Heritage Tour of Southwest England , 16-29 September 2007
by Vic Villhard

This tour provided for an intensive exploration of more than a dozen significant and fascinating historic and cultural sites in the heart of England , centered around Bath : site of Britain 's only World Heritage city and its only hot spring. Our daily routes typically included options to ride from 40 to 55 miles as they wound through very lightly traveled country lanes in the Cotswolds ( Britain 's largest “Area of Natural Beauty”) and Mendip Hills, the Somerset Level, and the Salisbury Plain. These areas are home to roads and settlements dating back to the Roman Empire, picturesque villages made from golden local limestone, Cheddar Gorge, spectacular caverns, Stonehenge and two other mysterious stone circles, the world's most active area for crop circles, historic “wool towns and churches”, magnificent Abbeys and cathedrals, artistic representations of horses carved high up on white chalk hillsides over the past three centuries and more, and several sites of significance to the Arthurian legends, including the Holy Grail, the Round Table and Excalibur.

Beautiful pastoral hillside scenes, deep forest glades, classic English gardens, peat bogs, small rivers and canals with locks and towpaths, lookout towers atop rolling hills, and occasional short but steep climbs characterized the scenery and riding. The combination of distance (with options) and difficulty justify a 3B rating for this tour. The only places we saw any traffic to speak of were on the roads entering and departing from the small towns where we stayed each night. Road conditions were generally good, but many were narrow, with occasional patches of broken pavement, mud and gravel that could be challenging for road bikes, particularly in wet conditions. The canal towpath between Bath and Devizes is unpaved, but road options are available as alternatives. Occasional encounters with trucks or farm equipment on narrow paths, and with traffic at roundabouts during rush hour in towns, could be a bit unnerving, but it was safe and simple to stop and get out of the way when necessary.

The maps and cue sheets provided by the commercial operator, Tony Boyd of Iron Donkey, were uniformly accurate and adequate—though a few riders found themselves off the route with some regularity, due at least in part to the many turns required each day to stay on minor back roads. Verbal directions enabled everyone to make it to the location where the cue sheet instructions started in each town, and to the hotel each night, but maps and/or written instructions would have been helpful. Tony's brother in law, Ian, rode along each day, and was very helpful in route-finding at the beginning and end of the day, outside the limits of the cue sheet instructions.

Accommodations varied from small to palatial, as they included a Georgian country house, a 15 th century lodging house for the Wells Cathedral, a 16 th century inn, and some more modern hotels, but all were interesting and memorable. Stays alternated between one and two nights in each place. Meals were practically always outstanding. Breakfast was included every day, two picnic lunches were provided, and the combination of group dinners and on-your-own dining appeared to work out well for everyone.

Thanks to Bob and Anne Smith for coordinating an outstanding tour, with very nice happy hours each day, and to Iron Donkey for providing the maps, route briefings, and luggage transfers—usually including delivery to our rooms. Tony went above and beyond to help the few riders who encountered mechanical or health issues, and in arranging transfers to ensure everyone could make their travel connections at both ends of the tour.