Cycling type
Road
Distance
10 miles / 16.09 km
Duration
2 to 3 hours
Difficulty
Easy
Shape
Circular
Route description
An easy ride through quiet villages into the Cotswold Water Park; passing country pubs country parks and close to the source of the magnificent River Thames. Stop to picnic, swim, windsurf, walk, bird watch or take cycle routes deeper into the lakes area.
Highlights along the route
Cotswold Country Park & Beach
An attractive country park and ideal family day out. The Park offers everything from peaceful lakeside walks, a fossil and sculpture trail and cycle hire to the UK’s largest inland beach with boat hire, lakeside barbeques and Watermark Café.
The infant Thames
This cycle route crosses the infant Thames at Parker’s Bridge. The usual quoted source of the River Thames is at Thames Head, about a mile further upstream which is also the start of the 184-mile Thames Path National Trail, following the great river through London to the Thames Barrier at Greenwich.
Thames & Severn Canal
Completed in 1789, this beautiful canal through the Cotswolds once linked the River Thames to the River Severn. Now under restoration as part of the Cotswold Canals route, the reopened canal will enable boats to navigate between England’s two greatest rivers once again.
Shorncote
This village is reputed to be the smallest village in Gloucestershire, consisting of a church, two farmhouses and six cottages.
Start
Address
OS Grid Ref
ST9852497593
What3Words
Refreshments
The Tavern Inn, Kemble (01285 770216); The Wild Duck, Ewen (01285 770310); The Greyhound, Siddington (01285 653573); The Bakers Arms, Somerford Keynes (01285 861298); Shops and café at Cotswold Country Park & Beach (01285 868096)
Navigation
1. Leave the main station car park located by the ticket office. Turn right at the road. Go straight over at the crossroads and follow signs for Ewen, bearing left once out of Kemble, and over the Thames at Parker’s Bridge.
2. In Ewen turn left and then right, signed Siddington. Follow the lane for 2 miles, passing a visible section of the Thames & Severn Canal, then turn left and first right signed Siddington. After 1/2 mile and just into Siddington, turn right to Upper Siddington, signed ‘weak bridge’.
3. Over the canal where there are some old locks, at the T-junction turn right and then take the first left. At the next T-junction turn right (take care) and then take the first left signed Shorncote. At the next T-junction turn left, passing the Cotswold Water Park signs. Cotswold Country Park & Beach is on your left.
4. Having stopped off here, continue through the water park in the same direction and then turn right, following signs for Somerford Keynes. In the village, turn right at T-junction, signposted Siddington (go left to visit Neigh Bridge Country Park).
5. Just out of the village turn left, signed Ewen. Follow the lane for 1 1/2 miles. Turn left at the T- junction, through Ewen and return to Kemble station.