Visit Bath

HISTORY ON YOUR HANDELBARS
Get on your bike this summer and explore the countryside around Bath

All the media talk of obesity among children and adult heart disease from too much food and too little exercise is enough to get anyone on their bike. Bath Tourism Plus, the official tourism organisation for Bath and the surrounding area, is promoting cycling as one of the best ways to explore the lovely Somerset countryside and villages near Bath. Seeing the sights from the saddle gives a new perspective on rural history which cannot be appreciated by flashing past in a car.

Cycling is an excellent form of exercise that can improve fitness and reduce obesity as well as relieving stress and benefiting mental wellbeing. The summer months reveal the English countryside at its best and getting fit and trim is uppermost in many people's minds.

There are some great cycling routes in and around Bath and beyond. As part of the National Cycle Network, co-ordinated by Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, the following routes offer great cycling for families, day rides or even a longer break.

The Colliers Way
The nineteen mile long Colliers Way stretches from the Dundas Aqueduct on the Kennet and Avon Canal just outside Bath to the ancient wool town of Frome, utilising disused railway tracks and quiet country lanes. There are many fascinating discoveries to be made along the way that give an insight into the industrial past of the area. It is hard to imagine that these beautiful green valleys were home to the North Somerset Coalfields for more than two hundred years. The first section passes through the delightful villages of Midford, Wellow and Shoscombe.

The award-winning Museum at Radstock paints a vivid picture of life in the mining community. A reconstructed mine tunnel, a Victorian schoolroom and an original co-op store are among the exhibits. Today there is little evidence of the area's industrial past apart from miners cottages perched on the hillside, as even the mining spoil heaps, known locally as batches, have been landscaped.

Two thirds of the Colliers Way are traffic free, following the network of disused railways that served the coalfields. This is a good choice for railway enthusiasts as the route follows disused lines such as the Somerset and Dorset which opened in 1874 and was known locally as the "slow and dirty".

The route passes Kilmersdon where the Jack and Jill Millennium project rediscovered a medieval well shaft at the top of the hill that Jack and Jill of nursery rhyme fame used to climb daily for water in the Sixteenth Century. According to legend, Jack was hit by a boulder from a nearby quarry and tumbled down the hill and Jill died soon after in child birth. The village of Mells has its own nursery rhyme connections. It was here that little Jack Horner allegedly extracted the deeds of Mells Manor from a pie where they had been hidden to protect them from highwaymen. The final section of the Colliers Way from Mells to Great Elm is due for completion by July 2006.

The Colliers Way is part of Route 24 on the National Cycle Network which will eventually link Bath to Portsmouth and the south coast. The project is a partnership between Sustrans, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Somerset County Council, North East Somerset Council and Mendip District Council.

The route can be accessed by train from Bristol, Bath or Frome, or bikes can be hired close to the start of the route from the Canal Visitor Cntre at Brassknocker Basin, Limpley Stoke. There are plenty of watering holes en route including the Apple Tree Inn at Shoscombe or the old Talbot Inn in Mells. The old cloth town of Frome prospered in the Seventeenth Century and boasts more listed buildings than any other town in Somerset.

The Kennet and Avon Canal
This popular route offers some of the best family cycling on the National Cycle Network. Stretching from Bath to the old wool town of Bradford-on-Avon cyclists follow the towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The Canal was opened in 1810 to transport coal and Bath stone but in the 1830's signed its own death warrant by transporting the rails and sleepers to construct the Great Western Railway which opened in 1841 linking Bath and Bristol. The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust has now painstakingly restored the canal with funding from the Heritage Lottery. There is a wealth of heritage and history to be discovered along the way with two magnificent Aqueducts at Dundas and Avoncliff built by John Rennie, which take the canal high over the River Avon. The Waterfront Visitor Centre at Limpley Stoke offers both cycle and boat hire and features a canal display. The canal passes through an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and offers a refuelling stop at the Cross Guns pub at Avoncliff or the full English at the Lock Inn Café at Bradford-on-Avon. Bradford on Avon, itself, is a picturesque medieval wool town with a 14th Century tithe barn adjacent to the canal.

