Wye Valley tour
A Glaudax cycle tour
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4 days of cycling
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400 kilometres
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4,000 metres of climbing
Are you ready for the challenge?
2023 tour dates:
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Friday 21 – Monday 24 April
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Friday 6 – Monday 9 October
Tour price: £695
Single room supplement: £150
Deposit: £200
Payable by bank transfer or credit/debit card.
Set off on Friday morning from our base in the Chilterns for four days of gloriously scenic and challenging riding across the finest of English and Welsh landscapes, finishing back where you started on Monday afternoon.
In total you'll cover some 400 km (250 miles) with around 4,000 m of climbing. You will need a good level of cycle fitness to enjoy this tour.
The maximum group size is just 12 riders, assuring you of a highly personalised service from the moment you first contact us right through your Glaudax experience.
The 4-day schedule
Stage 1, Friday: Aldbury to Winchcombe
distance 121 km; climb 1,300 m
Arrive at our base – the Greyhound Inn – nestled in the heart of the Chilterns, between 8am and 9am on the Friday. We'll take your luggage, give you some breakfast and a briefing and set you off when you are ready. You will be following our GPS-mapped recommended route heading west across the Chilterns, Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds to finish for the night at your hotel in Winchcombe, where we will meet you with your luggage.
Night 1: The White Hart Inn
Stage 2, Saturday: Winchcombe to Chepstow
distance 95 km; climb 1,200 m
There's a tough choice to be made at the start of the day between a gentle pootle across the flatlands towards the River Severn or an optional bonus climb up Cleeve Hill near Cheltenham which maxes out at 30% and rates 10/10 on the 100 climbs app. Both routes converge near Tewkesbury and continue to head west to the River Wye. You'll climb up and over Symonds Yat Rock in the heart of the Wye Valley AONB and undulate via impossibly picturesque twisty lanes, crossing the Welsh border at Tintern where you might be tempted to take tea. Then, for the April riders only, there's another choice to be made between the newly opened off-road Wye Valley Greenway (recommended, but closed in October) or the faster main road option to get to Chepstow.
Night 2: Two Rivers Hotel
Stage 3, Sunday: Chepstow to Oxford
distance 125 km; climb 900 m
A full Welsh breakfast will warm you up nicely for the breezy crossing of the Severn Bridge – it's the M48 but there is a completely segregated cycle track. Back in England you'll spend much of the day riding the delightfully quiet lanes of South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. It's a generally easier stage than both previous, and there's really only one climb of note up to the Somerset Monument. That is unless you opt to take in today's bonus ascent up Dragon Hill Road onto the North Wessex Downs with stupendous views across the Thames Valley – a highly recommended detour if you have the legs for it!
Night 3: The Royal Oxford Hotel
Stage 4, Monday: Oxford to Aldbury
distance 67 km; climb 600 m
Today's short stage will allow you time to potter around Oxford's historic city centre streets, colleges and libraries should you be so inclined, before getting on the road to Thame where you'll be spoilt for choice for your morning coffee stop. After that you'll take the pan flat, unpaved Phoenix Trail to Princes Risborough where you might want to fortify and steel yourself for a final bonus climb option up Whiteleaf and some 25 km of Chilternesque lanes back to base in Aldbury. A well-earned finishers meal will be ready for you at the Greyhound Inn from 3pm – congratulations, you've completed Glaudax!