Swindon Cycle Routes & Maps 

Finding your way around Swindon and beyond

Swindon is well provided for when it comes to cycling - with cycle paths right across the town and plenty more if you want to go further afield.

It's no secret that there are few major towns in the whole of Britain that are better located for easy access to beautiful countryside, interesting villages and sights of interest, and with 8,200 paths and tracks in Wiltshire that are suitable for cycling, we are spoilt for choice.

So finding the right one for you could be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that there are lots of excellent resources – most of them online – to help you find your way.

The following will point you in the right direction.

 

The Swindon Cycle Map

All Swindon cyclists should keep Swindon Travel Choice's excellent Swindon Cycle Map handy – not just in their saddlebag but also in their favourites.

The beauty of this map is routes are graded and marked according to how bike-friendly they are: from properly designated cycleways, through quieter roads to the high-traffic roads, allowing you to plan routes to follow and the ones to avoid.

The online version is effectively three maps in one - a comprehensive overview of the whole town, a guide to circular leisure routes and a detailed map of the town centre, including locations of cycle stands.

> Swindon Cycle Map
> Circular leisure routes 

 

The Wiltshire Cycleway

 

 

The Wiltshire Cycleway is an official, circular 225km (160-mile) route around Wiltshire taking in Salisbury, Amesbury, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Corsham, Bradford-on-Avon, Mere and Wilton. It uses mostly cycle paths and quiet country roads.

The route is broken down into 16 sections, and maps of all of these can be downloaded. Each are designed to be printed off on a single sheet of A4.

> More information on Wiltshire County Council website

 

VisitWiltshire routes

 

The VisitWiltshire website features five routes, designed to capture the very best of the county's landscape. They vary in length between 26km and 53km, and each suggested route comes with a guide (downloadable as a PDF).

> Visit Wiltshire guide to cycling in the county
> Visit Wiltshire guide to Avon Valley Exporer route
> Visit Wiltshire guide to Wylye Valley Explorer route
> Visit Wiltshire guide to Salisbury Plain Explorer route
> Visit Wiltshire guide to Woodford Valley Circuit route
> Visit Wiltshire guide to Wylye Valley and Grovely Wood route

Cricklade Countryway Project

A brand new 'green corridor' connecting Mouldon Hill in North Swindon to Cricklade and the Cotswold Water Park is under construction.

This cycle path is part of a much wider scheme encompassing canal restoration, a new railway line, community forest planting and much more.

> More information

 

Routes for mountain bikers

 


Mountain Bike Swindon’s website has information on several routes aimed at satisfying mountain bikers, and encourages people to submit their own ideas. The site also has information about mountain bike trails in the area.

> Routes on Mountain Bike Swindon website

 

Sustrans

Sustrans, the UK’s biggest cycling charity, has a comprehensive list of cycle routes across Britain, and their website includes a detailed look at official National Routes that pass through Wiltshire.

> Sustrans home page
> Sustrans National Route map

 

Bikeley

 

This is another priceless cycling website, packed full of routes that are not just bright ideas but have also been tried and tested.

All the routes have been suggested by fellow users of the site, and there are literally dozens of different routes to choose from which go through and around our area.

From purely recreational easy routes of less than 10km to seriously tough training rides of more than 100km, the site is sure to provide plenty of ideas to suit your personal requirements.

What's more, each route is impressively laid out on Google Maps that are even more interactive than usual.

> Bikely routes in and around Swindon

 

Cycle-Route

This huge website provides ideas for (and details about) cycle routes across England, Scotland, Wales and the whole of Ireland.

So wherever you go in these islands, including if you are sticking closer to home, you won’t be short of places to go.

> Cycle-Route home page
> Cycle-Route guide to Wiltshire routes

GPS Routes

 

This is a website aimed at cyclists who carry GPS technology, but is also a source of good ideas for routes across the country.

 

All of these are presented in excellent detail, including elevations - so you know how much hill work is involved.

The site features 14 routes in Wiltshire, including the popular Swindon to Marlborough run.

> GPS Routes home page
> GPS Routes guide to Wlitshire
> GPS Routes guide to Swindon to Marlborough route

 

Cycle 'n' Sleep

If your idea of cycling is to take a leisurely few days exploring an area and crashing out in local accommodation overnight, then the Cycle 'n' Sleep website is on your wavelength.

> Cycle 'n' Sleep website