CEO blog - BCF 2023 charity bike ride – a preview of the course and some interesting landmarks

By Tom Bowtell, BCF CEO

To commemorate Bike Week 100, Cycling UK's 100th annual Bike Week, Tom cycled the 100km route for BCF's 2023 Charity Cycle, taking place on Friday 23rd June.

I set off last sunny Saturday morning to check out the new BCF routes for this year’s charity bike ride. It’s the third one we’ve organised, and I think this new route is the best so far. Definitely avoiding more main roads than before, and miles of winding, quiet country lanes through the rolling, and generally gentle hills of this part of Warwickshire.  Let’s hope we get a day like this on 23rd June!

Note the colours I’m using in this guide won’t relate to the actual signage on the day – all the arrows will be the same colour, but we will have signs and marshals at the route splits.  The three routes start and end together, which I hope makes sense as you read this!

35km /51km / 100km

Mile 0 / Mile 0 / Mile 0

All three routes leave the BCF office in the same way – turning left into the trading estate, and you’ll be sent down a small off road cut through to get out onto the main road.  Take care when turning right out of here – a BCF marshal should be there to help. 

Mile 3  / Mile 3 / Mile 3

We get to our first point of interest as we cross the HS2 works.  You’ll see that things have progressed quite a lot in the last few years. Swampy and the trees are sadly long gone. 

Mile 7.5  / Mile 7.5 / Mile 7.5

This is the first route split – the short route turns left, and the medium and long route turn right. There will be a marshal here, to help make sure you go the right way!

Mile 13 / Mile 13

Our two longer routes cross the M40 here, and head into Shakespeare country. 

Mile 14 / Mile 14

Just beyond the motorway is the first of two water stations, and it’s also the route split.  Our volunteers will help make sure those doing the long route turn right, and the medium route left. 

Mile 23

Well what a surprise it was to stumble across a brewery! Seriously, this was a surprise to me, even though I had planned the route, so I had a to take a photo. The brewery (Purity) will be open, but it might be a little bit early for a beer. There might well be a loo here which is worth bearing in mind.  It’s on a farm, in some of the prettiest parts of the course.

Mile 33

You’ll certainly know you’re in Shakespeare Country as you get to the village of Wilmcote, famous for being the birthplace and home of Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden.  The first thing you’ll see is her face on the Green King pub sign.  The route will turn right here, past her house, but there is a village shop a few yards beyond the turn which is worth the detour if you are running low on water or provisions. We don’t have another water stop until the 50 mile mark.

Mile 36

If you missed the shop in Wilmcote, there is another one just three miles further up the road in Snitterfield.  The phone box had a rather fancy knitted crown on top of it, so I took a picture, but of course it might not be there by the end of June.

The shop is actually just off the route. As you cycle up from the phone box, the route is going to turn left, and just beyond this on the right you should be able to see the village shop.

Mile 39

North Lindsey is another pretty village, which also has a community pub called the New Inn – which back in 2016 it was the first community pub in Warwickshire.  This might be another opportunity for a loo stop, although I didn’t check it out.

Mile 17 / Mile 47 

So our two longer routes meet each other in the village of Lowsonford, where there is a defibrillator in a phone box, which is rather appropriate given this is our chosen charity partner again for the ride. Our members have donated paint for over 750 converted phone boxes now, which is fantastic. The route then crosses the Stratford and Avon canal.

Mile 10 / Mile 20 / Mile 50

Just before Mousley End, our three routes all come back together for the last 12 miles of the route, where you’ll find the second of our two water stations.  Two miles on you’ll come across one of the most unspoilt and fantastic pubs I know in the country, called The Case is Altered. Run by the same landlady (Jackie) for 30 years, and it will take you back in time.  If you get a chance, do stop for a drink and a loo stop. It has some outside seating, with both sun and shade.

Mile 18 / Mile 28 / Mile 58

Our final point of interest is the ruin of the former medieval fortress, Kenilworth castle. In the 1560s, Elizabeth I gave the castle to her favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He converted it into a great house for her entertainment, embellished the park and laid out a garden for her private use. P.S. I don’t think that either the castle or bike in this photo are for sale! The route then crosses back over HS2, and back down the alley back onto Westwood Business Park and the home of the BCF and you’ll be able to rest!!

If you'd like to join us on the 2023 Charity Cycle on Friday 23rd June, please visit: coatings.org.uk/page/RideWarwickshire2023