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Cycleout Bristol Challenge
Avon Cycleway - NCN Regional Route 10
The Second Year, 25 & 26 August 2007

The Result

Twenty-one members rode the Avon Cycleway at the August bank holiday. But, for the second year, no one met the challenge to ride the circuit in one stage.

Twelve people met the challenge, riding the 85-mile (136km) circular route in two stages. So, the keenest cyclists did some 125 miles (200km) over the two days and have a certificate to prove it! Their total includes the daily journeys to and from the Cycleway and some accidental detours. Another eight cyclists did half the circuit on one of two days. And, one dedicated person rode the same half-circuit on the both days! The keenest of all ended the second day riding some extra hills across Failand just to avoid the level but nerve-racking-rough, Pill path back into Bristol.

The weather was kind to us, with no rain and barely any wind. On both days, we had the best of summer sunshine to enjoy the vistas of Bristol's rural hinterland.

One enthusiastic rider wants you to appreciate the variety of the terrain, "We passed through quaint villages with duck ponds and ancient churches, moorland, flood plain and rolling hills, with views over the Bristol Channel and Wales. We visited the seaside and sailing lakes and a town with a micro brewery."

Visitors had bed and breakfast with local members and the whole group dined out on the Saturday evening. Grateful thanks to the Bristol members who provided accommodation. Thanks too to the people who travelled to join us in Bristol to make this such and enjoyable weekend.

Participants were so positive at the end, we're likely to arrange CycleOut Bristol Challenge 2008. So, please put "Bristol" in your '08 diary, 23, 24, 25 August.

The Challenge

And, for the record, the challenge was to ride the Avon Cycleway - the eighty-five-mile, way-marked, country route around Bristol's green belt - regional route 10. It's a long cycle ride on metalled roads taking in fen, moorland, leafy glades, some hills and the Railway Path. Along the way, you visit the seaside and take in views of the Severn Estuary, the Cotswolds, the Mendips, Chew Valley Lake and Bath.

The top challenge was to ride the Avon Cycleway in one stage but it could be done as a more leisurely, two-stage challenge. There were scheduled stops - to picnic or to buy food. Free accommodation was provided by CycleOut Bristol members with social gatherings each evening to share tales of the road.

2007 Stage One - Saturday, 25 August: Southern half-circuit (40 miles); full circuit, anti-clockwise (85m); Stage Two - Sunday, 26 August - Northern half-circuit (45m); full circuit, clockwise (85m). In 2006 we had eighteen participants; five met the two-stage challenge .

Charlie - CycleOut Bristol