View Drive two in a larger map
Benzina recommended drives
ride 1 | ride 2 | ride 3 | ride 4
Ride 2
- Stonehenge, Thruxton and Trenchard Lines – about 50 miles, or around 100 if combined with Drive 1.
Benzina is based in a quiet lane about 10 miles north of Stonehenge on the edge of Salisbury Plain. This means we get woken by gunfire and the tiles on our roof fall off when the Army try out their really big guns, but this is a Good Thing because Salisbury Plain is the biggest area of open grassland in Europe, with sweeping open views and hardly anywhere for tractors and policemen to hide. Perfect, in other words, for your sports car or motorcycle.
Leave our lane at the southern (Easterton) end, turning right onto the B3098 through the Lavingtons and eventually left onto the A360 at the T junction. This road offers some great open stretches, but watch out for the mud at tank crossings. After Shrewton ignore the right turn to Salisbury, and stay on the road as it briefly becomes the A344 and passes the ever brooding Stonehenge. Join the A303 towards Andover, pass over the next roundabout (or you could pop off to the left to visit Woodhenge), and then leave the A303 at the next exit (just after the speed camera, opposite Solstice Park) towards Bulford Camp. This unclassified road is in great nick, with some fab twisty bits and little traffic. Cruise through Bulford Camp and on towards Tilshead passing modern firing ranges and ancient hill forts. Tidworth has some great old Victorian Army buildings with names like "Delhi" in amongst the usual modern nonsense. Join the A338 and you could turn right and follow the signs to Thruxton Circuit, once host to great international races and Norton's race department. Even today there's a regular race programme, including the fastest round of British Superbikes, and it's still where Mota-Lita make their classic steering wheels.
If Thruxton's not on your "to do" list, turn left onto the A338 towards Marlborough. Once clear of Tidworth turn left at the first crossroads onto the A342 towards Devizes, although you could carry on towards Marlborough, following Drive 1 in reverse. But the A342 is a must-do drive and takes you to what was once RAF Upavon and now Trenchard Lines, an MOD admin HQ and named after the bloke who set up the Royal Air Force. There's usually some fancy gliders overhead to really make the most of the view.
Nip through Upavon, keeping left until you've passed the petrol station, and stay on the A342 signposted Devizes as you dog leg through Rushall. After passing Chirton bear left onto the B3098, back towards the Lavingtons and your starting point.