We tend to head north for holidays, after all that's where the good things are, but on occasion we do like to look on the other side of the tracks. A couple of options presented themselves, a couple of rides on the south coast in Wessex and East Devon or the Tour of the Cotswolds.

Given the title of the thread we opted for the latter. 400km of quiet lanes and old tracks. The route was either 60/40 or 70/30 of road/off-road depending on where you looked. Most of the off-road was very easy with just a few rough sections and one that had a warning triangle on the map. So using JustPark (basically AirBnB for parking spots on people's driveways) I found a spot in Bourton on the Water for £8/day and booked for four days. We'd do an afternoon, three days and a morning of riding. Packed up, four hours driving down to Bourton and we were ready to go.

Down to the end of the road and it was as if we'd stepped through a portal and onto Blackpool beach! The place was heaving Fortunately we were soon out of the village but the initial road was quite busy, we were soon off that and heading towards Stow on the Wold. Think of the quintessential English village and those in the Cotswolds seem to compete to outdo one another in their tweeness, every one would look good on a chocolate box.



After Stow the route headed east on a loop that after 100km or so was all but back at Bourton and would make a comfortable overnighter. In fact what would for us be the last section would make another pleasant overnighter. The route headed northwards towards Chipping Norton where we came across:



The farm of one Jeremy Clarkson...

In order to get 400km into such a small area as the Cotswolds there's lots of looping back on yourself. The first of these came near Charlbury where the route turned off a track, headed into town then returned via another path to debouch onto the original track maybe 800m from where you started! We debated as to whether to actually do this, in the event the path down Clarke's Bottom was a cracker (groan), you just let the bike glide along on a gentle gradient making swooping turns.



We'd elected not to actually drop down into Charlbury but make a stop at the pub in the next village, Stonesfield, but when we got there we were told that the pub had shut a few years ago Nothing else to do but press on. The path leading out of the village was one of the few technical sections - basically a set of spread out steps but there was a ford at the bottom, fortunately with a footbridge as the water didn't look too inviting.



Time was getting on now, we'd only set off at 2pm, but just as it was getting dark we dropped down into Minster Lovell to find a pub, main menu item? Pies! They were tasty too! By the time we got out of the pub it was dark so we did the only bit of night riding of the trip, maybe ten minutes or so, until we found a suitable spot to camp.

The next morning it was more twisting in and out of fields,



with the occasional close shave with vegetation.



We weren't too soon for a second breakfast in Burford then it was on to a couple of loops that came very close to being back at Bourton, oh well. One thing about riding at this time of year is the amount of fruit available in the hedgerows - constant snacking





The second loop exposed a frustration with the route, there'd be 10km of road going out of the way to pick up 1km of farm gravel track, it's as if the route creator marked up all the gravel sections and linked them together no matter how weird the result would be. Anyway we had another café stop



before heading down towards Cirencester. As usual when in town and presented with loads of choices we got lost! We solved the problem by having another café stop. The next highlight was the Fosse Way, or rather it would have been but it's another enclosed track and it looks like much of it has been covered in road planing to protect the original surface.



By now it was getting on and we ended up camping in a field by the side of the Fosse Way. That night was pretty cold, possibly 4C, and well below the rating of both our bags/quilts so we didn't get much sleep. The tent was pretty damp with condensation as well.

A bit of an air show...



Then under the M4 and a descent marked with a warning triangle on the route map with a warning to use the path or road to the side if you weren't sure. Actually it wasn't bad just steeper than anything else on the route, even without a dropper there was no risk of going over the bars, the hardest part was that I didn't realise it was coming up and still had my sunglasses on so could hardly see anything in the shade of the trees!

It's at this point that the route goes a bit weird as it seemingly loops around every satellite village of Bath before deciding to just join the canal towpath into the city centre. Not really much fun. A late breakfast in Bath then past some architecture stuff to get out of town.



