Blackwater Valley Path
Discussion
It's been a while since I used it myself, but it used to be OK. Not really smooth tarmac nor specifically 'roady friendly' but no real rutty sections neither.
It intersects at a couple of points with the Basingstoke Canal tow path, which is less cycle friendly in many areas, but decent fun if you've got some volume in your tyres. A decent hybrid would be OK for that, although a hard tail MTB wouldn't be 'overkill'.
One problem last year was a landowner (scrappie in Ash/North Camp) fencing off the Blackwater Valley path in protest at not getting his own way with some planning issue. Photos in the local press of path users at a locked gate, etc. I have to confess that I've no idea if that issue was ever sorted out or not. Bizarre to think that the local authority didn't take legal steps to ensure a right of way, or right of access across the land. I assume they weren't expecting any of the landowners to 'pull the rug' and block access.
Best advice is to try it really. Get the bike out, if you're local, mosey on down there, and have a go at riding some of it. There's a few really nice, green bits, some reclaimed ex landfill sites, a few old gravel pits now turned into fisheries, and quite a few ugly sections that run right alongside the A331 relief road.
As I said, it's been 18 months or more since I ventured onto it, so my experiences are not fresh in my mind, hence my reluctance to get into detail on the rideability (or not) of the surface. Hopefully someone who regularly uses it might be able to give you an up to date verdict on it's suitability for a road bike, but I know that there are busy sections with cycle commuters using it to avoid local road traffic.
Edit to add...
http://www.blackwater-valley.org.uk/cycling.html
http://www.cyclescape.org/issues/1325-blackwater-v...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/foothpath_c...
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/local-news/cycl...
Yet another "Local Authority is toothless, useless, and inept" shocker! The Blackwater Valley path, along with the canal tow path, is a busy local amenity, and has been for many years. It ought really to have been incorporated into the local transport, and recreation plans for the area, to develop, maintain, and safeguard it as a public right of way. Instead, when the relief road was built, the cycle way was obviously left out of the purchase/compensation plan that I presume allowed the construction of the road itself. As for George Boulden, owner of the land (since 2011), and director of Car and Metal Recyclers? He's a proper twunt, and the real villain of the piece.
It intersects at a couple of points with the Basingstoke Canal tow path, which is less cycle friendly in many areas, but decent fun if you've got some volume in your tyres. A decent hybrid would be OK for that, although a hard tail MTB wouldn't be 'overkill'.
One problem last year was a landowner (scrappie in Ash/North Camp) fencing off the Blackwater Valley path in protest at not getting his own way with some planning issue. Photos in the local press of path users at a locked gate, etc. I have to confess that I've no idea if that issue was ever sorted out or not. Bizarre to think that the local authority didn't take legal steps to ensure a right of way, or right of access across the land. I assume they weren't expecting any of the landowners to 'pull the rug' and block access.
Best advice is to try it really. Get the bike out, if you're local, mosey on down there, and have a go at riding some of it. There's a few really nice, green bits, some reclaimed ex landfill sites, a few old gravel pits now turned into fisheries, and quite a few ugly sections that run right alongside the A331 relief road.
As I said, it's been 18 months or more since I ventured onto it, so my experiences are not fresh in my mind, hence my reluctance to get into detail on the rideability (or not) of the surface. Hopefully someone who regularly uses it might be able to give you an up to date verdict on it's suitability for a road bike, but I know that there are busy sections with cycle commuters using it to avoid local road traffic.
Edit to add...
http://www.blackwater-valley.org.uk/cycling.html
http://www.cyclescape.org/issues/1325-blackwater-v...
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/foothpath_c...
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/local-news/cycl...
Yet another "Local Authority is toothless, useless, and inept" shocker! The Blackwater Valley path, along with the canal tow path, is a busy local amenity, and has been for many years. It ought really to have been incorporated into the local transport, and recreation plans for the area, to develop, maintain, and safeguard it as a public right of way. Instead, when the relief road was built, the cycle way was obviously left out of the purchase/compensation plan that I presume allowed the construction of the road itself. As for George Boulden, owner of the land (since 2011), and director of Car and Metal Recyclers? He's a proper twunt, and the real villain of the piece.
Edited by yellowjack on Thursday 7th May 14:44
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