Why this ride
From Amesbury it runs 309 km to Amesbury; allow about 4 h 42 of riding. On the way it passes New Swanage to Studland Bay, Chesil and back through New Swanage to Studland Bay. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Stonehenge and Chesil
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 309 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 42
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is New Swanage to Studland Bay.
2. New Swanage to Studland Bay
Between Swanage and Studland, the chalk of the Purbeck Hills meets the sea at the Foreland, and the white stacks of Old Harry Rocks stand off the headland like broken teeth. This is the eastern end of the Jurassic Coast, the World Heritage stretch of Dorset and East Devon that runs back through two hundred million years of geological history, and here the rocks are the youngest of the sequence, Cretaceous chalk. From Ballard Down above New Swanage, the views take in Swanage Bay, the Isle of Wight and the long sandy curve of Studland Bay.
Read the complete New Swanage to Studland Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
New Swanage to Studland Bay comes up about 96 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chesil.
3. Chesil
Twenty-nine kilometres of shingle, piled high and steep and running almost dead straight from West Bay to the Isle of Portland: Chesil Beach is one of the great natural oddities of the English coast. Behind it lies the Fleet, a long, shallow, brackish lagoon full of eelgrass and birds, and the whole system is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The pebbles grade in size along the beach, small as peas at the western end and as big as potatoes towards Portland, so precisely that smugglers landing on dark nights were said to know where they were by the feel of the stones.
Read the complete Chesil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Chesil. Next is back through New Swanage to Studland Bay.
4. back through New Swanage to Studland Bay
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete New Swanage to Studland Bay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through New Swanage to Studland Bay, late in the day. Next is Stonehenge.
5. 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 at Stonehenge. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Stonehenge to New Swanage to Studland Bay
Stonehenge → New Swanage to Studland Bay is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
New Swanage to Studland Bay to Chesil
New Swanage to Studland Bay → Chesil is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chesil to back through New Swanage to Studland Bay
Chesil → back through New Swanage to Studland Bay is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through New Swanage to Studland Bay to Stonehenge
back through New Swanage to Studland Bay → Stonehenge is 96 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.