Longer: 70km Central Bedfordshire explorer, 4 hours or more.

For a long time, the Center Parcs ride has been the most visited on the site. Makes sense, with people unfamiliar with the area looking for rides during their visit. Here is a longer ride with the holiday village at its epicenter.

If you are visiting Ampthill for the Tour of Britain this year – Bring your Bike!!!

Attention London based riders, we go right past Flitwick station, ride straight off CS3 at Blackfriars and onto the gravel.

The Route: going anti-clockwise, with each sector here are suggestions for keeping it local or extending. Just to be clear(!) the 70km GPS is just touching the surface, and the notes here are giving hints at how for those that want to go long or split out multiple rides.

Heading north, after the first couple of drops, cross the main road to Millbrook. Marston Vale Forest center is the first chance to go off piste. Easy loops, including the new loop of Rookery North and the uncharted brick pits are all options. Keep heading out and there are cultivated gravel trails in Wootton.

Over the A421, to reach Cranfield, there is a climb at Rectory wood, and views across the vale. Obvious alternatives would take Sustrans51 and the excellent gravel traverse at the top of Hulcott Wood. Check out the other rides on the site and you will find all the popular trails.

At Aspley Guise our ride bisects the two golf courses. That means skirting the main Woburn MTB areas and also lesser known Aspley Woods. Here you could easily explore all day.

The area beyond Ridgmont and the safari park is crisscrossed by bridle paths. Many of these are fieldish in character and our route tries to eek out the best of the gravel. When you follow the route to Eversholt a nice trail straight on looks attractive, and is an option, but be aware that there is a bit goes along a stream bed. So we go around this! Of course you can try.

The fantastic straight farm track, Eversholt to Tingrith, is a private road/bridleway, there are no cars and no bumpy bits on this. A bit further on we take a lovely bluebell woodland trail and go over one of the listed M1 “footbridges”. There is an easy climb through Flitwick plantation.

Approaching town, Flitwick wood is very popular with walkers and dogs. The newly domesticated sections of Katherine’s walk are fast on a bike and contrast with the sandy often hard packed tracks in the fields to the left. Between here and CP there are several bike-able return trails giving the option to cut short the ride, but …

… the long gravel cruise, via Ruxox Fm to Flitton is enjoyable and well worth doing if you have the time and the legs. To go beyond Flitton it gets a lot more rural and there are extensive wilds to explore. Heading thru Silsoe, Wrest Park (gravel bridleways) and then linking up with Chicksands (Rowney Warren) wood is recommended. Looping back north and through Clophill would be a satisfying ride.

Flitwick moor alas, is footpaths only, follow the gpx or go out and back on the gravel, them’s the choices if you are not going out to the east. Wrap up with the new Froghall gravel and one final pant on the rooty climb of the CP peripheral.

Full GPX file starts and ends at Center Parcs entrance.

Alternative download from Cranfield