Why this ride
From Avebury it runs 396 km to Avebury; allow about 6 h 32 of riding. On the way it passes Stonehenge, City of Bath, Lyme Regis to West Bay and back through City of Bath. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Avebury and Associated Monuments and Lyme Regis to West Bay
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 396 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 32
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Avebury and Associated Monuments
Avebury is the place where a village grew up inside a stone circle. The henge, a huge circular bank and ditch enclosing the largest stone circle in Britain, was built around four and a half thousand years ago, and the village, with its church, its manor house and its pub, sits partly within it, with a road running right through the middle. You can walk among the stones, touch them, sit beside them, and watch the sheep grazing around them, which is a very different experience from the controlled visits at Stonehenge, its more famous partner on the World Heritage list.
Read the complete Avebury and Associated Monuments write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Avebury and Associated Monuments is where the day begins. Next is Stonehenge.
2. Stonehenge
Nobody quite knows why Stonehenge was built, and that is part of its power. Begun around 3000 BC as a circular ditch and bank, it was remodelled over the following thousand years, and the great sarsen stones, some weighing more than twenty tonnes, were raised around 2500 BC. The sarsens came from the Marlborough Downs, about twenty-five kilometres north; the smaller bluestones came from the Preseli Hills in west Wales, more than two hundred kilometres away, and how they were moved remains one of the great puzzles of prehistory. The monument is aligned with the sunrise at the summer solstice and the sunset at the winter solstice, and thousands gather here at those times. With Avebury and the surrounding landscape, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Stonehenge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Stonehenge comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is City of Bath.
3. City of Bath
Bath is one of the few whole cities on the UNESCO list, and it earns it twice over. Underneath lie the Roman baths of Aquae Sulis, built around the only natural hot springs in Britain, where water still comes up at around forty-six degrees and the great pool, with its later colonnade above, steams in the cold. On top sits the Georgian city that eighteenth-century society built when Bath became the place to see and be seen, in honey-coloured local limestone: the Circus, the sweep of the Royal Crescent, the shops on Pulteney Bridge over the Avon and the long elegant terraces climbing the hills.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach City of Bath. Next is Lyme Regis to West Bay.
4. Lyme Regis to West Bay
The cliffs between Lyme Regis and West Bay are falling into the sea, and that is precisely why people come. This stretch of the Dorset coast is part of the Jurassic Coast, England's first natural World Heritage Site, and its soft clay and limestone cliffs constantly release fossils from the Jurassic seas of around two hundred million years ago. Ammonites, belemnites and the bones of marine reptiles wash out onto the beaches after every storm, and at Charmouth you will see families combing the shingle with hammers and bags at low tide.
Read the complete Lyme Regis to West Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lyme Regis to West Bay, about halfway. Next is back through City of Bath.
5. back through City of Bath
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Bath write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through City of Bath sits at 273 km, about halfway. Next is back through Stonehenge.
6. back through Stonehenge
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Stonehenge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Stonehenge comes up about 359 km into the recorded legs. Next is Avebury and Associated Monuments.
7. Avebury and Associated Monuments
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Avebury and Associated Monuments write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Avebury and Associated Monuments closes the day.
Leg by leg
Avebury and Associated Monuments to Stonehenge
Avebury and Associated Monuments → Stonehenge is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Stonehenge to City of Bath
Stonehenge → City of Bath is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
City of Bath to Lyme Regis to West Bay
City of Bath → Lyme Regis to West Bay is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Lyme Regis to West Bay to back through City of Bath
Lyme Regis to West Bay → back through City of Bath is 103 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through City of Bath to back through Stonehenge
back through City of Bath → back through Stonehenge is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Stonehenge to Avebury and Associated Monuments
back through Stonehenge → Avebury and Associated Monuments is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.