Salisbury plain, Wiltshire

Distance 48.7km (30.3 miles) Climbing 730m (2,395ft) Time 2hrs 30mins to 4hrs

Route summary A long ride covering a large area, passing through some beautiful rolling countryside, with fast and twisty singletrack trails, plus some historic sites along the way

Start/ inish Beehive Park & Ride (grid ref SU 144/334, postcode SP4 6BT)

1

Join the A345. Go right past the bus stop, then left on a bridleway and right on the road. When it bears right, keep ahead through a gate, then right before the road. Go right, then left on a narrow bridleway, down between the trees.

2

Turn right on tarmac, then left on a cycle path when it bears right. Cross a footbridge and go left by the river. After the car parks, cross the water and head right at the T-junction. This bears left, and you go right at two successive crossroads, then left at a T-junction onto the High Street.

3

Take a right at the crossroads (or ahead to the cathedral), heading out of town. Bear left by a park, then left onto the cycle path. Turn right past the mill and follow this road left, over the main road, to a T-junction in the woods at the end.

4

Turn left and continue to a road by Grasmere Close. Go right and uphill on this. Join a byway on the right after Harnwood Road and keep ahead. This becomes singletrack, then tarmac, then o -road again. Pass a racecourse, continue over the road, then bear right o onto a bridleway after 0.8km.

5

Cross a road onto a singletrack descent. Join the main road, right, into Barford St Martin and go left when the road bears right. Turn right by a bus stop, pass under the bridge and keep ahead, then bear left, uphill on a bridleway. Cross the doubletrack, head into the woods and follow the bridleway right. Keep ahead, then join the Monarch’s Way ahead/right.

6

Go over a track crossing, to a five-way junction and go ahead/left. After 1km, bear right out of the woods and descend, past a gate. Take the road to the A36 and go left, then right onto a byway after the village. Climb to a track crossing and bear right onto the tarmac.

7

Turn left at the A360 but cross by the van workshop to a byway. To get close to Stonehenge, cross the A303, or turn right 350m before the road and walk over the field. Go right beyond the gate at the far side. Follow the byway downhill onto tarmac, to a T-junction by a bus stop hut, and turn right.

8

Climb and turn left by a thatched house. Cross a footbridge, ride to the road and go left. As you leave the village turn right, uphill, then right by some trees on a bridleway opposite a gate. Head left on the road and at the junction, and go straight.

9

After the wall, turn left on a road uphill, then right on a bridleway. Bear left to a wide track, and turn right. After a left bend, bear right at the fork. Turn left on the Monarch’s Way, over a road, then right on another, back to the Park & Ride.