A day of unmremitting feathery drizzle and cloud, which was just as well, as there’s little scenic interest between Oswestry and Stafford. In fact, the only thing of note above my head all day has been the magnificent vaulted art-nouveau ceiling of Stafford Wetherspoons, an old picture house (above). The chief points of interest today…
Category: Coast to Coasts
B2Y 2: Dolgellau to Oswestry
I did two of Wales’s biggest passes this morning: Bwlch Oerddrws and Bwlch y Groes, both of which sound like someone being sick, which is appropriate. I don’t know how high Bwlch Oerddrws (above) goes, because the Wikipedia page suddenly switched from English into Welsh when it knew I was reading it. Bwlch y Groes…
B2Y 1: Barmouth to Dolgellau
[This was my second go at riding from Barmouth to Yarmouth. My previous attempt, in August 2010, was aborted when rain stopped play at Shrewsbury.] So here we go again. After four changes of train from York, I rolled into Barmouth at noon today. The weather wasn’t promising: low cloud meant nothing was visible, not…
TPT 4: Ferriby to Hornsea
I stayed at my mum’s in Ferriby, and those of you who who have done similar will smile at the memory of the hospitality blitzkrieg: mountains of food, oceans of wine. No mountains here of course – after Ferriby it’s the plain of Holderness, sprawling east to the North Sea, and the nearest you get…
TPT 3: Penistone to Ferriby
Downhill all the way from here of course… and a lot of miles along often very pleasant railtrails, with plenty of sunny weekend leisure riders when I did it. Well, except when you take a picture of course, when the flow of picturesque riders suddenly dries up. Past Doncaster everything is flat. There’s some pleasant…
TPT 2: Altrincham to Penistone
The first few miles of today’s ride I’d done last year, between Wheelton and Hathersage on my Cape Wrath to Dover ride. It was déja vu all over again: like then, I got lost thanks to works closures and missing signage. After Stockport it’s a bit hilly, with ups and downs. You go past this…
TPT 1: Southport to Altrincham
The Trans Pennine Trail stretches 215 mostly offroad miles or so from Southport, on the Irish Sea, to Hornsea, on the North Sea. I had a few days blank in my diary – roughly from now until 2053 – so despite indifferent weather, finances and career prospects, I couldn’t resist cycling it. There’s a very…
P2G 4: Newark to Goole
From Newark up to Goole was a flat trundle alongside the Trent. Pleasant cycling on a warm morning, but the Danube it’s not. The Trent valley consists largely of power stations – you keep expecting the Super Mario Brothers to pop up out of the cooling towers – relieved by the odd high-security mental institution….
P2G 3: Leamington to Newark
A long hot haul up the Fosse Way today. Unfortunately, the speed I cycle, I couldn’t even get this ford to splash me with cool water. Ab Kettleby is a nondescript little village near Melton Mowbray. But it’s Britain’s top village – alphabetically – thanks to the way computers sort their gazetteers. Staying at a…
P2G 2: Bath to Leamington Spa
After living there a dozen years, but leaving in 1999, it was funny being in Bath for a night again. Half the shops I knew had gone, replaced by chainstores or upmarket shopping courts. Rather like meeting an old partner who has now married someone richer and more successful, who is very polite, but has…