The Great West Way offers a curated touring route comprised of road, rail and water links between London and Bristol. Direct it runs 125 miles. But if you include all the off-the-beaten track walking and bike trails and other tempting detours there’s over 500 miles to explore. So where to begin?
Well, we don’t want to boss you about, telling you what to do and where, because this route is all about finding your own way. Embracing the unknown and being open to whatever crosses your path.
Pick a starting point - any starting point - and that in itself may uncover new realms of possibility. Take Kew Gardens, for instance, a UNESCO World Heritage Site just 30 minutes from central London. Showcasing the largest and most diverse collection of living plants on the planet, the gardens are a budding botanist’s dream. Each plant has its own story to tell, like the Leucospermum (a tree-like shrub) that literally brought history to life when it was grown from 203-year-old seeds found in a 19th-century wallet. How’s that for thought-provoking?
Independent adventures can also be sparked, as naturally as plants move towards the light, by the people you meet. Making a new friend on a hiking trail who tells you about an obscure archaeological site, or chatting to a couple in a country pub who let you in on their favourite restaurant. It all starts with ‘Hello!’. And often, just like that deliciously sweet pint of West Country cider - one revelation leads to another.
Then there are the hidden attractions and alternative histories that stick in your memory even though you stumbled upon them quite by accident. The Tudor alley leading to a glamorous hat shop in Devizes, the Bizarre Bath walking tour that promised ‘the hysterical rather than the historical’ or the holes in the ground in Swindon that led to secret underground bunkers for British soldiers in WWII.
The joy of the Great West Way is that every traveller’s experience is different. Every journey exceptional in its own way. We’ve collected some local insights here to give you a few ideas about where to start and enable you to find out more about what interests you. From interviews with the people who make places special - chefs, gardeners, tour guides - to insider tips on the best places to eat, drink and more. Discover your way.
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