RAFA Rides returns for another year, bigger and with huge ambition. It is RAFA's annual fundraising cycle challenge, supporting RAF serving personnel, veterans and their families.

The King Alfred’s Way is a relatively new 350km off-road cycle route in the South of the UK, starting and finishing in Winchester, the burial place of King Alfred. The route covers a wide variety of terrains: gravel tracks, woodland and heathland trails, bridleways, towpaths and lanes with a little bit of tarmac here and there to give the body a welcome break! There will be deep ruts, chalky trails (that are treacherous when wet) and some rough ground, likely better suited to a mountain bike than a gravel bike. This will all form part of the adventure, which will be different for everyone who tries out this trail. Some may choose to do part of it, others, a multi-day bikepacking event soaking in the 10,000 years of history that will be encountered, but for me and RAFA Rides 2023, it will be a single ride, non-stop to raise awareness of what RAFA does for the Royal Air Force family and to hopefully raise a few pennies while doing so!

From Winchester, the trail heads over to Salisbury where I’m looking forward to the fast loose descents – one of my favorite parts of gravel cycling. From Salisbury, I’ll be heading towards Stonehenge and while my epic ride won’t allow much time to admire the Stone circle, the sun should be rising just as I go within viewing distance so hopefully a good morning boost! The trail then heads over to Chirton across the Salisbury Plain MOD training area – hopefully I will not become a moving target (or I’ll be that quick they won’t get me)! The White Horse trail is up next which I am looking forward to as one of the areas I have wanted to cycle for some time, with great views should the weather be willing, to provide motivation throughout the morning. The Ridgeway will keep me busy for some time…

After passing through Avebury, Reading, my old town will be the next destination on the route, where navigation will prove critical as I go through the town centre finding my way back onto paths less travelled. Cycle UK has actually done an amazing job in this regard, routing cyclists in a surprisingly off-road manner throughout the town. Leaving Reading behind, I’ll have Farnham in my sights with ‘Devil’s Highway’ to get there! It’s an old Roman road built from 47-48AD that essentially was used as their equivalent of a motorway back in the day. Perhaps the name helped it fall out of fashion. Hindhead is next on the map with a view of ‘The Devil’s Punch Bowl’ after the devil supposedly picked up a bunch of earth and hurled it at Thor, God of Thunder – it was this earth throw that created the punchbowl!

The route heads over to South Harting next with some significant climbs along this section of the trail. So long as its dry, the heath and forest sections should be pleasing on the eye without being too hard on the legs before making the final push back toward Winchester. With 1000m of elevation in this last 50km, and with 300km in the legs by this stage, it’s going to be tough – with the finish line in view I’m hoping to find a little more in the tank to push through this final section in the knowledge that awareness of RAFA will be growing throughout.

To get an appreciation of this epic challenge, you can watch this 30-minute YouTube video of GCN's Simon Richardson completing the King Alfred's Way in 2022: https://youtu.be/hX6CifEv_70.

All donations make a huge difference - RAFA provides a safety net for all members of the RAF family, past and present, and their work is vital to look after our community going forward.