SUNDAY 17th MARCH – STEADY RIDE AROUND MILTON KEYNES PARKS TO BLETCHLEY
James Cairncross has kindly planned this ride and will be our guide, with Peter Bayles as Leader.
James Writes:
Start time: 9.30 am at Hunsbury for the 50 mile ride. 10.45 am at Linford for the 20 mile ride.
Meeting point:
– Long Ride (50 miles), Hunsbury Hill library, Overslade Close, East Hunsbury
NN4 0RZ
– Shorter Ride (20 miles), Black Horse Pub at Linford.
Parking for pub at Stonepit Field Park (off Wolverton Road) MK14 5AT
Distance: 50 or 20 miles for just the MK parks.
Refreshment stop: Howe Park Wood Cafe
Pace: Steady
Time Expected Back: Around 2.30pm
Riders can choose between starting at Northampton and riding to and around the MK Parks, or picking up the Northampton riders at Great Linford and just riding the MK Parks.
The ride uses roads or surfaced paths throughout.
Starting at Hunsbury library, those riding the 50 mile route will take the familiar route to Salcey Forest via Quinton and on to Stoke Goldington and Gayhurst, where we take the turning up the hill to Little Linford and then back down again to Newport Pagnell. From here we join any riders wanting to just ride around the parks, and say goodbye to the roads for 20 or so miles as we join Railway Walk, one of MK’s ‘redway’ cycle routes.
We then join the leisure route system (another MK term, this time a shared cycle/pedestrian pathway) to follow Loughton Valley Park past the famous Concrete Cows and the less famous Roman villa at Bancroft to Lodge Lake, Teardrops Lakes and finally Furzton Lake, where we join Tattenhoe Valley Park to travel to our café stop at Howe Park Wood.
Fully refreshed we then take a slightly different route back through Tattenhoe Valley to the National Bowl. At this point we briefly leave the parks to use the Pear Tree Lane redway to skirt an industrial grid square and into Woughton on the Green – a medieval village that you won’t believe is in the centre of the city..
We then turn north and travel through Ouzel Valley Park to Willen Lake, the Canal Broadwalk,
Linford Manor Park and say goodbye to the 20 milers. Then we continue past Stanton Low Park to join the Swans Way to Haversham. Back on the roads, we head to Hanslope via the safer roads through Castlethorpe and on to Hartwell and Salcey Forest, where we head back to the start point in Hunsbury.
This is a fairly flat route on surfaced paths throughout. Normal road bikes will be fine but 23mm tyres might give a rough ride on the leisure routes. If you have a gravel bike then that would be perfect for this ride. One or two bells in the group would be handy as we share some of the route with pedestrians!
As usual we look forward to welcoming all riders, and especially any new riders who may wish to join the ride.
For any further questions, please feel free to contact Peter Bayles on 07979850096
CTC Northampton 