Sustrans Map Sustrans Map Great Western Way (London - Bristol) - 1:110.000
Afstand: 269 km

The official route map for the 167-mile (269km) ride from Bristol Temple Meads train station to the Brunel Museum in London.

This linear map shows the route and immediate surrounding area over a series of separate map panels. The full colour map based on Ordnance Survey data shows clearly mapped cycle routes on traffic-free paths, quiet lanes and roads, with easy to read contours, route profiles and mile markers. Also features detailed inset maps for the major towns and cities, tourist info and cycle shop and hire information, and other local routes.

Forever associated with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the city of Bristol is the start of this Great Western Way cycle route, while a museum dedicated to the Victorian engineer’s life is its end-point on the banks of the Thames in London.

While this ride takes its name form Brunel’s famous railway connecting the capital with the West Country, NCN4 conveniently forms an unbroken link between those cities of London and Bristol and, despite its length, is almost entirely flat following as it does canals, rivers and vales.

Home to his world-famous Clifton Suspension Bridge and the SS Great Britain, your journey starts from another of Brunel’s monumental achievements, namely Temple Meads station, the Bristol terminus of his Great Western Railway.    

From there, the ride follows the Bristol & Bath Railway Path which was the first section of traffic-free shared-use path ever built by Sustrans. From Bath, NCN4 uses the towpath of the Kennet & Avon Canal as far as Devizes. On your approach to this pretty market town, be sure to marvel at the astonishing feat of Georgian engineering that is Caen Hill Locks - a flight of 29 canal locks (16 of which form the main flight) which raises the canal through 72 metres.

After Devizes in the heart of Wiltshire you leave the canal and follow quiet lanes through numerous villages in the Vale of Pewsey as far as the outskirts of Newbury. From there you follow the course of the River Kennet to Reading where it joins the Thames. Then it’s the Thames Valley Cycle Route to central London and Brunel Museum.

De Sustrans-kaart
De kaarten van Sustrans bevatten precies die informatie die nodig is om een fietsroute te kunnen blijven volgen.
Alhoewel de routes van het National Cycle Network goed bewegwijzerd zijn is de kaart onmisbaar. Altijd weer zijn er een aantal bordjes op miraculeuze wijze verdwenen, met als dieptepunt natuurlijk de stukken door de steden.
Eénmaal de route kwijt zal het, door de heerlijke kleine weggetjes, haast onmogelijk zijn de route weer terug te vinden.

Onmisbaar
Het zijn met name de uitvergrotingen van de steden en andere moeilijke punten die je hier feilloos doorheen loodsen. Iedereen die een keer de route in een stad is kwijtgeraakt weet dat dit veel ergernis voorkomt.

Tevens staat iedere mile die je aflegt duidelijk aangegeven met een streepje op de kaart, evenals het bijbehorende hoogteprofiel en eventuele 'offroad'-alternatieven.

Author: Sustrans

Published: juni 2017

Miles: 167

Scale: 1:110,000

Size: 62.5 x 47 cm, folded 12.5 x 23.5 cm

Paper: waterproof and tear-resistant paper with plastic cover