Is a 3 mile round trip too far to cycle for a reception aged child?

[WittiestUsernameEver]

DD4 ( 5 in December) has been allocated a school 1.5 miles away. She can already cycle 1 mile easily. The way is mostly flat and on a safe route.
I'd then cycle 1.5 miles further to work.

Do you think it would be too much for her, especially after school?

I could get a tow bar I suppose if needed

Depends on the child. Mine was doing 1 mile (with gentle hills) to and from nursery from 3 years old on balance bike then 3.5 years on pedal bike so increasing to 1.5 miles when they started school would have been no issue (but school is closer than nursery so ended up being shorter distance). We had car as back up for wet and windy days (but fortunately there were far fewer of them when doing the journey compared to this year)

My Reception kids were never noticeably tired by school & would be fine with this arrangement.

someone up thread mentioned what would you do if they were ill - presumably you could make an off the cuff emergency plan in those situations. I cycle to work, if my child is ill I would have to cycle home to fetch the car if they couldn’t walk/cycle, or get a taxi. It’s never happened though!

I work only 3 miles from home - and go past nursery on way. (The school is half way along the road on the way to work.) If they ring up and say she's poorly, I could easily get home in and pick her up in the car in under 40 minutes. Or "worst case" Nana and Gramps can collect her in their car, they live in the next road from us.

Car would also be backup for dreadful weather / if we need to get to appointments etc

Yes, she eats tons anyway, so always have a "substantial snack" for straight after nursery at 3pm. Plus, I think if I have a tow bar, that will be helpful if she really can't manage the whole way home.

I am happy to ply it by ear, but really would like to try - as it would benefit all of us.