South Downs Way

[Yatesy350i]

Hi All

Four of us, all the wrong side of forty are doing the South Downs from Winchester to Eastborne and back over a few days. Nothing crazy like trying to do it in 24 hours, we are way beyond that.

Anyway we have all the B&B's sorted and arranged a bag and tool box transfer etc.

The thing we are struggling with is parking at the start/end point of Winchester. Has anyone done anything similar? None of us now Winchester at all as we are all Midlands-Yorkshire based. Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers Karl.

[richardxjr]

Station car park?

I live in Eastbourne, so yell if you need anything half way. The double is a Big Thing even outside 24h and with some sleeps. When you doing it?


Edit. The prevailing wind is SW/W so it would make sense to do it the other way round, with a bigger chance of a tailwind on the return leg. Or go Amberley - Winchester - Eastbourne - Amberley will seem a bit less repetitive.

Edited by richardxjr on Wednesday 19th February 16:14

[Matt Sketch]

If I recall correctly, part of Petersfield road,(which is right art the start of the SDW) is unrestricted parking although I couldn't comment on how safe it is to leave your car there for a few days.

I'm training to do the double myself and tend to park in the Chisel street multi story. The thought process being you can pay by phone so if you over run the 24 hours period you can just top up your parking without issue.

[Yatesy350i]

richardxjr said:

Station car park?

I live in Eastbourne, so yell if you need anything half way. The double is a Big Thing even outside 24h and with some sleeps. When you doing it?


Edit. The prevailing wind is SW/W so it would make sense to do it the other way round, with a bigger chance of a tailwind on the return leg. Or go Amberley - Winchester - Eastbourne - Amberley will seem a bit less repetitive.

Edited by richardxjr on Wednesday 19th February 16:14

Hi Richard

We are looking at 4-7th of July so nothing silly only 50 miles per day. We've done a lot of day events in the past, the last of which was IOM E2E but this year fancied something that evolved pedalling for a few days with no time constraints. More about just enjoying it rather than finishing in a better time than last year.

Really fancied the coast to coast in the north (Wainwrights route i think) but so many people have advised against it we thought we'd try the Downs.

A friend did it last year one way in just over 12 hours for the BHF. We tried to get him roped into this trip but he said never again! He reconns we will be getting the train back from Eastborne :-)

Cheers Karl.

[Arj256]

You can park in a lay-by along the A31 just before Chilcomb Lane which is just off the M3.
If you follow the road along after the lay-by there is a bridge, this is the South Downs way.. Up to you if you want to go into Winchester for the start or just use that as the start.

[richardxjr]

If it's dry it's fun I recommend the Lamb Inn in Old Town for malted recovery drinks, food, and accom if not already booked.

I'll be doing a solo Sunday East to West sometime, I'll just go one morning when the weather's alright. The train EB to WIN is a bit of a ballache, a few stops and 3-4 hours I think, so you might as well ride it

[Daveyraveygravey]

I did it one way in 13 hrs about 3 years ago: I live half way along the route so know it (the middle third anyway!) well.
There aren't many places bang on the route to get food and drink - if you aren't climbing or descending you'll be on the top - so bear bear that in mind. Nice pub (the Bridge I think) in Amberley and a tea stop.
Lots of nice hills to get your teeth into! Climbing out of Amberley is hard as is Washington (there are 2 routes down into Washington not sure which is official now) but the 9th hill was especially hard.

[paolow]

richardxjr said:

If it's dry it's fun I recommend the Lamb Inn in Old Town for malted recovery drinks, food, and accom if not already booked.

Good shout - excellent range of beers and the burgers are sensational. Not cheap but well worth it.....

[Incorrigible]

If you decide to do it from halfway, my workshop is 2 miles from Amberly. You're welcome to park there too.

[shouldbworking]

50 miles a day on the south downs way is not a trivial effort, particularly westbound.

[neenaw]

You can park in the long stay in Winchester for more than 24h as long as you let the council know first.
There's details of parking and everything else you need to know about the SDW on here:

http://www.bikedowns.co.uk

[S2Andy]

Hi Two of us did it last year from Winchester to Eastbourne. We were worried about parking and used the train to Winchester which worked very well. Couldn't believe how bumpy the route was especially when carrying your gear. Lots of small round stones on the hills ruining traction. Great fun though.

[Yatesy350i]

neenaw said:

You can park in the long stay in Winchester for more than 24h as long as you let the council know first.
There's details of parking and everything else you need to know about the SDW on here:

http://www.bikedowns.co.uk

Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like the long stay in Winchester is our best bet. Which I had thought about the start in Amberly option befor ei booked the hotels! But on the upside it looks like we are in for some good food on at least two of the nights at the Sportsman?

And thanks Graeme. Great site with just about all the info we need.

Cheers Karl.

[neenaw]

Yatesy350i said:

Thanks for the advice everyone. Looks like the long stay in Winchester is our best bet. Which I had thought about the start in Amberly option befor ei booked the hotels! But on the upside it looks like we are in for some good food on at least two of the nights at the Sportsman?

And thanks Graeme. Great site with just about all the info we need.

Cheers Karl.

No problem Karl. I've been looking into attempting a 24hr South Downs Double so I've been reading up plenty of stuff about it.
There's more details here about the double:

http://www.southdownsdouble.net

A general recommendation seems to be to get hold of the OS maps you'll need of the route. I used Dash4it for all of mine as they usually have 35% off

[Yatesy350i]

One more question please.

Does anyone know how much it cost for 24 hours parking at the Winchester long stay car park?

Cheers Karl.

[neenaw]

According to the Winchester council website the parking in Chesil Street car park, which they recommend for people doing the SDW, is £6.00 for over 4 hours.

http://www.winchester.gov.uk/parking/council-car-p...

[Yatesy350i]

Nice one Thanks.

We are all booked. Cant wait. Now how do I book some decent weather.

[Yatesy350i]

Well we did it just over 210 miles and 24000 feet of climbing in four days. I must admit when I first thought of the trip, I though 50 miles a day was a piece of cake. NOT!

I take my hat off to those of you who have done the whole thing in one day let alone the double.

Fantastic part of the world and some great trails. But at times the four forty plus year olds found it hard.

We used South Downs Discovery for the baggage transfers who were great. And found a great pub/hotel in Amberley for beers and beds both ways.

Well worth doing but I don't think we will be repeating the trip in a hurry

[Daveyraveygravey]

Hats off to you, top effort! Was it the Sportsmans?

[SoliD]

Congratulations, always a great feeling doing the SDW, such a fantastic route! I'd like to do there and back in 2 days at some point.