Nettlebed, Chiltern Hills

DISTANCE 27.1km (16.8 miles) CLIMBING 490m (1,608ft) TIME 1hr 30mins to 3hrs

Start/ inish Roadside parking in Nettlebed (grid ref SU 702/868, postcode RG9 5DA)

Route summary This ride takes in some great examples of the lovely beechwood singletrack available in the Chilterns countryside and offers fast, lowing riding when dry

1Head east along The Green. Turn right at the junction, then left onto a rough track. Go right on the minor road, cross the main road and join a bridleway. Turn left on a wide track, then right at a T-junction. At the next crossing, go left.

2Turn left at the next track crossing, into the woods. Keep ahead to a lane at the end. Go left, over the cattle grid. Turn right at the crossroads, to Bromsden Farm. Continue ahead on a permissive bridleway. Carry straight on at the bottom, then go left at the crossing, through a gate and up a steep climb.

3Keep ahead at the top, through the woods. Bear left at the fork with the green arrows. Pass through a gate, then turn left on the road. Go right at the junction, onto a tarmac bridleway. At the end, keep ahead/left. Follow the garden fences down to the main road and turn right on it, into Henley.

4Go over the first roundabout, right at the second and over the mini roundabout further up the road. At the crossroads by the town hall, turn left and then immediately right, towards the golf course. After 0.5km, go left on Pack And Prime Lane. Keep ahead on this bridleway until you reach a road. Turn right on the tarmac, then left, onto a restricted byway.

5Keep ahead at the track crossing, then turn left, through a gate, on a bridleway. After exiting the wood, bear right and then left, past the farm building, on a wide track. Go right on the road. At the crossroads, join Stoke Row Road. At the next crossroads, head diagonally right, o -road and into the trees.

6Go downhill, keeping left at the bottom to cross a road. Don’t bear left on the bridleway – use the singletrack to the right instead. Pass a field and head back into the trees. Take the first wide track on the left, uphill. Pass the motorbike barrier and go over a driveway. Keep right at the fork to join some singletrack. Follow this to a road by Holly Tree Cottage.

7Turn right on the tarmac and join the bridleway at the end. Bear left at two forks and cross a forest track. Join the singletrack opposite and keep ahead/right to follow a faint track down the hillside. Go left on the wide track at the bottom.

8Turn right on the road, uphill. At the T-junction, go left. Just past the closed pub, turn o right. Continue over the track crossing from earlier and turn right at the T-junction. Keep left at the fork and follow this wide track to the road. Turn right on the tarmac, then left at the roundabout, back into Nettlebed.