LEWKNOR, CHILTERN HILLS

DISTANCE 25KM (15.5 MILES) CLIMBING 590M (1,935FT) TIME 1HR 30MINS TO 2HRS 30MINS

Route summary: A ride that’s almost right off the motorway, but always feels a very long way away from it, along fast singletrack, through picturesque countryside and with twee refreshment stops

Start/finish: Roadside parking at junction 6 of the M40 (postcode: OX49 5TL, grid ref: SU 716/973)

1

Head up the road, signed ‘Ridgeway closed to motor vehicles’. Keep ahead at a track crossing and follow the rough trail, bearing right by the farm, steeply uphill, to the top. Just before the road, go left on a bridleway parallel to the tarmac. Bear right at the picnic tables, to the road. Go left on this (be careful – some people drive fast here).

2

Turn right across the tarmac just when the barrier starts, before crossing the M40, on a bridleway into the Wormsley Estate. Keep ahead on the main track, following the white arrows on trees downhill, to and over a tarmac drive. Follow the bridleway steeply uphill. Go right on the road at the top, joining a bridleway on the right after 1km.

3

Keep ahead, exit the woods, cross the common and go over some tracks by some houses, contining ahead on the bridleway. At the minor road, turn right and keep ahead as it becomes an off-road bridleway, downhill.

At the bottom, follow it left and then keep ahead at a track crossing, running parallel to a road.

4

Join the road and keep ahead until the Turville sign. Turn right here onto a bridleway, bearing right and then left into the trees, steeply uphill. At the top, exit the woods and go right by Turville Court, on tarmac, to the road. Keep ahead/right on this.

5

Continue to a crossroads. Go diagonally right into the trees and across the common, to The Barn at Turville cafe. Pick up a bridleway to the left, descend, then take a short climb to a road. Go left for a long climb. Cross a crossroads and keep ahead at the grass island/junction.

6

After 0.7km, take a bridleway on the left by the houses, into the woods. Follow the trail through the gates, which becomes a descent on the left of a field, to a track crossing. Turn right, ascend to a driveway and go right.

7

Go left on the road then right at the junction soon after, and keep right at the next one. Head right on a bridleway after 200m, downhill on singletrack. Keep ahead at the bottom, by the timber yard, on tarmac.

8

After 300m turn right on the Icknield Way/Ridgeway, which crosses the tarmac. Follow this all the way to a track crossing, where you were at the start of the ride (with a bridge ahead, carrying the M40). Turn left to return to the parking area.

THE LOCATIONSpread across the counties of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is filled with rolling hills, woodlands and farmland.

GETTING THERE Exit the M40 at junction 5 and head north-west on the A40, turning left after 600m. The car park is back over the motorway on the left.

FACILITIES There are B&Bs and pubs with rooms in Watlington (www.visit chilterns.co.uk) or you can camp at White Mark Farm (01491 612295, www.whitemarkfarm.co.uk). Leathern Bottel in Lewknor is a great pub with amazing food (01844 351482,

www.theleathernbottle.co.uk). There

are no bike shops nearby.

MAPS & BOOKS Ordnance Survey Landranger 165: Aylesbury & Leighton Buzzard and 175: Reading & Windsor. Mountain Bike Rides in & Around The Chilterns by Max Darkins (Rough Ride Guide).