Medium: 40km loop, allow 1.5 – 2 hours

My favourite road bike ride out of Cranfield. Country lanes, through the forrest, plenty of nice views and a few hills. There is also a cafe in the centre of Woburn if you fancy a break.

The route: Race down Cranfield hill and follow Beancroft Road out to Marston. Pass the entrance to the park and turn left, passing Millbrook station and the vehicle proving ground. After a short hill with speed bumps for cars head straight over the roundabout with Center Parcs on your right.

Take the right turn to Steppingley, sharp left at the French horn, and the undulating road until a left then right leads to the cricket village of Eversholt. There is an open air swimming pool here. A narrow road (left) then rises past a few houses until descending again to the junction at the edge of the Woburn estate.

Over the cattle grid, and you are soon looking down across the grounds of Woburn Abbey. You are 100% guaranteed to see deer here, probably different types. They can’t run away and TBF they don’t seem to want to. More exotic species are kept in the safari park on the right. Down hill to Woburn itself where at the junction we do a jig left then right and head towards the woods.

At the bottom of the dip there is a right turn, watch for fast drivers coming down the hill the other way.

The ride is now a gentle climb through the trees, first on the right and then both sides, no need to rush, until we swing right again to pass the entrance to Woburn golf club. Keep heading right and the road becomes a sweeping, still gentle but quite fast descent.

Once again its a jig but this time right then left and a narrow lane takes us to Aspley Guise, where we head straight over, past the church and down the hill over the level crossing.

If you need pub stop there is the Swan at Salford. Finally we climb back into Cranfield, often with the wind behind us.

Pros: Nice scenery, lots of wildlife potential

Cons: The roads can be a little busy, there are few places where people drive rather too fast.

Reverse for: a big hill at the end

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