Located in the ‘Heart of England’ Wellesbourne is surrounded by beautiful rolling countryside with a network of country lanes perfect for cycling.  Being a long way from large conurbations and about as far from the sea as it is possible to get there is plenty of opportunity for extensive exploring.  The area is host to a fascinating history spanning thousands of years including iron age hill forts, Roman occupation, Norman castles and of course the English Civil War .   Wellesbourne lies in The Avon Valley which divides The Feldon (originating from the old English ‘Feld’ meaning open cleared land) to the south and the The Arden (a higher area of small fields and woodland) to the north.  12 miles to the south lies The Cotswolds an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ defined by its bedrock of Jurassic Limestone.

To appreciate the central location of Wellesbourne it is located near to the boundary of four significant drainage systems with the River Dene flowing into The Avon and ultimately the Severn Estuary; to the south on Edge Hill the waters flow into The Cherwell and then the Thames; to the north we are close to the Trent system and nearby in the east the waters flow towards the Nene and thence the Wash.

.oOo.

The guide aims to introduce new and existing cyclists to the greater Wellesbourne area with routes in loops out and back to the village with varying distances from 5 to 30 miles.  The rides mainly follow rural roads with some hills which can be taken at leisure.  It is not an exhaustive list but from these you can develop rides to meet your own desire and taste.  And don’t forget the sense of history on these roads some of which will be pre-historic with their origin in pack horse routes carrying salt or later cattle droving roads.  Also, across our landscape there are a number of known and less well apparent routes constructed by the Romans and of course more modern Turnpikes and recent by-passes and motorways.

For clarity the ride directions are all based on Chestnut Square (The Stag's Head) in Wellesbourne as a start and finish point.  Heading north east takes you along Bridge Street over The Dene and past the One Stop store and similarly going south west takes you along Ettington Road towards the Co-op store and A429.