The Cotswolds is home to pretty honey-hued stone villages set in a landscape of rolling countryside. The dramatic 100-mile limestone escarpment offers breathtaking views, while the network of quiet lanes, cycle-friendly canal paths, tracks and bridleways is perfect for exploration on a bicycle.
All the routes described here are suitable for hybrid or mountain bikes and graded from moderate to challenging, with information on surface, distance and ascent as well as those all-important en route cafés and pubs.
Comprehensive lists of recommended gear and local cycle shops are included, as well as advice on repair, first aid and pre-ride checks.
This is your ideal guide to exploring the lanes and tracks of the Cotswolds AONB, whatever your level or skill or style of bike.
Route 1 Shipston-on-Stour Loop via Brailes Hill
Route 2 Shipston-on-Stour Loop via Halford
Route 3 Shipton-under-Wychwood Loop via Wychwood
Route 4 Bourton-on-the-Water Loop via the Slaughters
Route 5 Alderton via Broadway
Route 6 Bradford-on-Avon via Bath Two Tunnels
Route 7 Bourton-on-the-Water Loop via Great Barrington
Route 8 Kemble via Cotswold Water Park
Route 9 Kingham Loop via Bruern Abbey
Route 10 Batheaston Sting
Route 11 Stratford Greenway Loop via Mickleton
Route 12 Cirencester Loop via Ampney Crucis
Route 13 Filkins Loop via Bibury
Route 14 Fairford Loop via Bibury
Route 15 Frampton Cotterell Loop via Wickwar
Route 16 Stonehouse Loop via Slimbridge
Route 17 Stow Loop via Blockley
Route 18 Burford Loop via Northleach
Route 19 Stroud Loop via Chavenage House
Route 20 Cheltenham Loop via Cleeve Hill
Route 21 Malmesbury Loop via Tetbury
Route 22 Around the Cotswolds
Day 1 Stroud to Winchcombe
Day 2 Winchcombe to Stow-on-the-Wold
Day 3 Stow-on-the-Wold to Cirencester
Day 4 Cirencester to Stroud
