the Cotswold Singletrack ride

Cotswold Singletrack, a photo by rOcKeTdOgUk on Flickr.

last year i followed a route from a map i had bought which showed route of off road and on quiet roads around the Cotswolds and i did the Broadway circuit. this time Ben and i ventured farther afield to a start point in the village of Charlbury near Oxfordshire. now i have to say we are both rubbish at following a map, we read the directions, pedal away and immediately forget which way we are supposed to go, so there were frequent stops to recheck the map and on a couple of occasions we had to retrace our steps to make sure we we going the right way. the route though was very pretty using bridleways and field edges, the oilseed rape is in full bloom and looked stunning against the broody sky.Ben hates the smell but i think i's really nice. good job i'd taken a anti hayfever tablet though as you could almost taste the pollen in the air. there were a couple of note on the map warning of particularly muddy parts but even with all the rain we've had the ground was parched, cracked and dry most of the way around with only minor tacky areas through the trees. there was nothing really challenging gradient wise but some great vistas and lots of pedalling which made for tired legs at the end. this route would be stunning when the sun shines and even in the overcast and quite chilly conditions it was a great change of scenery
ride 73
19 miles
total 1286
commute 397.5