Sykkeltur i West Oxfordshire

Today’s route starts and finishes in Moreton-on-Marsh, but along the way you will discover quaint and picturesque villages, pedal along hedge-lined country lanes and breathlessly gaze out, from the tops of short, sharp climbs, at a vista of rolling hills and patchwork fields.

Plunge into the Cotswolds ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ today on narrow country lanes, over endlessly undulating hills, and through quaint villages of honey-coloured, vine-covered houses boasting exquisite and colourful gardens.

The text and routes in these mapping apps are based on content in my blog where you can find the updated versions of the routes and notes on the landscape, history and things to watch out for. Link www.pootler.co.uk. This route mostly uses minor roads to tour the Eastern Cotswolds, an area lived in and loved by well-to-do ‘nobs and yobs’. It takes in some lovely countryside, chocolate box villages, sights to see and some political and celebrity gossip. It starts from Charlbury on the River Evenlode and runs northwards through higher ground to Chipping Norton before crossing a river valley to visit the famous Rollright Stones. From there it continues through Hook Norton, home of the eponymous brewery, and Great Tew, the epicentre of the rural celebrity wonderland. From there, it turns south and generally downwards, back through Stonesfield and the along the Evenlode Valley to return to Charlbury. The hills are numerous but not steep. There is one small but irritating stretch of off-road. See the Route Notes at the end of this summary. Zooming In Highlights are: • David Cameron’s house, the location of the notorious ‘kitchen suppers’. • Chipping Norton, with its relics of old industry and a surprising new one. • The petrified Kings / Rollright Stones neolithic monument • Hook Norton’s quaint old brewery. And lovely beer. • The Dorn River Valley, home of ‘Butlin’s for Toffs’ and Top Gear. • The usual sprinkling of oddities. On the blog, there are detailed notes on waypoints and things to see. If your mapping app has not imported these, use this link to go directly to the blog post of the route. I hope these will be more entertaining than the links to dry Wikipedia articles dredged up as POI’s by the mapping apps’ software robots. This cannot give you the exact location for each waypoint but it many cases you won’t need it and at least the information will be up to date! Link Pootler Route

The text and routes in these mapping apps are based on content in my blog where you can find the updated versions of the routes and notes on the landscape, history and things to watch out for. Link www.pootler.co.uk. This is a varied but undemanding ride around the fringes of the Cotswolds in Northern Oxfordshire. It leaves Bicester using the cycle path to the South of the A41 then crosses that road to follow the Roman ‘Akeman Street’ to its conclusion. The route then heads north for 10 miles across higher ground to cross the River Cherwell at Somerton. You then climb around 200 ft, into the Eastern foothills of the Cotswolds and follow a scenic ridge road for a few miles before turning south towards Islip and the flat and empty marshland of Otmoor.  Outside of Bicester, the ride uses minor and usually well-maintained roads. There are no off road sections. The living is easy, the fish are jumping etc. Zooming In Highlights are: • Laughing at the ersatz ‘consumer paradise’ of Bicester Shopping Village. • Enjoying the genuine character of the Cotswold stone villages, Lower Heyford, Somerton, Dun's Tew, Islip and Chalton • The views from the ridges above and beyond the Cherwell Valley • Islip, Birthplace of Edward The Confessor • The rather strange flat, empty, often windy and once fought over drained marshland of Otmoor • The usual melange of oddities. On the blog, there are detailed notes on waypoints and things to see. If your mapping app has not imported these, use this link to go directly to the blog post of the route. I hope these will be more entertaining than the links to dry Wikipedia articles dredged up as POI’s by the mapping apps’ software robots. This cannot give you the exact location for each waypoint but it many cases you won’t need it and at least the information will be up to date! Link : Pootler Route

The text and routes in these mapping apps are based on content in my blog where you can find the updated versions of the routes and notes on the landscape, history and things to watch out for. Link www.pootler.co.uk. This is a pleasant, peaceful and undemanding route. Starting from Oxford Station, there is a short climb out of the town and the road into and out of Oxford is busy. Thereafter it is ride along mostly minor roads in flat, arable countryside in the Thames and Windrush valleys. It visits the market towns of Eynsham and Witney before turning south across the flat clay farming landscape of the Thames Valley, to cross the river at Tadpole Bridge. From there is a climb of around 35m onto the Golden Ridge, which separates the modern Thames Valley from the Vale of the White Horse and which you follow back towards Oxford. Zooming In Highlights are: • The flat vistas and wide skies of the Thames Valley. • Historic and handsome Eynsham and Witney. • The villages and views across the Valley from the Golden Ridge • Stanton Harcourt and the Devil’s Quoits, now ‘restored’ • A diverse collection of heroes and villains. The word ‘diverse’ is not loosely used here. In researching this tour I came across Old Nick, the Patron Saint of Bicester, King George 111, a Grand Prix driver and ‘ex’ of Fergie, King Cnut, Brian May from 'Queen', Tom Yorke from 'Radiohead' and sadly, the Colditz escapee who became a Tory Minister before being assassinated by the IRA and the expert of biological weapons who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in the run up to the Iraqi invasion.  On the blog, there are detailed notes on waypoints and things to see. If your mapping app has not imported these, use this link to go directly to the blog post of the route. I hope these will be more entertaining than the links to dry Wikipedia articles dredged up as POI’s by the mapping apps’ software robots. This cannot give you the exact location for each waypoint but it many cases you won’t need it and at least the information will be up to date! Link : Pootler Route

42 mile circuit to the east and north of Chipping Norton

A very pleasant 10 mile circular route down very quiet country lanes

A 100km circular route through the Oxfordshire Cotswold hills and villages.

26 mile circular route between Bletchingdon and Oxford using Sustrans routes 5 &51.

A pleasant circular training or leisure cycling route through North Wiltshire and the Cotswolds. Although the start is shown in Swindon. Being circular many alternative starting points are possible.