You are soon out of town, this is maybe 3km from the city centre



Looking across to Bristol



Some interesting sculptures





As Steve has noted the section around Bath is lumpy - you are forever going up and down hills seemingly never getting anywhere as all the signpost show "Bath 5". Really quite frustrating. You are also crossing the A46 multiple times which is the main road between Bath and the M4 so is really busy. We didn't enjoy this section much. Eventually we crossed back over the M4

Beauty and the Beast


Again time was moving on and we lucked out in finding a good little pub in Hawkesbury before camping in some woods on the escarpment edge.

The following morning was a lot of up and down the western escarpment before another café stop in Dursley



Looking back at Dursley from an old hill fort.


Finally things got a little quicker with a long descent to Nailsworth and along an old railway line to Stroud and yet another café stop. Coming up was what was shown on ridewithGPS as the biggest climb of the whole route but it was pretty easy spinning. More down and up past the well named Painswick and through yet another bloody golf course... We wondered what this was doing on a golf course



we reckon it's where they round up stray golfers and tag them.

Dropping down a dry valley we went wrong and had to backtrack a km or so. Annoyingly both paths were good.



One problem with keeping high in the Cotswolds is that there isn't a lot of water to be found with it being limestone. With evening approaching I decided to be a bit cheeky and ask someone getting out of their car by a house if they could fill my Camelbak. Fortunately they were only too happy to oblige. That bit of cheekiness was well timed as there wasn't another house we passed before heading up onto Cleeve Hill where we had our fourth and final night.

The next morning was Monday and it being QE2's funeral we'd reckoned on everything being shut, there were still golfers out on yet another course though. Things were generally much quicker around here with only one big climb out of Winchcombe to contend with.

Some weird triangular tower thingy (Broadway Tower)



Just short of Mickleton we reached the northernmost part of the route and we'd just 30km back to the car.



Surprisingly in Blockley there was an open community café so we stopped there for a while before passing through the impossibly twee villages of Upper and Lower Slaughter and one last loop to pull in as much off-road as possible.

All told we took 93hrs of which just 38hrs were riding. Total stats were 424km and 6780m of climbing. We had virtually no rain, just a few spots early on Friday morning while we were still in our tent and a minute or so on Monday morning. That said I can imagine that in the wet the route would be very hard and not at all pleasant.

I don't think that it's as good a route as the King Alfred's way, it seems to want to do as much as possible in the available terrain. Most of the better riding is north of the M4 and cutting across from Castle Combe to Tormarton would cut the frustrating stuff out.

I can't really work out whether you enjoyed it or not Bob? I'll admit, you've not really sold it to me

Nice write up there, thanks for that. Brought back a few memories from last year. I enjoyed the route but then it was in a part of the world I wasn't familiar with, so there was the novelty factor. I guess the mark of a good route is if you'd do it again, and with this one I'm not sure I would. Having said that I wouldn't say it was bad and try to disuade anyone else from doing it.

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 6:39 pm I can't really work out whether you enjoyed it or not Bob? I'll admit, you've not really sold it to me

There's some good riding but it does feel that it's trying its hardest to include every bit of gravel/off-road and every landmark in the area. Do the stuff north of the M4 closing the loop with a link just south of that and you'd have a better 300km route.

Navigating the Cots is a challenge if you wanna stay off-road. I remember a few years back asking the woman who ran the b&b my wife and I were staying at how far was the walk to a pub we liked the look of. Oh, she said, it’s about 3 miles there and 2 miles back. Bless.

Nice pics Bob.

Did it last year with Sean, really enjoyed it. Confess I didn't really look at the route a great deal so didn't pick up on whether it was looping back on itself or not, just followed the line on the Garmin and plodded along.

Most of the riding was different to what I'm used to - steadily rolling along through sleepy Costwolds villages, fields and gravel tracks - and it gave the trip a really nice "vibe" if that makes sense. Some lovely pubs en route too. We hit the hilly stuff out of Bath just after dusk and it was terrific night riding I thought.

I'd recommend it, it may be one of the few routes where you might prefer a gravel bike actually.

