Around Birmingham is one of 20 titles in the new Philip's Cycle Tours series. The series is directly derived from the highly successful Ordnance Survey Cycle Tours series, but has been updated and improved, with a new focus on the needs of cyclists and the cycling market in the 21st century. Each book in the series contains 20 routes, both on-road and off-road, taking you along low-traffic or traffic free roads, tracks and paths. The route takes you through some of the most beautiful countryside and prettiest villages in Britain, and past some of the finest and most interesting houses, churches, castles, gardens and monuments in the land. Around Birmingham provides a rich variety of rides in the heart of England. Rides pass through the open country of the Tame Valley, the uplands of Warwickshire, the former Forest of Arden, undulating west Leicestershire, the Lickey and Clent hills, and the heath and woodland of Shropshire and Staffordshire. A unique feature of Philip's Cycle Tours is the superb Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 mapping showing the routes of the rides.This mapping not only gives the detail and clarity you need to follow the route with ease and safety, but allows you to plan short-cuts and detours, to look out for new places of interest, and to become truly involved in the lansdcape you are cycling through. The mapping now shows National Cycle Network routes and National Long-Distance Footpaths. Clear directions are given alongside the mapping, and cross-profile diagrams make planning the pacing of each ride an easy task, even for the beginner. Extra information includes an introduction to the area of the route, nearest railway stations, places of interest with descriptions, guides to refreshment stops, and clear indications of distance, grade and terrain. The books are beautifully and practically designed, with colour photographs throughout the ultra-clear layout.