THE FACTS
Roads B4000, A338,
B4192, A346, B4041, the rest are unclassified
Distance 64 miles
Best suited to Light adventure bikes, middleweight roadsters, supermotos
Nearest big town Swindon
Famous for Equine sporting pursuits (horse racing)
gear 90° right-hander on a back road, with plastic bollards and a metal gate complete with solid wooden posts lining the outside of the bend. It instantly reminds me of the sort of corner I used to try to get my knee down on an RD125LC when I was a teenager. Paul isn’t a teenager, but I correctly guess the kind of ride we’re in for — lots of narrow back lanes and overhanging trees, high hedges, blind bends, hidden turnings and crappy roads surfaces. But there are a few surprises in store too.
We turn right onto the B4000, the Highworth Road, and drop through trees over a river and past a farm with fields rolling across hills to each side. The road is strewn with gravel and leaves. “It wakes you up when you first set off,” says Paul.
We cross the A420 in Shrivenham, then sweep over a bridge crossing a railway left, right, right, left. Another scratcher’s dream, this. “I like it for that reason,” says Paul.
Next up is a sun-bleached run into Ashbury, the late autumn sun blindingly low in the sky, and then into the southern end of the Chilterns, and the North Wessex Downs. The road climbs, with broad views behind, then drops between two low ridges running past Ashdown House. The landscape has the feel of ancient history.
“It’s all horse country around here, and fairly affluent,” says Paul. “You have to be careful because they don’t tend to take thoroughbreds worth hundreds of thousands of pounds onto the roads, but a big horse is a big horse to a motorbike.”
We spool down through rolling fields and low hills, and onto Ermin Street (confusingly, part of the Ermin Way, not to be confused with Ermine Street, the old A1 between London and York). It’s straight enough, and has chequer-boards at a crossroads as late-braking markers. We then turn off before Hungerford and follow the Kennet River for a while, before another run through open countryside and wide views into Marlborough.
“We’re a stone’s throw away from Avebury, on this ride,” says Paul, making an excellent Neolithic gag. “You could very easily add a short loop on to this route that takes you there.”
Maybe when there are a few more hours of daylight. Does Paul ride this route all seasons? “Well, I’ve a number of routes around Swindon that I’ve used to learn to ride on, and so I tend to ride them when the weather’s nice. Some of the surfaces are pretty rough — it’s like you’re riding off-road in some places at times. Which is why I prefer dualpurpose adventure bikes, because the suspension can cope with bumps and holes so much better.”
The KTM is definitely the tool to have around here. Short, sharp punches of acceleration to squirt past the odd van between corners, rapid engine response, a connected dynamic and agile steering.
“I looked at getting a KTM 1090 instead of this,” says Paul. “But that would maybe be a bit too much. This 790 is perfect — there’s nowhere round here you can go that fast anyway. It’s not a route about top speed, or even much over 50mph. It’s about getting there,” he says.
Paul was a car enthusiast before the bike bug bit hard three years ago, courtesy of joining a group of friends who are all into riding, on-road and off. His son also started to take an interest, so Paul decided he wanted in on the action too.
“So I’ve ridden these roads as long as I’ve been riding,” he smiles. “I’ve gradually gone further and further afield. I wouldn’t go much further than Marlborough, but now it’s something I take in on the way round, on any of about a dozen different routes I choose from. I do a lot of this type of riding; I’m not one for sitting on a motorway. If I go to Scotland and do the NC500, which I plan to do, I’d rather allow myself a week to get up there and do it all on these kinds of roads.”
After a quick coffee in Marlborough’s busy high street, we head off towards Paul’s’ favourite part of the loop, rising up across farmland towards Hackpen Hill. We’re in the Marlborough Downs, close to the southern end of the Ridgeway; an ancient track said to be Britain’s oldest road. As we round the top of the hill and drop down the sharp rights and lefts, a quick look over the shoulder shows the Hackpen White Horse cut into the hillside.
The rest of Paul’s loop is a gentle run back to base through villages and the outskirts of Swindon. “It’s not the most exciting part of the ride,” admits Paul. “But it’s where I did all my learning on a bike, so it’s got a special resonance for me.”
Which is the whole point of your favourite ride. It doesn’t have to be the best ride in the world – just the best in your world.
‘It’s not about top speed; it’s about getting there’