Oh, I didn't think it was *bad* just that it could be better. I'd a definite feeling, especially in the section below the M4, that bits were added on "just because". While riding the northern bit I thought it would make a good introductory multi-day bikepacking route as even though it feels very rural there's nowhere too committing and mostly you aren't too far from supply/café stops, etc. (notwithstanding the decimation of rural shops due to the car). Maybe just a bit tired when I wrote things down...

I did feel ever so slightly overbiked on the rigid 29er, but it's what I've got. A gravel bike with large volume tyres would probably be best, i.e. one that was more "adventure" bike than "road" bike.

I was on a hardtail with 3" tyres

You passed within under a mile of my place, we live in Stroud now. tbh I've looked at this route a few times and concluded it's a good base for exploring the area, there's also a fair bit of really good riding (as in pleasant single/double track XC) missed out and some tarmac miles that could be re-routed if you were on an MTB.

Cotswolds 200 might also be of interest - https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40711081 and https://ridewithgps.com/routes/40719274

In Reverse wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:39 pm Did it last year with Sean, really enjoyed it.

That might have been down to the company rather than the route

whitestone wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:12 am that bits were added on "just because"

Isn't that the whole point? If you just want to get from A to B the fastest then jump in the van and head for the motorway

I rode a rigid MTB (singlespeed) and there was probably too much road for that to be ideal, and the northern half is a bit flat. Once into the hills around Bath it was much better as it suited my gearing. In the weather Andy and Myself had it was a really pleasant few days riding, drinking and eating

Good write up and pics Bob. I really enjoyed it when I did it back in April - but I didn't study the map too hard so all the looping back was lost on me. Maybe this was for the best.

There is some great riding around the Cotswolds - each year there is a 100km HONC (Hell of the North) starting in Winchcombe - used to be April/May time but is now Sept. That takes in some cracking little tracks and trails, and as there is nothing too techy it is good on a CX bike (although I do it on a MTB). It's a great day out and at halfway there is always a cake stop with oodles of home made cake.

Sean - I did think it would be suited to singlespeed, on quite a few occasions I somehow "forgot" to change gear when I got to a hill, more likely just laziness. I'd get to the top and realise I had ridden up it in a 30:21 or occasionally a 30:18 gear Agree that it would have been frustrating on the flatter sections, I think we were both just cruising along in 30:13 on bits like the Fosse Way for example.

James - that 200 route looks like it sits further west for the most part and shares some common ground with the 400 but that sort of goes with the territory really.

Steve - Comparing the tracks in the Cotswolds with stuff that I rode on the On-One Pompetamine (set up singlespeed and on 34c tyres) I don't think they were too dissimilar but then I was only doing a couple of km, not something like 120km! A relaxed geometry CX/gravel bike with wider bars like Cowchippers and say 47c tyres would be more than enough. In fact on the last day we met a group of women out on one of the tracks none of whom appeared to be "committed cyclists" or was on anything remotely close to what might be called an MTB (I reckon one was a grannyfiets!) and they weren't having any bother.

Something else I thought about and didn't mention was that it is a route suited to using hammocks when bivvying - the area might not be wooded but there's a lot of woods along the way and it's easy to get out of view.

P.S. Cath has just said that I was in a right grump the other day when I wrote things up, don't know what she means

Good write up, had a proper read through and will take a look at the route in more detail. fwiw I rode the Cots 200 northern half yesterday, 100 miles / 3000m, it's a good ride but I think it tries too hard to fit in some 'techy' MTB descents so loses height on a few descents that may not feel worth the 150m+ road climbs back up imo (esp if on a bigger bike). On the brakes over steep loose stuff rather than flowy singletrack type of descents, but it's working with what's there. The rest was quite pleasant gravel / bikepacking kind of riding. I enjoyed it esp. as a way to see more of what the area offers.

I did a 4 day hike that took in Bourton, Moreton and Broadway tower 3 years ago now. I should go back on the bike.