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Cotswold Lakes Camping, Somerford Keynes
The Shire’s Way
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Event overview
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Description
The Shires Way is a self-supported bikepacking adventure through seven English counties, built around rolling countryside, historic tracks, quiet lanes and some of the country’s most recognisable long-distance trails. This is a very different kind of challenge to many of our other events. Rather than relentless mountain terrain and huge technical sections, Shires Way is deliberately designed to flow. The route links the Cotswolds, waterways, bridleways, woodland, quiet country roads and fast gravel, passing through places such as Tusmore Estate, Bloxham and Bourton-on-the-Water. For 2027, we’ve refined the route through the Chilterns, using more of the Ridgeway National Trail between Chinnor and Princes Risborough. The change removes some of the previous undulation and helps maintain the faster, more flowing character of the event, while still leaving plenty of climbing and mixed terrain along the way. Shires Way is intended as a multi-day adventure and works particularly well over three days, averaging around 70 miles per day. For stronger riders travelling light, it is also a genuinely fast route that can be completed across two big 100+ mile days - and it has even been ridden in under 24 hours. However you approach it, the emphasis is less on racing the clock and more on settling into the journey, watching the countryside unfold and steadily ticking off the miles through some quintessentially English landscapes.
Highlights
Included
- Organised event insurance
- GPS tracking
- Event guide
- Checkpoints and feed stations
Categories
Solo (18+)
£85
Duo (18+)
£145
The experience
Is this event for you?
The Shires Way is one of our best routes for riders considering their first multi-day bikepacking event.
At around 213 miles, it is still a significant challenge, but the terrain and overall character make it much more approachable than our more mountainous events. We’ve already seen first-time bikepackers complete the full route comfortably across three days, while more experienced riders have used its faster terrain to complete it in two.
Expect a mixture of quiet lanes, roads, bridleways, gravel tracks, forestry and occasional singletrack rather than continuous technical riding. There will still be rougher sections - this is the UK, after all - and weather, farm traffic and winter damage can quickly turn an otherwise straightforward track into something considerably more demanding.
A gravel bike is very well suited to Shires Way and, for many riders, will be the obvious choice. A hardtail or lightweight full-suspension mountain bike with faster-rolling tyres is equally capable and can provide additional comfort when the surfaces deteriorate. We generally favour comfort and control over outright speed, so there is little benefit in fitting heavy, aggressive mountain-bike tyres for this particular route.
If you want a first taste of multi-day bikepacking, a fast two-day challenge, or simply an event where you can spend more time enjoying what is in front of you than worrying about what is coming next, Shires Way is built for exactly that.
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Bike Packing the Shires Way
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