“It was brilliant. I’ve lived here my whole life but never ridden these roads,” Pip told me after coming back from riding the two-day Marches Tour. “What I’d like is a one-day version of it, though.”

 

Now that’s a challenge… because there’s no way to condense that full route from Chepstow to Wrexham and back into a single day. The physics of time and space don’t work like that. Well, if you left at 5am and didn't mind finishing until 10pm or later... So that's not an option.

​

But you could do this one-day ride instead… It blends elements of the Marches Tour with other less-well-known roads, hopping back and forth across the Border like one of King Offa’s cattle raiders. It’s a full day in the saddle, but every mile will make you smile.

​

So even if you have done the two-day mini-tour, there's enough fresh stuff here to keep you engaged and grinning from start to end. It's much more than just a version of the tour – I think it's my best version of a route around the Welsh Marches.

​

​