Tour of the Cotswolds bikepacking route

Good work! A great area to ride that I know well in places but have only scratched the surface of the lanes in other areas or explored the odd byway I've passed. Will be making a long weekend of this as soon as I can.

Very nice.

Nice and only a couple of miles from my house....

Nice, thanks, i'll have a proper look later.

Ace, thank you very much, that's really useful! I'm in Oxford and looking for some localish mini-adventure so I'll have a close look at that...

Any comments on doing it in reverse? Its within striking distance from me but doing in a oner prob not realistic for me, whereas a northern section anti-clockwise could work.

Loving your work. Thanks for sharing.

Really, really want a like button.

That's great work op, just went and checked out the SDW section and saw the pics... looking at the scenery it was like seeing an old friend again that I hadn't realised I missed so much. I love the SDW though she can be a harsh mistress at times! Long the cataloging of all the SDW threads from over the years too.

Thanks for posting and I'll be reading the info on the other routes tomorrow (ok, today now). Bookmarking the site for sure.👍

A great route, a lot of our road rides are in that north area and it’s well chosen.

Looks good. I could suggest a couple of tweaks around Ciren that would bring in a bit more off-roady stuff, but nothing major.

Good to see the Fosse Way in there the Romans will be well chuffed. And well done for the descriptions and resupply detail.

Good to see the Fosse Way in there

Yes, not sure I'd want to ride a bike along much of it though! Fast road.

Nice work 🙂

"Yes, not sure I’d want to ride a bike along much of it though! Fast road."

Long sections of it are off road near Tetbury/Malmesbury

Thanks for all the positive feedback, hope everyone has fun riding it.

@MrPottatoHead no problems doing it in reverse.

@IHN thanks that'd be great, happy to tweak it to make it better.

The Fosse Way section is all off-road except the last 3km which is a fairly quiet wide country lane.

Interesting. Would anyone like to comment on how it would be to ride on a tandem with panniers and 32mm tyres? We're happy enough on dirt tracks and canal towpaths etc, but gnarly off road is possibly a step too far

NBT - of the bits I know on there (which is, I'd say, about half of it), I think you'd be fine. Might be comfier on slightly bigger tyres in some places, but nothing that couldn't pick your way down/along with a bit of care.

Mega work - bookmarked for when I'm free of work and Kid constraints.

Cheers Nettles. another local resident (Stroud way) reckons an MTB tandem with 2" min tyres would be a better choice, so maybe not the best idea. Worth considering as a base though and rerouting on quiet lanes. I've bookmarked for future investigation

Fair enough. To be fair, the more Stroud-y end is the bit I'm more unfamiliar with. Happy to point you towards quiet lanes stuff, have done a (literally, at times) tonne of it on the roadie.

Has it been ridden yet?

First one from here to do so, please post up a report.

Carrots dangled, first one to post up a completion (time unimportant but must be completed in one tour).

Great work - bookmarked

I've hiked and wild camped the Cotswold Way - In terms of finding suitable places to pitch up it's not that easy. Beautiful countryside though.

Has it been ridden yet?

Not yet, unless some has started it this week?

For camping, there's Thistledown at about 70km in, and I'd happily offer my garden which is just off the route 110km in (south-east Cheltenham) - just PM me.
I'll be adding others as I find them but the rest is fairly rural for 'discrete' overnights.

Nice work! I live on route (Dursley) and will give the southern half a try when I get a spare day

@packs - there's a great campsite beside the A4070, on the left, between Workman Woods & Buckle Woods. Will only take folk a coupe of hundred metres off route.

Is it definitely all rideable, no bushwhacking involved?

Thanks @qwerty forgot about that one, I go past it often enough!

Yep, no bushwhacking at all. A few rocky/rough bits but they're not long.

Saved this for later! Two of my best mates live on that route and this is an excellent excuse to go visit and ride bikes together.

I've had to tweak the route very slightly. The off-road section to the east of Colerne is passable at the moment but with a week of rain it'd be horrendous! (it was the only bit I hadn't checked until yesterday - typical).

Nice, I'll check that out.

If anyone wants a south downs one: SD300

loops brilliant - thanks!!

anyone ridden this yet?

how much of a challenge would 3 days be? or would 4 days be a better option?

thanks

That’s brilliant. Very well done 👍

Anyone ridden it yet, looking at this for first Bank Holiday in May

Excellent work there. I live just off the Fosse Way at the NE end Warks/Oxon borders. Haven't ridden in years but inspired to (re)visit some familiar places. Love the ethos of bimbling through nature, landscape and history. Thank you.

Alan Goldsmith rode it last year.

“anagallis_arvensis
Full Member
Anyone ridden it yet, looking at this for first Bank Holiday in May”

Thanks for bringing to my attention, looks a great route. Not sure I’ll find time to do all this year but interested in splitting in to 2 (north/south) so interested if anyone has done that as well?

Did 300km of the route on first may bank holiday weekend. Started near Stroud then cut east to join the route heading anticlockwise so missed the southern part out below Stroud as had to be back home for work. Really enjoyed it, quite slow going though as it's been so wet. Gravel bike was ideal, wild camped.

Glad you revived this thread as missed it before. Great looking routes and a great little website.
That climb in the third photo of the Cotswold gallery means you've just gone passed my in-laws house - Got a great excuse to take the bike next time and vanish for the day!