the Bratton option by the flat bridelways look a bit messy to link up as you say.
I think by the time I get near Bath I’ll be pretty cooked and I’m not too hot at Conkwell style stuff at the best of times 🙂 it might be a nice reward at the end of a long ride though 🙂
Captain, could you give me some pointers on Horningsham to Frome please?
Frome to Shoscombe would be the only flatter not really MTB part of the ride but I reckon it is the lesser evil of the other options 🙂 South Bath trails are decent enough to keep me happy but they never seem to dry out from my memory- everywhere can be bone dry and you can still hit ankle deep mud! 🙂
Cheers all!