"Zog The Undeniable" wrote

I had the dubious pleasure of negotiating a mile of Route 4 on my road
bike with 18mm tyres this morning - railway ballast and deep sand seemed
to be the order of the day. Are most of them like that, and if so, why
can't Sustrans be more upfront about the fact that they're MTB-only (I
wouldn't even have wanted to take my expedition tourer down there!)

I regularly ride bits of Route 4 between between Bristol and Chepstow on
route to the Forest of Dean. The signed route up the old towpath on one
side of the River Avon is loose surfaced but very scenic. You can ride up
the tarmac cyclepath on the other side of the river which is a shorter route
but it isn't signed as an alternative which I think it ought to be. After
that various bits of traffic free path have been popping up over the last
few years. They're all tarmac bar one which is still pretty good. I've yet
to see a single other cyclist using them though. It appears to be just me
and the rabbits.

One Sustrans signed bit I followed a few years ago somewhere betweeen the
end of the Tarka Trail and Ilfracombe I couldn't even manage on an MTB.
Steep, stony and I had to fight my way through undergrowth in places.
Certainly very little room to pass anyone coming the other way. Don't know
what it's like now.