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England: Cotswolds & Stonehenge Bike Tour
Trip Overview
Join us for an outstanding bike tour of the beautiful Cotswolds region of England. This gorgeous area west of London is known for its historic villages built of golden stone, and picturesque hills and valleys — and as an inspiration for many famous authors, including Jane Austen when she wrote "Pride and Prejudice." This tour introduces you to stunning rural settings — and includes bonus visits to outstanding prehistoric sites, like Stonehenge and Avebury.
For history enthusiasts, there's a walking tour of the beautiful college town of Oxford as well as a visit to Winston Churchill’s Blenheim Palace ... often described as England’s greatest palace, with England’s greatest view!
Savor the quiet cycling on a canal path and on rural byways plus visits to historical gems like Bath, where you can still visit Roman-era baths — and the Jane Austen Centre. Experience the color of local pubs and friendly British hospitality.
A local guide will accompany you and drive the van … along with a seasoned Discovery Bicycle Tours leader. You’ll enjoy fine inns and delicious foods along with historic sites you can only see in Britain.
This tour is not to be missed!
Itinerary
From start to finish, check out the route.
Meet at London’s Paddington Train Station at 8:30 a.m. at "Platform One" underneath the clock. Hop on a train and transfer 45 minutes to Oxford for a walking tour of this famous historic town. Wear biking clothes or have biking gear handy in a small bag for a quick change after lunch in Oxford. In the afternoon, you will be shuttled to Swinbrook to be fitted for your bike. And then enjoy a warm-up ride of about 16 miles. Check in to your hotel and enjoy a delicious welcome dinner.
You set off from the hotel and straight into the beautiful Cotswolds, biking the 20 miles to the home of Winston Churchill and World Heritage Site at Blenheim Palace. Most of the biking is in the morning as there is so much to see and do at the Palace. Walk around the stunning gardens — designed in the 1700s by famous landscape architect Capability Brown — tour the historic and beautifully preserved palace, visit Churchill’s grave and see many more interesting sites along the way. Lunch is in one of the cafes in the palace, and there is the option to bike all the way to the hotel in the afternoon, or bike halfway, or not at all — it’s totally up to you!
Head south today into the Cotswolds, stopping at Bibury (a village so beautiful that Henry Ford wanted to pick up the whole village and take it back stateside!). Enjoy a coffee break here before skirting north of Cirencester — the capital of the Cotswolds — and on to the Bell at Sapperton for lunch. This is possibly one of the greatest pubs known to mankind! In the afternoon you head toward Tetbury and bike around the back of Prince Charles’s house at Highgrove before arriving at the Hare and Hounds, your next hotel.
You bike to the wonderful hamlet of Lacock in the Southern Cotswolds, down tiny Cotswold roads and through picture-postcard villages. Lacock is a very famous village, owned by the National Trust and so old it looks like a film set! It is, of course, a film set, and in recent years has been in Harry Potter and the Downton Abbey film. You lunch in Lacock before transferring to Stonehenge for a good look around the historic monument. In the late afternoon, and if time allows, we detour to Avebury, a village completely surrounded by a 400-square-meter circle of standing stones. You are on your own for dinner tonight.
You bike down into Bath via a 2,000-year-old Roman Road called the Fosse Way. It’s straight as an arrow and takes you almost to the center of the World Heritage Site that is the City of Bath. You pedal right into the heart of the city, via a traffic-free canal path, for lunch at the Holburne Museum and then an afternoon visit to the Roman baths with options to explore the Jane Austen Centre and the sumptuous section of homes known as the Royal Crescent. Bath also has great shopping and restaurants. Dinner is all together for our last night’s celebration.
Map
Dates & Pricing
Prices are per person based on double occupancy (2 people in one room). Single supplement for private room is listed at the top of this page. A deposit of $500 holds your reservation for most tours. For weekend tours, the deposit is $300.
What’s Included
5 nights’ lodging, 5 breakfasts, 4 dinners (lunches are on your own — so you can ride at your own pace — and you are on your own for dinner 1 night in Tetbury) Transfer from Paddington Station in London to start of riding. We also include detailed maps and itineraries, experienced guides, full van support. Airfare is not included.
Dates & Pricing
Prices are per person based on double occupancy (2 people in one room). Single supplement for private room is listed at the top of this page. A deposit of $500 holds your reservation for most tours. For weekend tours, the deposit is $300.
What’s Included
5 nights’ lodging, 5 breakfasts, 4 dinners (lunches are on your own — so you can ride at your own pace — and you are on your own for dinner 1 night in Tetbury) Transfer from Paddington Station in London to start of riding. We also include detailed maps and itineraries, experienced guides, full van support. Airfare is not included.
Inns
Where you stay along the way.
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