| 1. This ride is approx an hour/90 mins long, and uses the bridleways around Hitchin to take you off road.
The initial part (up until Grays' Lane) can be busy as you are using main roads. The route takes you past a cottage and a farm before meeting the Oughton Head Spring. The path is signposted from the end of Grays' Lane. Novices should watch out for the gravel tracks and inside the treeline - lots of roots to negotiate.
Following the route of the river will take you through the Common and then out onto Bedford Road for the short ride into Ickleford, where the Icknield Trail entrance is clearly signposted on the right, just after the mini roundabout.
There are a couple of hills in the next section and a railway footbridge to negotiate (although there is a ramp to allow you to push bkes up rather than having to carry).
There's a decent rise up to meet the Stotfold Road, and then a pretty steep descent along that road, where you go back under the railway.
Be careful turning left back onto Cambridge Road, and then it's a simple run back into town again. |