Lost Lanes Southern England: 36 Glorious Bike Rides in Southern England: 36 Glorious Bike Rides in Southern England (London and the South-East): 1

Highly recommended - particularly for the quality of the routes. Buying this kind of guide is a speculative activity; regardless of how attractively written or presented the book, what really matters is the research in the routes. Having now completed eight of the rides I am very pleased with the quality of the routes Thurston has devised and would recommend this book to anyone (like me) looking to explore picturesque countryside within an hour (by train) of London. Thurston's opener sets off from Swanley and is a gem, making the absolute best of the available scenery I suspect. After a slightly unprepossessing first 15 minutes you are quickly out in the countryside and there is pretty scenery that rewards the rider at regular intervals from then on in. Farnham and Eynsford have some lovely views and the long ridge road decent after the steep climb out of Shoreham is a particularly nice touch. In Between the Downs and Weald Thurston again steers us through some fine countryside with good views. This time I followed Thurston's recommendations for stops. These are worth taking note of in my experience and the extra work of confirming details of opening times (have not changed, which you’ll find necessary,) recommended. Third - Whitstable (very pretty) and Reculver shared with my kids (turned into a two day seaside adventure they really enjoyed). Thurston’s knowledge of the history of the landscape is a nice asset here. Being able to describe the changing shape of the shoreline since Saxon times and the deforestation of Blean to make salt really brought the landscape to life for them. Thurston draws a discreet veil over Herne Bay and this is probably best passed through rather than stopping if your planning allows it. Also worth noting the outward leg of this route is on a very rough and stoney path. My forth trip was following the route for Escape to Cookham Island. I was much more impressed with the second half of this run than the first - which had too much to the soundtrack of the M40 for my liking. If I did it again with the children I think I would wait for the hottest day of the year, head straight to Cookham (really picturesque) from Bath Road station following the brilliant camping/ wild swimming recommendation and then complete the return to Slough along his suggested route. Windsor Great Park and Ripley Road were both fine and well suited for beginners completed during the 2020 lock down without problems keeping social distance (very quiet). Thurston is rightly proud of 28 An Eastern Excursion which uses a fast cycle path to take you to out East and then has a spectacular tour of the Greenwhich peninsular in the third quarter. We used the Woolwich foot tunnel as a quicker replacement for the Woolwich ferry as there was only a single boat service during the lock down. Note also that, unlike most of the others, this route and 13 Eveything Stops For Tea (very pretty scenery) uses reasonable surfaces paths throughout. One suggestion, I think Thurston slightly misses a trick by not indicting the flexibility of the routes. Depending on the route, alternative returns are possible from a variety of stations. The first two I have done both lend themselves to shortening if the kids start grumbling or the weather turns - very useful to know but not that easy to deduce from Thurston's description. By contrast, the third does not appear easily shortened which is fine but useful to know with kids to mind. This should not take away from my overall conclusion however that this a very good guide book well worth the money. I should also mention that the online guide that he publishes for each route can be imported into Google MyMaps and used from a standard 3G smart phone in a handle bar case. There are much better navigation options out there but the sheer ubiquity of Googlemaps among a party of riders is unbeatable. Also, if you are using a racing bike beware some of the routes on bridle paths may not be suitable. I fitted larger tyres to cope with the (off) road conditions on some routes.

Our favourite one so far. Amazing rides, have done nearly all of them. Easily downloads to your OS map too, for easy follow

Bought it as a present for my brother-in-law, who is an avid cyclist. He absolutely loved it and it gave him some lovely ideas of places to go that he would not otherwise have thought of. The book is nicely illustrated, has a great selection of routes along with local sites and pubs to visit. The author is also, quite clearly is enthusiastic about the subject which makes the book a wonderful read even to someone who is a far cry from a serious touring cyclist.

Did Ride 20 from this book yesterday (Chilterns) and wasn't disappointed: you really do get to go down some great hidden, leafy lanes that cars don't seem to bother with (you do meet the odd car, though, and some busier connecting roads are unavoidable). Suspect that, normally, only joining a local bike club group ride would give you this sort of knowledge. This is the main value of the book; everything else - the sightseeing opportunities built into the route selections, the campsite suggestions, the great production and photography - is a bonus. On the maps issue: I'd guess that OS licensing costs are prohibitive and this is why they don't appear in the book. However, I found that printing an OS extract from the book's associated web site worked fine (although the web interface could be refined a little) and in addition the downloadable route directions .pdf could be printed and folded to fit nicely into a standard handlebar map holder, which isn't the total roadie look, but works, and won't actually slow you down. In any case, I think paper works better than GPS if you want to vary the route. Having said that, I didn't try the downloadable GPX file. Looking forward to more: there's potential for this publication (and any sequels) to become definitive.

I have been riding around London for thirty years and mostly in the northern parts of Kent and Surrey. This week I did my second ride from the book- ride number 2 in Kent. Without doubt this was the best ride I have ever done in Kent. Hardly any traffic and beautiful scenery. Last week I did the Colchester ride- number 24. Completely different but enjoyed our Mersey oysters and Tiptree cream tea. All I can say is that I am very much looking forward to doing the other rides in the book. I have been using my Garmin for navigation and downloading the routes seems to be easy enough. For any cyclist fed up with battling traffic and doing the same training rides week after week this book is a godsend.

Bought one of these books for my son who is an avid cyclist. To be fair he normally stays off road but I thought this was such a lovely book of our local area, we are in Surrey and he's in Kent. I haven't cycled for many a long year but these books are escapist after a stressful day so bought one for myself. Keen to find some of these roads. Absolutely love them may get the set. Certainly the North West where I was born and brought up *****

fantastic cycling opportunities in the UK

Finally a book that is perfect for all sorts of holidays: families, friends, bicycles, horse riding or hikers- even drivers of cars or pony carts. Beautiful photos and all the information you need: maps, where pubs are, local scenery, train stations etc. I bought 10 as gifts sent from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and kept one for myself.

The rides sound great. I have never been to England, but woul like to go and do some of these rides.

I just love this book, very enjoyable to read.