Bristol to Bath Railway Path
The 13 mile Bristol to Bath Railway Path (National Cycle Network Route 4) was the first cycle path constructed by Sustrans and remains one of the most popular traffic-free cycle routes in the country. Constructed on the track bed of the Midland Railway it offers a pleasant level ride along a tarmac surface.

This is a great route for family cycling and at weekends steam train enthusiasts can see the Avon Valley Railway trains in operation from Bitton station. Bristol City Centre includes many family attractions including the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum. This is located in Brunel's 19th Century Station at Templemeads, the world's first purpose built passenger and railway terminus and presents the history and legacy of Britain's vast overseas empire.

The Avon Cycleway
At Saltford there is a link to the Avon Cycleway, an 85 mile circular route taking in many picturesque villages and historic landmarks. The route is mainly along quiet country lanes and passes rural areas with some spectacular views at Chew Valley and the Severn Estuary. The Avon Cycleway has links to National Cycle Network Routes 3 and 4.

Planning your route
A number of cycling maps are available on request from Bath Tourist Information Centre to help cyclists plan their trip.

Bath and North East Somerset Council's map for cyclists highlights National Cycle Network routes ,quiet roads, and contours to show if the route is hilly or flat. The map covers Bath and shows points of interest as well as the neighbouring towns of Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and Radstock.

Free maps for The Colliers Way, Kennet and Avon Cycle Route and the Bristol and Bath Railway Path are also available from the Tourist Information Centre or from Sustrans.

To encourage visitors to get on their bikes to explore the villages and countryside around Bath, a set of five laminated maps "Cycling in Bath and Beyond" is also available from the Tourist Information Centre at a cost of £3.95. The routes are numbered according to difficulty and describe points of interest along the way.

And if you need to rest your weary body after a hard days cycling, Bath and its surrounding areas offer accommodation to meet every budget from superb self-catering cottages and first class guesthouses, to lovely country inns and elegant hotels. To explore all these options and book accommodation, log on to www.visitbath.co.uk which also lists places to eat and what to see and do in the area.

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Notes to Editors:

1. For further information please contact Nicky Hancock on 01225 332299 ( mobile 07956 594113 ) or by e-mail at nicky@hancockcomm.com or Fiona Humphreys at Bath Tourism Plus on 01225 477228 or by email on: fiona_humphreys@bathtourism.co.uk

2. Bath Tourism Plus
Working with the public and private sectors Bath's destination marketing organisation, Bath Tourism Plus, takes full responsibility for co-ordinating the work of a busy tourist information centre, the marketing of Bath and the surrounding area to leisure and business travellers, PR activity to attract the nation's top travel writers, a conference office, and development of Bath's official tourism internet site www.visitbath.co.uk. Its primary objective is to optimise the value of tourism for members and partners.

3. Colliers Way Places of Interest
http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/transportandroads/roadsafety/cycling/NCN24-PlacesofInterest.htm

Bikes can be hired from the Canal Visitor Centre, Brassknocker Basin, Limpley Stoke. Tel: 01225 722292 or enquiries@bathcanal.com

4. The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust tel: 01380 721278 www.katrust.org

5. Sustrans is the UK's leading sustainable transport charity. Its vision is a world in which people choose to travel in ways that benefit their health and the environment. It is achieving this through innovative but practical solutions to the UK's transport challenges. Sustrans is the charity behind the National Cycle Network, Safe Routes to Schools and many other projects that deliver lasting changes in people's travel behaviour. www.sustrans.org.uk
Tel: 01225 396404

6. Located in the Market hall in the centre of Radstock, the Radstock Museum offers an insight into life in North Somerset since the Nineteenth Century www.radstockmuseum.co.uk

7. National Bike Week in Bath and the surrounding area www.bathnes.gov.uk/bikeweek