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Glorious Bike Rides
Glorious Bike Rides
Route directions PDF (right click to download)
GPX file (right click to download)
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Rode this route at the weekend. Excellent ride with great views. The elevation data seemed to be considerably different to that given in the book. My barometer had it at about 1300m and GPS had it at 1250m. Anyone else done the ride and recorded ascent?
Hi Richard – we are about to do the ride next weekend starting at Burford. Any tips – will be my daughters first 50 mile + ride. Did you go clockwise or anti-clockwise?
I did it today with a couple of small corner cuts: https://www.strava.com/activities/290684059 and Strava made it 3033 ft = 925 metres, so a bit more than Jack’s measurement but nowhere near 1250m.
Great ride. The hills aren’t that bad with touring gears. Today’s ride convinced me to go for the 55 mile route at this year’s Eroica Britannia!
What a fabulous ride! Total bliss. Made a slight deviation to go through Chipping Norton (aka David Cameron country – hah hah) but ended up exactly the same length.
Second ride we’ve done from the book and so impressed with the easy-to-follow instructions.
Thanks, Jack!
This was a really pleasant ride, though I agree the altitude seems way off – we did 1,180m based on Strava (via Garmin). This was with a few slight changes but nothing that added anything like that. Still very doable with reasonable gears but it does get climby!
Can recommend Ue Coffee in Witney for caffeine snobs and the Oxford Yeoman close to Hanborough station for a cosy pub with decent cheap food about 15 minutes away if you’re killing time before a train
A couple of short stretches on very busy A roads (the drivers can go very fast in the Costwolds), but some fantastic lanes- no off-road bits either, so a road bike would be fine. Some of the best I’ve cycled along. I did it with an overnight camping stop by Bourton on-the-water. The Elderflower and Gooseberry Icecream, in the old mill gift shop, in Lower Slaughter is sublime. A bit of a hilly ride, but over 2 days it’s not too bad.
Lovely ride over two days on amazingly quiet lanes with great scenery. Only a couple of very short sections on busier roads, but not too bad. Very hilly, but enjoyable, We started in Long Hanborough, staying in a great, cycle friendly B&B, situated right on the route, where we left our car (Swan House Guest Rooms – thoroughly recommended for comfort, convenience and warm welcome). We stopped overnight just beyond Bourton-on-the-Water at Field Barn Campsite (adults only). This was also on the route, but right after the big climb out of Bourton… In retrospect, perhaps it would have been better to stop in Stow or the Slaughters to even out the mileage over the two days. Our Strava data was: day 1 – 63km, 899m; day 2 – 43km, 505m so 106km, 1404m in total. I guess Strava isn’t that accurate on elevation gain.
Did this lovely ride last weekend, camping in Bourton-on-the-Water, at the top of the steep climb out of the village. If you’re not reasonably local and need an overnight stop near the start/finish, we can recommend this great B&B in Long Hanborough https://www.swanhouseguestrooms.co.uk/
We were their first post-lockdown guests, the route goes past the front door and the cyclist-owners were happy for us to leave our car.
Just a note on height gain: we had Strava running on two phones – one shut down for a short section and returned 1247m, the other 1405m. I’d downloaded the gpx file into OS Maps and that suggests 1288m.
We rode this at the weekend, but changed the start slightly, doing an overnight in Woodstock the evening before (for an early start). We stayed at The Star Inn – comfortable rooms, bike storage in the old stable and hearty food. In the morning we crossed the A44 into Hensington Road, left into Banbury Road, and then left onto the B4027 joining Jack’s route in Wooton. We then stayed overnight at The Fox Inn at Little Barrington. Again, comfortable, secure bike storage and good food. Another fantastic Lost Lanes route with good quiet lanes, spectacular scenery and not too many busy roads. Well worth while.
Rode this route yesterday as a club ride. It is a very good route with lots of quiet lanes. Note that the railway bridge between Evenlode and Broadwell has been demolished and is being reconstructed. The works were due to end in May 2021 but were still ongoing. The diversion to cross the railway is north to Moreton-in-Marsh and from Moreton there is little choice but to use the very busy and unpleasant Fosse Way to get to Stow-on-the-Wold. A better alternative would be to cross the railway on the A436 near Adlestrop and then either stay on the A436 to Stow or rejoin the route at Broadwell.
I’ve completed this route in two days with my trusty Brompton. What a great taster into what the Cotswolds offer! I took the advice of Alex above and tried the gooseberry-elderflower gelato in Lower Slaughter and it did not disappoint. In Stow, The Hive I was so looking forward to visiting was closed but I’ve found the Old Bakery Tea Room that I can only recommend. The first half of the route felt more taxing, with more traffic and less pit stops along the way, but it definitely worth it, especially as I’ve met a lovely couple (Adrian & wife) who happened to be doing this exact same route!
There was only a minor setback as there were some road closures between Everlode and Stow, as mentioned above by John. I took the detour towards Adlestrop and it was manageable albeit quite a climb. Apart from this, I was able to follow the route 1:1 and had a wonderful time during.
Enjoyable ride. Hilly, no off road. Some busy roads. Bournton on the Water very busy Stow also. At Farmington (42.1m) I did not see any NCR 42 signs through to Burford. NCR 57 signs displayed were more helpful. Rode in a day on a hybrid.