Avocado Routes: London to Bournemouth
- Rainier Ong
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Avocado Routes is an expression of exploration, manifested as routes by Rainer Charles Ong and his collective of like-minded explorers
Words: Rainier Ong
Routes: TMC Cycling Club
London to Bournemouth
Difficulty: 4 out of 5 avocados
Level Required: Novice to Advanced - This route wasn’t too hilly
Best time to do: Spring/Summer
Route: Let's go Bournemouth!
Let’s kick off this new segment on “Cycling Culture Club” with one of my favourite routes I’ve done this year — London to Bournemouth.
Spring/Summer is the perfect season to explore new places and spend more time on the saddle, which is exactly why I planned this ride. It starts in Putney Bridge, where I met my friend Jasper at 4:30am. Funny enough, when we did this route in May, the temperature that morning was around 6°C - so cold that we couldn’t actually ride properly for the first 2 hours because our hands were frozen. We tried looking for a café, but at 5am nothing was open… so we ended up stopping at a petrol station to warm up.
One of the reasons this route is one of my favourites is because not only were the road surfaces amazing - the scenery we saw was breathtaking. What surprised us even more was how polite the drivers were. They were so nice it actually stressed us out. We kept telling them to go ahead (when the road was clear) so they could overtake safely - but most of them didn’t want to! They were happy to sit behind us and even cheer us on when they passed. For a Londoner… that was a very refreshing change.
There are a few café stops along this route:
Alice Holt Forest Café - around 71.8km
Long Barn Lavender Field & Café - we skipped this one because we still felt good
Tiffin Tea Room - around the 100km mark (also skipped!)
The Woods Cyclery Café & Bike Shop - at around 150km, and this is the one we finally stopped at to refuel
After this stop comes the best part - cycling through the New Forest, where you’ll see wild horses roaming freely. That alone was an incredible experience I’ll never forget.
Not long after, you roll into Bournemouth - where you can grab a train back to London, sit back, and pat yourself on the back for completing a proper long-distance adventure
About the Author
Rainier is a Filipino living in London. He rides as part of Too Many Carbs Cycling Club, a club that he and a few of his friends founded to share the joy of riding.
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