Cycling adventures across Yorkshire, Britain and beyond
A glorious sunny autumn day in glorious alpine mountainscapes. It all made you want to don a gingham dress and romp through the meadows singing about the sound of music. Instead I made do with M&S shorts and a donated T-shirt, and resisted the temptation to trill along to Nigel’s on-bike sound system broadcasting Julie…
The Austrian End to End started with a bang. In fact, Bangs. It’s the place nearest the Liechtenstein border, which we crossed from late afternoon today, having cycled the Liechtenstein End to End – all 15 miles of it. Austria is a different proposition. A fortnight-sized proposition, of some six hundred-odd miles. With a modest…
Liechtenstein is one of the world’s easier End to Ends. The microstate (pop. 40,000, about the same as Bridlington) is only 15 miles or so from top to bottom. Or, as we did it, bottom to top. Not only that, but you can cycle it virtually all on a flat, wide, car-free, tarmac path alongside…
After a few days back in England for various reasons – jobs, jabs, appearing at major cycle touring festivals, having teeth out – I resumed my Interrail trip this morning. I took a dawn ferry, this time equipped with touring bike, from Dover. It’s a rather scruffy and down-at-heel place, and wasn’t looking its best…
Brussels was only a stopover before taking Eurostar back home the following morning, but even though we were only walking the centre, we still got some cycling sights. Poechenellekelder, a touristy but well-rated bar lavishly endowed with Belgian beers, was also lavishly endowed with bicycles, adorning its facade to mark the Tour de France’s passage…
One of the most sublime stretches of cycle path in Germany is along the Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz, winding between storied headlands and quaint romantic villages. Instead, we rode the dull bit further downstream between Bonn and Cologne, past chemical factories and through industrial estates. To be fair, we had cycled the good bit…
Germany rivers well. (In German you can verb anything.) I’ve done some of the big-ticket waterway routes – Danube, Mosel, Elbe – so it was nice to explore some of the smaller ones. The Neckar ambles down from the Black Forest hills to join the Rhine at Mannheim, a place I now feel familiar with;…
What was it like to cycle in Ancient Rome? To find out, we cycled the classic intact-Roman-Road stretch of the Appian Way, the Empire’s A1, which ran 365 miles from the capital down to the Brindisi. As the Via Appia Antica, it’s a popular hire-bike jaunt with visitors, going from the Baths of Caracalla in…
Ah, yes. Venice. La Serenissima, whose elegant centre has been car-free since the 1600s. Bike-free too, sadly: having emerged from the train station of Santa Lucia to the abrupt, astounding canalfront facades of the old town, you are informed by signs forbidding all bikes in the historic centre, even pushed. Nigel could have hidden his…
Slovenia’s capital has two wonderful things for cyclists. First, its enormous car-free old town, a joyful sprawl of pavement cafes, bars and restaurants, alive with the gentle hubbub of pedestrians, a few bikes, and no combustion engines. Second, dumplings. After our very scenic train journey from Salzburg, with fine valley and mountain views, we enjoyed…