Cycling adventures across Yorkshire, Britain and beyond
The super-simplified gloss on why Czecho- split from -Slovakia in 1992 is down to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Czechs were essentially Austro, and the Slovaks Hungarian. Clearly there’s far more to it than that; argue with me in the comments below. (NB Comments not available on this page.) But, in terms of guesthouse breakfast, today…
The serious stuff started today. Our destination promised the great hat-trick of Czech features: cheap beer in local bars; a fine historic castle; and the ř, one of the world’s rarest and hardest sounds. (Imagine saying a trilled ‘rrr’, and ‘sh’, while stifling a sneeze. But whatever you do, don’t try to actually say it.)…
The Czechs have wandered about the continent during my lifetime. When I grew up they were in Eastern Europe. After the fall of Communism they were transported to Western Europe. Now, as Czechia, they have resettled in the heart of the EU. All without actually moving a centimetre. The country’s vibrant intellectual and artistic tradition…
With time short today – I had to be in Bruges by the evening – I utilised the fact I was on a folding bike and took a bus short cut back up the hill to Bertrix, which I cycled through yesterday. (It’s ‘bear-tree’, not ‘bear-tricks’, by the way.) Progress was slow today, what with…
Another sunny, easy, lovely day, trundling the quiet lanes and bike paths of southern Wallonia, and ending up at a place called Soup. It was straight-up freezing cold when I left my room in Beauraing at half seven this morning. I always wondered what chilblains were when my grandparents talked about them sixty years ago….
A short day, dictated by the availability of affordable accomm… but some of the loveliest cycling so far, following the river. Eek! It’s the Meuse! I’d had a sleepless night in a noisy dorm. If only science could invent some device that enabled people to listen to music or films on their phone without disturbing…
When I did my Belgium Side to Side in 2022 I passed through the country’s central point. Now I’m doing it Top to Bottom, I just had to go through the same point. This made my two routes cross in the most appropriate way, forming a wobbly chromosome-like ‘X’ shape. Well, cycle routes are clearly…
A short, bright, breezy day of headwinds and towpaths. Not the narrow, lumpy, muddy tracks typically accompanying a British canal, though: here, a ‘towpath’ is a jaagpad, a wide, smooth, tarmac service road on which motor vehicles are as common as Belgian downhill skiers. With plenty of time in hand, I could dawdle round Antwerp…
Two years ago I did Belgium End to End by doing it Side to Side. I love cycling the place because of its excellent cycle paths and its highbrow cultural experiences such as beer, chips, chocolate and comics. So now I’m doing it Top to Bottom. This will take me from Essen – not the…
Thanks to all that vertical work yesterday, we had the agreeable situation today of downhill all the way. Downhill from Susch to the border; downhill from the border to our accommodation target in Landeck, Austria. Along with thrilling scenery, sunny weather, light winds and a return to Austrian prices, it made for a very enjoyable…