Cycle Rides.
Cycle rides in and around Abingdon.
The aim of this page is to bring more of Abingdon into view by suggesting you ditch the car jump on your bike and explore some of the parts of the town which are'nt easily reachable by any other way than walking or cycling.
An excellent and easy ride starting in Abingdon is the 'Sustrans route 5' which eventually leads to Oxford. This Starts at the Abbey Gateway and leads you through the oldest part of the town along Abbey close to the Abbey meadows, after crossing the bridge into the abbey meadows the route then turns left and runs along side the ancient mill stream until just before the weir and locks (on the main Thames). It then crosses left over the mill stream (over a rather steep bridge) and after a few wiggles begins to run parallel to the line of Abingdon's branch line (which closed around 1980) through an area known as Barton fields this part of the route is a very open and well surfaced loose gravel track. After passing the science park development the track adopts the true route of the railway line. After about a mile an access road to one of the many gravel pits in the area is reached cross this and once again follow the line of the dis-used railway until you are fairly close to the side of the Oxford to Didcot mainline. At this point instead of being allowed to cycle all the way to Radley station you are ushered 
left along one of the many old access roads for the mostly dis-used gravel pits which cover this area, eventually you find youself on the busy junction at the southern end of Radley village (this part of the route is a temporary detour as eventually the route will run straight into Radley station as the old Abingdon link used to). From here roads must be followed all the way to the southerly reach of Kennington, firstly passing through Radley village and turning right at the top of the village with the church on your right and then the 'elite' Radley College on your left. Two possible routes exist from Kennington onwards both eventually lead you to lightly traffic laden streets on the edge of Oxford and onward toward the centre the original route is road based if a little hilly running right through the centre of Kennington village. The other more recomended route is the slightly longer 'informal riverside route' which is a much flatter Sustrans developed path which runs along the easterly side of the Oxford to Didcot mainline and then along the westerly Thames towpath, this is completely traffic free until reaching the outskirts of Oxford where several further route options exist depending on what part of the city you wish to access.
For more info on the Sustrans routes to the south of Abingdon towards Didcot, Harwell, Wallingford and Reading take a look at the Harwell 'Bicycle Users Group' website written by Marcus Jones at www.geocities.com/harwellbug.
More routes will appear here soon......
Select this link to return to the Historic Abingdon Homepage.
left along one of the many old access roads for the mostly dis-used gravel pits which cover this area, eventually you find youself on the busy junction at the southern end of Radley village (this part of the route is a temporary detour as eventually the route will run straight into Radley station as the old Abingdon link used to). From here roads must be followed all the way to the southerly reach of Kennington, firstly passing through Radley village and turning right at the top of the village with the church on your right and then the 'elite' Radley College on your left. Two possible routes exist from Kennington onwards both eventually lead you to lightly traffic laden streets on the edge of Oxford and onward toward the centre the original route is road based if a little hilly running right through the centre of Kennington village. The other more recomended route is the slightly longer 'informal riverside route' which is a much flatter Sustrans developed path which runs along the easterly side of the Oxford to Didcot mainline and then along the westerly Thames towpath, this is completely traffic free until reaching the outskirts of Oxford where several further route options exist depending on what part of the city you wish to access.