Monday 4 May 2009

Lord of the Oxford Ring

start: Oxford, Wolvercote Roundabout (or anywhere else on the ring, convenient for you)
distance: 25.2 km

Not the most scenic route, but still nice to do. The route follows the ring road around Oxford as close as possible. Most of the time you're riding on bike paths seperated from the busy car traffic, with a few short exceptions of which the Botley interchange is the most hazardous. I explored this route last winter and really enjoyed it.

Route map:
This route is also published on MapMyRide

12 comments:

Deepak said...

Hi,

Thanks for this lovely collection of routes. I live in India and my wife and I want to plan a cycluing trip to the UK. Just wanted to know - how do we find out which of these routes are road bikeable? Or are they all for road bikes?

Thanks,

Deepak

McHoen said...

Hi Deepak,

All the routes are suitable for road bikes. Nice to hear my blog is even read in India.

Have a good cycling trip.

litsl said...

This is all excellent information. I live in West London and am trying to figure out a good route to work in Milton Park, Abingdon, where I have just got a job.

I've got a few choices:
- oxford tube to thornhill (bike on the tube, which i understand is possible - then ride south down the ring road)

- head across country from lewknor (20 miles)

- cycle to paddington and get the train to didcot (a bit boring and much more expensive)

- cycle 45 miles from london

You've given me some great ideas here but if you have any other local info I'd love to hear it. For example, if I dumped a bike a Thornhill or Lewknor at night, would it still be there in the morning?!

Anyhow, thanks for this blog!

Carl

McHoen said...

I don't think there is much bike parking at Lewknor or Thornhill P&R, and I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my bike out there. You can indeed take a bicycle for free on the Tube, but space is limited.
Sounds like you could do with a Brompton folding bike!
From Thornhill I would follow the ring road, then through Kennington, Abbingdon, Culham and Sutton Courtenay. Still 15.5 miles each way is an impressive commute in my book.

Good luck.

Anthony said...

You can avoid the A420/A34 roundabout at Botley - if you take the cycle path which starts under the bridge where the A34 goes over the Botley Road (North side of Botley Road, East side of A34); blink & you'll miss the start, but the path is OK. You'll still have to cross the two A420 carriageways, but it's not too busy.

Steve Roe said...

Thanks for this, I've done it a couple of times now and it's a good safe route.

Botley was a breeze, go onto the cycle track before hitting the A420/A34 roundabout then use the cycle crossings and follow the path down towards West Way, cross at the crossing then follow the cycle path round to North Hinksey Lane.

You can see my track in detail here http://runkeeper.com/user/steveroe/route/474175

Unknown said...

Nice route, strangely satisfying looping the city. I personally find it easier to go anticlockwise as the climb towards Headington doesn't seem as bad.

I've published my tracks here:

http://runkeeper.com/user/ianhampton/route/411670

Simple_Stats said...

Hi,

That was a nice ride. Unfortunately, I lost my exit in Botley's roundabout and had to go around twice which I found a bit scary.

Btw, congratulations for your great blog and many thanks for all the info. Unfortunately, apart from the first 2 routes, I find the rest too long for me. I've decided to create a similar blog but with shorter routes for novice cyclists like me (I hope you don't mind, your blog is cited if people want longer routes). http://oxfordeasycycling.blogspot.com/

Again many thanks and keep posting (shorter;-) routes.

Best
Yiannis

McHoen said...

Hi Yiannis,
I know what you mean about that roundabout, it's a bit scary.
Great to have inspired you to create a blog with shorter rides in the area. I hope I will find time soon to post a new ride myself.

Cheers

Unknown said...

I grew up in Littlemore and did a ride like this with two school mates about..erm..35 yrs ago. We didn't go out through Wytham though, we cycled down the river until we got to the Botley Road, then out to Botley and through North Hinksey. We did it anti-clockwise, not that it matters much!
Matt

bikeshoposk01 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Nathaniel said...

I developed exactly the same route a few days ago! Shame I hadn't found this blog sooner, as I did have to piece things together.

As others have said, quite satisfying.