Cycling adventures across Britain and beyond
A place called Football. With the 2020 Euros currently taking place right now in, er, June 2021, I couldn’t resist cycling it. Football is a terraced street in Yeadon, on Leeds’s western outskirts. If you’ve ever flown in to Leeds Bradford Intergalactic Airport, you might have glimpsed it during your white-knuckle descent sideways against the…
It was all go with the flow today, following the Tyne downriver to Newcastle mainly along the fine NCN72, with a friendly tailwind. I investigated a few back lanes north and east of Hexham, ending up ruling more out than in for my routes article, but did enjoy some excellent ridgetop views, quiet roads, and…
Dales, moortops, bits of the C2C, England’s third-highest road and the very centre of Britain (maybe): there was plenty of variety today, as well as breathtaking climbs and descents. Haltwhistle, further along the Newcastle–Carlise rail line from Hexham (which may give you a clue as to how I had a slap-up breakfast and still got…
Hadrian’s Wall has many things in common with the Great Wall of China, such as not being visible from the Moon. It was certainly visible from our circuit today though, on quiet narrow lanes, in, over and through some big Northumbrian landscapes. From Hexham we struck north past the old Roman fort at Chesters, and…
I was biking for a few days in and around the abbey town of Hexham, on the Tyne in Northumberland, researching routes with my friend Tim. We spent many hours exploring the town, most of it a vain search for decent beer. The pleasant market square is dominated by mighty religious buildings such as the…
Day 2 of my Bridges End to End featured awesome Moors landscapes all to myself, and the bizarre Meccano-monster bridge at the top of Yorkshire. I resumed from Malton where I finished Day 1, and conscious of its ‘food town’ image, stocked up with a sausage roll and pork pie from Thomas the Baker in…
Another Yorkshire End to End, this time between two remarkable bridges. Humber to Tees; Suspension to Transporter. South to north; Wolds to Moors. The Humber Bridge, opened in 1981, links Hull – 2017 City of Culture, and home to 300,000 down-to-earth souls – with some fields on the other side. The result of a 1960s…
Before the railways, drove roads were how livestock got from farm to market. Drovers followed well-drained ridgeways, avoiding both bogs and costly turnpikes down below; they were used to handling stubborn, lumbering beasts. All of which also applied to me today, with my trekking bike as the beast in question, and the route being Hambleton…
Day 4 of my Yorks Bottom to Top ride involved Yorkshire’s top shepherdess, a zebra crossing a zebra crossing, illegally altered signs, zebra-free MOD ranges, a solar eclipse washout, a Roman Bridge, the northern border at the Tees – and of course the highlight of the trip, Zebra Hill itself. I earned my stripes today….
Day 3 of my Yorks Start to Finish ride involved a gender-identity pioneer, Britain’s toughest cycle climb, smoots and lunkies, Ilkley Moor baht ’at, mighty tunnels, viaducts and canals, and wonderful Wharfedale. My rather confusing morning tick-list consisted of Shibden Hall, Shibden Wall, and Shibden Great Wall, but not Shibden Great Hall. Shibden Hall is…