Brighton Bound

Name: Brighton Bound
Brand: Hidden Tracks Cycling
Price: 5.0 GBP
Availability: InStock

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Brighton Bound bikepacking GPX route title card, featuring a row of colourful painted beach huts.

Bikepackers with loaded gravel bikes resting at a viewpoint bench overlooking the Weald on the Brighton Bound route.

Cyclist riding a grass double-track through a sheep pasture on the South Downs, on the Brighton Bound route.

Sun-dappled gravel track through woodland on the Brighton Bound route, with riders visible in the distance.

Handlebar view along a chalky gravel track on the South Downs section of the Brighton Bound route.

A proper London to Brighton gravel ride.
Long, varied, and steadily building into the South Downs before dropping to the sea.

One of the best off-road routes from London – a full day out for experienced riders, or an easy-going two-day ride if you take your time – with a downloadable GPX for easy navigation.

Ride Details

Ride Level: Red - Challenging
Distance: 115 km / 71 miles
Terrain: Natural, gravel, woodland single track and cycle path (60% off-road)
Bike: Gravel/CX or mountain bike
Includes: GPX file and printable Ride Guide

The Route

Starting at Clapham Junction, the route makes a beeline for the countryside, crossing Clapham and Tooting Commons before finally leaving the roads at Mitcham.

Riding up the Wandle Valley, past the ponds at Carshalton, it climbs gradually towards Happy Valley and the ridge of the North Downs – on a clear day you can just make out the South Downs, still a long way off, on the horizon.

It's pretty much off-road all the way to East Grinstead, the route's halfway point and a good place to stop if you're making a weekend of it (the Bluebell Railway runs from here, so you can rejoin the route later at Horsted Keynes if you fancy the train instead).

Ashdown Forest, sadly, doesn't allow cycling across its open heath, so the route sticks to road through here – more on why below. It's soon back onto trails and country lanes through the High Weald, easy riding while the South Downs draw steadily closer.

From Wivelsfield the character changes: flinty trails carry you on a steady climb out of the woods and up to the ridge of the South Downs. On a clear day it's big-sky, open chalk landscape, hard to believe you're still in the densely populated South East. The route descends gently to sea level at Rottingdean before joining NCR2 along the foreshore into Brighton.

Ashdown Forest and Winnie-the-Pooh

The heathland you skirt rather than ride through is Ashdown Forest, the real place generally reckoned to be the model for Winnie-the-Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood. A. A. Milne lived on its edge and walked it with his son Christopher Robin; illustrator E. H. Shepard based his original drawings on its views, and a rebuilt Poohsticks Bridge still stands a short walk from the main car park. None of that explains the forest's near-total ban on cycling, but it does make the enforced road detour a little easier to forgive.

Along the Way

Places to Visit:

36 miles East Grinstead and the Bluebell Railway

Places to Stay:

Plenty of hotels and accommodation in East Grinstead if you're splitting the ride over two days.

Finish

Finish at Brighton Station, with the sea a short ride away if you've still got the legs for it.

Start and End Points

Start: Clapham Junction
Finish: Brighton Station

Ride Details

Distance: 115 km | 71 miles
Climb: 1450 m | 4800 ft
Percentage off-road: 60%
Trail surface: Natural | Gravel | Woodland Single Track | Cycle Path
Technical Grade: Red - a full day's route
Mudometer: Medium – some muddy patches in wet weather.

Is this ride for me?

Icon of cycle riding up hill surrounded by red border, indicating a Hidden Tracks Cycling Challenging or red grade ride or Gravel GPX Route.

Ideal for riders with some off-road experience and reasonable fitness. Fitter, more experienced riders can complete this in a day; everyone else should treat East Grinstead as a natural halfway stop and consider splitting it over a weekend.