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Thames Valley cycle route | cycle.travel

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Thames Valley trundling route | cycle.travel cycle◦travel Route GuidesRoutes ▼MunicipalityGuidesCities ▼ Map My Avenue Verte France Avenue Verte UK BayTrundlingWay C2C Celtic Trail Coast & Castles Cornish Way Cotswold LineTrundlingacross the Beacons Devon C2C Hadrian's Cycleway Kennet & Avon Lon Cambria London to Brighton Lon Las Cymru Lon Teifi Oxford to Cambridge Pennine Cycleway Radnor Ring Thames Valley Tour de Yorkshire Way of the Roses West Country Way • Bikes on trains • Canal cycling • Full list Birmingham Bristol Cambridge London Oxford Swindon Worcester York • Full list • Add your municipality Thames Valley Guide Routebook Gallery Stay Ride reports Forum ...the scenic route from London to Oxford Route facts 4 5 Length: 96 miles Difficulty: Easy GPX file: Download Britain’s grandest river is an obvious candidate for a cycling unravel from London – and the Thames Valley route doesn’t disappoint.You can’t trundling withal the river all the way to Oxford. Instead, this is a varied route that mixes up rural lanes, riverside paths, little-known bridleways and purpose-built trundling tracks to make a relaxing route to the unconfined university city. So is this the Thames Path?No. The Thames Path is solely a walking route from the source of the river in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier. Most of it is classified as ’public footpath’ – bikes aren’t allowed, it’s grass or mud, and there are (lots of) stiles. (Unlike canals, the riverbanks are privately owned, and most of the rich Thames landowners aren’t exactly bike-friendly.)So unfortunately, you can’t trundling the Thames from source to sea. That said, you can trundling withal the riverside most of the way from Putney to Staines, and in Reading and Oxford.Is this a good route from London to Oxford?It is, but not a fast one. As part of the NationalTrundlingNetwork, it’s cleverly pieced together from riverside paths, country lanes, residential streets and rural tracks. Inevitably that ways a pearly value of turning hither and thither – it’s not the sort of route where you can just put your throne lanugo and go for it.If you want to trundling from London to Oxford in a day, this isn’t the route for you. (We’d suggest this route instead, which at 66 miles we think is a good compromise between speed and relaxation.) But if you’ve got a weekend or longer, the Thames Valley route is profoundly enjoyable. Since you’re never far from a railway station that will take you when to Paddington, Londoners won’t need to typesetting walk-up withal the way. The 95, largely flat, miles should take most cyclists two or three days.What sort of bike?Much of the route is within the reach of a road velocipede with sturdy tyres, or any hybrid or MTB. Cooper’s Hill, by Runnymede, and Knowl Hill, near Wargrave, are both a little rough: volitional road routes are possible in both cases. Peep’o’Day Lane, north of Sutton Courtenay (near Didcot), can moreover be rough and road bikers would be largest well-considered to take a longish detour onto the other bank, via Culham.Is it suitable for a first-timer?It’s pretty flat. Only the Reading–Wallingford section wideness the Chilterns really taxes the muscles: we think this picturesque length is well worth the exertion, but it’s perhaps not platonic for a novice cyclist on a heavy bike.But if you’re looking for a unappetizing waterside ride for your first cycling holiday, trammels out the Kennet & Avon Canal instead.How do I get there?There are railway stations at regular intervals. From inside London to Staines they’re suburban services, heading into Waterloo. From Maidenhead onwards, they’re on the Paddington–Oxford line, where you can just stash your velocipede in the vestibules of the local trains. (Bikes aren’t permitted in the weekday rush-hour.) There are GWR expresses from Reading and Oxford, too, but you need to typesetting velocipede spaces on them.Between Oxford and London, there are moreover regular fast coaches (the Oxford Tube and the X90) which take a limited number of bikes at no uneaten charge.Is it signposted?Yes: it’s NationalTrundlingNetwork route 4 from London to Reading, and route 5 from there to Oxford. (Route 4 continues withal the Kennet & Avon Canal to Bath, then on to Bristol and South Wales.)Where in London does it start?NCN 4 officially starts at the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, then threads its way withal the SouthWallto Lambeth Bridge, where it crosses to Pimlico and Chelsea – here’s the route. It’s a practical way to get through the city, but if you have the choice, we’d recommend starting at Putney. This is where the route gets leafy and (largely) leaves the busier roads behind, and it’s where our detailed guide begins… Stage-by-stage guide and map » Click through to our detailed maps, stage-by-stage guide, walk-up and campsite listings. cycle◦travel Made in the Cotswolds, England. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd. Terms of use & cookies · About us · Advertise · Feedback · Contact us