Route information
Length 1.4 miles (2.8-mile round trip)
Duration A leisurely 25 minutes each way; 2 hours if you stop for lunch
Start Bournemouth pier
Finish Boscombe pier
Classification Easy
Terrain Road, flat
Who's it good for? Families with small children, families with older kids, people that are new to cycling or haven't cycled for a while and want a stunning sea view
Map OS Landranger 195
The Bournemouth to Boscombe: a seaside cycle to the pier
We wake bleary-eyed following the kind of sleep you often only have when hotel room-sharing with young children – that is broken, unromantic and insufficient. But the kids' spirits are high, with the eldest especially excited about a bike ride on the beach, and that spirit is contagious. The rain, falling in straight lines as if drawn for a cartoon strip, doesn't dampen their enthusiasm. It increases it, and they splash through the puddles in the Lower Gardens during our short walk from the Arlington Hotel to Front Bike's hire station, just east of Bournemouth pier. The sea is frothing and the wind is wild, but that works in our favour as, by the time we've hired our beach cruisers and loaded the kids into the trailer, the grey clouds have been blown inland and the sun is shining. We're on our way.
Trailer adventure
I love the low-slung look of a beach cruiser and the Californian vibes they invoke but whenever I've ridden them before they've been heavy, difficult to manoeuvre and tough work when powering into the kind of headwind we're facing. But the ones we've borrowed are super-easy to ride, even with the boys in the trailer on the back. In fact, at times I forget they're there, or so I pretend to my husband when I slightly clip a post, having misjudged my angles and the width of the trailer.
We start with the sea to our right immediately passing a line of bright beach huts, painted in colour gradation from pea-green to pink as if lifted from a Dulux palette chart. We pass many more beach huts in different styles, the standout being the architect-designed wavy-lined "Seagull and the Windbreak", a stunning wheelchair-accessible take on the beach hut, nearer the Boscombe end of our short, and extremely flat, ride.
As we go along, the children chat happily in the back, morale dropping only briefly when the Peppa Pig train chugs past and they realise they'd rather be riding in that. We pass a yoga and surf school, plenty of Muscle Beach-style exercise apparatus, a cordoned-off activity zone, many other cyclists, brisk dog-walkers, plus about 200 fun runners. Changeable weather aside, this stretch of seaside seems to have had a serious injection of Bondi.
Piers looking at you
We're soon at Boscombe Pier, which seems like it was built with solid concrete purpose, unlike the more fanciful ornate piers you'd find in Brighton, for example. Its cafe has a red, retro-stencil font that wouldn't look out of place in Dalston.
We push on past the pier, and the Harvester, stopping for hot drinks and cake at the Urban Reef cafe-restaurant, which also makes me think of Bondi; it's all driftwood, drawers on walls, bright chairs and market stalls, displaying the local produce that they want you to see them cooking in the open kitchen.
The place is buzzing and the brunch plates look amazing – but, instead, we opt for coffee and almond croissants, while the kids savour hot chocolate and marshmallows, fresh smoothies, and apple and cinnamon flapjacks.
From the glass-fronted facade, we watch surfers trying to ride the chop, with little success. Boscombe was meant to take Cornwall's crown as the surf capital of the UK, when a council-funded artificial reef was built out at sea here, but it never delivered the promised waves. Still, the regeneration and active vibes here are palpable and the council deserves a lot of credit for that.
We're tempted to cycle the extra 4.3 miles that would take us to Hengistbury Head, a nature reserve with sand dunes and views of Mudeford Harbour, as we've heard the Beach House Cafe there does great seafood, but rain is clearly inbound so we decide to save it for another day.
A mighty wind
On the way back, the wind pushes us so hard that we barely have to pedal. We pass a Spanish family, the parents riding on a tandem, the kids riding alongside. They are all laughing together at something or other. As we look out to sea – it's now all chinks of light and moody rainclouds – I hear our eldest say: "This is the best bike ride ever." I know that this is the sugar-high talking but I'll take it; that moment becomes my best memory of the day.
More challenging rides in the area
Bournemouth Pier to Old Harry Rocks on the Isle of Purbeck
This is a round trip of 20 miles with a mix of beachfront, trail and road. Tom, from Front Bike Hire, runs guided rides so we ask him to take us to Old Harry Rocks, three chalk formations, including a stack and a stump, that jut out to sea from the Isle of Purbeck. They're just visible on the horizon from our starting point at Bournemouth pier. We've shipped the grandparents in to look after the children and are racing our hired GT mountain bikes west under the sandstone cliffs along the seafront towards Sandbanks.
Once there, the Sotheby's For Sale signs, ostentatious new builds, plus the traditional houses weeping next to them, pass in a blur. We catch the ferry (isleofpurbeck.com/sandbanks, round trips cost £1) to the Isle of Purbeck, enjoying the views of Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island to our right.
Right away, it feels like another world. Dunes and pine forests give way to green rolling hills, teeming hedgerows and heathland full of bright yellow gorse and purple flowers. This is National Trust-protected land and it is easy to see why. We leave the road for the bridleway and some gentle gravel climbs, enjoying the pace of the muddy downhills that follow, and how well our bikes and their 29er tyres are handling the bumps.
Born to conquer
Tom points out the Nine Barrow Down ridge in the distance. We could actually have done a slightly longer ride along it, with a visit to the ruins of Corfe Castle, which was built by William the Conqueror. Ultimately, we'd still have ended up at Old Harry Rocks, albeit with a monster three-mile climb along the way. Next time.
It's late afternoon and the light is amazing. We stop for a drink at the Bankes Arms, a traditional stone pub with local craft beers and a huge garden that holds a popular beer festival every August. We're not the only cyclists here to take a well-deserved breather and enjoy the sea views.
Bluebells in bloom
From there, we climb a little, then walk our bikes through an amazing wood, so dense that it's blocking the light from above, and its floor is covered in bluebells and wild garlic. The wind is strong and cycling the final stretch along the ridge towards Old Harry Rocks is a buzz.
The rocks themselves are huge, and we watch the sea buffet them for a few moments, with the starting point of Bournemouth pier now our backdrop.
On the ride back, we stop at South Beach, Studland Bay. The fine soft sand and gradual slope into the water make it popular with families in summer.
But today it feels like we've chanced upon a secret locals' spot, perhaps because the vegetation is wild and the beach huts are uncoloured and Nordic-looking, rather than the bright styles we're used to seeing on the other side of the water. Joe's Cafe South Beach is run from a wooden shack here, and serves up wholesome hearty fare, such as soups and salads and, of course, ice-cream. Handily, it loans out beach toys for free, too.
We head back to Bournemouth, thoughts of future bike rides here with our kids at the forefront of our minds.
Useful information
Where to Stay
The Arlington Hotel (01202 552879, from £116pp for two nights, dinner B&B; four-night midweek breaks from £204, dinner B&B) is cycle-friendly, overlooks the Lower Gardens, and is five minutes' walk from Bournemouth pier.
Where to eat
Urban Reef (01202 443960) is a cafe-restaurant at the Overstrand on Boscombe promenade.
Bike hire
Front Bike Hire (01202 373280, from £7.50 for two hours, guided rides also available from £25 a day including bike hire).
How to get there
By train, advance fares from London to Bournemouth from £11 one-way with South West Trains.
Things to check out
The Oceanarium (01202 311993, online tickets from £4.95). The Bournemouth Balloon (01202 314539, adults £12.50, kids 2-14 £7.50) in the Lower Gardens. Older kids should head to Bournemouth Surf School (0800 043 7873) for surf, stand-up paddle and yoga lessons.
