Outdoor & Adventure

If being in the great outdoors gets you going, you’ll want to know about some of the exciting adventure activities along the Great West Way...

There are lots of amazing opportunities for hiking, horse riding, boating and biking - including mountain biking - along the touring route. From short waymarked walks to long distance bike trails, it’s all here ready to be experienced.

But there’s also the chance to try something totally different; to see these treasured landscapes from more unusual perspectives. How about hot air ballooning over the Regency city of Bath? Or looking down at Clifton Suspension Bridge, attached to the rock face of the Avon Gorge at Bristol? From rock climbing to rally driving, there’s plenty to get the pulse racing!

Meanwhile the curiously curved landscapes of Wiltshire and the North Wessex Downs make lovely launchpads for all manner of airborne sports. Get the wind beneath your wings on a paraglide, hang glide or skydive and one thing’s for sure - it’ll be a day to remember.

River Thames

The River Thames is the longest and most well-known river in England. It is navigable for 215 miles starting as a small trickle in the Cotswolds; flowing through nine English counties; right through the centre of London; past the Thames Barrier out through the Thames Estuary to the North Sea.
Vale of Pewsey

Located in the heart of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and between Stonehenge and Avebury, the Vale of Pewsey is ideal for getting off the beaten track and has plenty of friendly and atmospheric places to stay, eat, drink and shop
Henley on Thames

South Oxfordshire is an area full of natural beauty, picturesque villages, shops to browse and places to stay and to eat.
Canal & River Trust

The beautiful Kennet & Avon Canal (or K&A as its known) flows along 87 miles of the Great West Way. From Bath to Reading, it winds through quintessential rolling Wiltshire hills, bustling towns and even a World Heritage Site. Since 1810, narrowboats have drifted along at four miles an hour, plying their trade from Bristol to London. Today, you'll find a mixture of holiday and live-aboard boaters, all seeking the calm and tranquillity that comes from life on or by the water.
North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

The rolling North Wessex Downs encompass some of England’s finest landscapes. The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) was created in 1972 to conserve and enhance the natural beauty and tranquillity of these landscapes.
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