UP! - North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Travel the quiet artery of our
Picture: Sustrans
18 | UP! On The North Wessex Downs
EVERY traveller knows that the M4
and A4 road routes sweep through
the centre of the AONB linking
London with Bristol, but how many
people know that the NCN4 does
too?
No, the NCN4 is not the latest
inter-city train service. Neither is it
noisy, nor fast, nor even very busy.
NCN4 – National Cycle Network
Route No 4 – is simply one of the
most pleasant ways to get around the
North Wessex Downs AONB, either as
a cyclist or walker.
NCN4 is part of the 12,600 miles of
walking and cycling routes that make
up the National Cycle Network across
the UK. This includes a mixture of
quiet lanes, on-road routes and
traffic-free paths that not only
provide great exercise and fun, but
often practical ways to get to work,
school or the shops.
Actually running from Greenwich
in London to Fishguard in Wales,
NCN4 follows the Kennet & Avon
Canal towpath out of Reading as it
skirts the AONB boundary near
Theale. Through Newbury town
centre it follows the east-west
direction of the canal and railway
out through Hungerford, Great
Bedwyn (where a spur to
Marlborough passes through the
heart of Savernake Forest) and
Pewsey, finally leaving the AONB
near Devizes.
Water-borne users of the Kennet &
Avon Canal, this year beginning its
third century since its creation,
complement the leisurely pace of
cyclists and walkers, creating a quiet
and sedate style of travelling. This
unhurried, timeless atmosphere
belies the once bustling heritage of
this coast-to-coast industrial
thoroughfare.
The actual 57-mile (92km) manmade
canal, linking the River Kennet
at Newbury to the River Avon at
Bath, was opened in 1810. During
the 19th and 20th centuries the
canal fell into decline and eventual
Picture: Sustrans