Читать книгу Cycling in the Cotswolds. 21 half and full-day cycle routes, and a 4-day 200km Tour of the Cotswolds онлайн

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On another occasion I was pedalling as fast as I could up a steep but short slope; that day I was on an off-road section of Akeman Street (Route 18), grinning from ear to ear as I overcame a challenge that looked more difficult than it was in practice.

Such is the variety of terrain in the Cotswolds, from quiet lanes and challenging tracks to thriving (and busy) villages and town centres. And unexpected wildlife encounters seem far more common when travelling by bicycle – the quiet but relatively fast approach on two wheels allowing you to get a bit closer than perhaps by any other means of transport, including feet.

Cotswold stone houses beside the River Eye in Lower Slaughter (Route 4)

The Cotswolds are deservedly one of the most popular Areas of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB) in the country, and its honeypot (and honey-coloured) limestone villages and wool towns such as Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway and Bibury are the embodiment of ‘olde-worlde’ rural England. Although summer tourists can make these places very busy, the bustle can soon be left behind on the quiet lanes and tracks that criss-cross this wonderfully varied region, passing such delights as purple lavender fields and swathes of wildflowers peppering the unimproved limestone grassland.