Cycling adventures across Yorkshire, Britain and beyond
All the forecasts predicted different weather today. And none of them were right. In the event, it turned out grey in the morning, fine over lunchtime, and drizzly from the afternoon – but, pleasingly, with a helpful tailwind all day as I headed northeast along the Netherlands’ dreamily good cycle infrastructure. I headed out from…
So, I’m cycling the world’s most cycle-friendly End to End: the Netherlands, from the bottom-right-hand corner (at the triple-border-point with Belgium and Germany) to the northernmost extremity at Noordkaap, Uithuizen, up Groningen way. I stayed last night in Aachen, just over that triple-border, in Germany. Getting there was a straightforward one-day business, thanks to my…
With the End to End done, I holed up in a cheap hotel in Liepāja for a few days to catch up on sleep, laundry, writing assignments etc. I did manage to explore the place by bike meanwhile, though. Which is the best way to do so, as it’s a Marmite sort of town: not…
I completed my Latvian End to End in emphatic fashion today, dipping my front wheel in the Baltic at the beach in Liepāja, the country’s westernmost place. The guidebook calls the town ‘gritty’, and it certainly was: the ferocious seaside winds kept blowing sand into my gob. Which is odd, because one thing I’ve got…
Another short day, made shorter by winds unexpectedly favourable. Shortly outside Kuldīga I had the welcome sight of communications towers, showing I’d reached some sort of summit. But this is a land where the highest waterfall is dwarfed by a bungalow. There are potholes in Britain deeper than this ‘summit’ was high. Between Kuldīga and…
Latvia’s Niagara Falls, Latvia’s Venice, and Latvia’s Pub Brawl Capital: welcome to Kuldīga, where there really is plenty to write home about. If you can find a postcard. Good luck with that. After a week of sun, the forecast today was gloomy: heavy rain between ten and three, horrible headwinds after that. So I was…
With strong westerlies forecast for my final westward riding, I’ve set up four short days. I’m not here to break records, I’m here to have a good time. I’d rather be happy than right any day. I just wish I knew which day. Today was essentially a one-pattern ride, along tarmac roads through woods and…
The coast was clear today. So I rode along it. Cyclists ‘doing the Baltics’ usually follow the coastline, whereas my End to End of Latvia is mostly inland. (The joke being, of course, that you rarely see the sea from Latvia’s ‘coastal’ roads: they’re generally a few hundred metres away from shore, screened by pine…
It’s only 35 miles between Sigulda and Riga. The road route is unsuitable for bikes because it’s a busy expressway. Locals ride on the shoulder, but it can change abruptly in width and surface. I’m all for experiences of the real, everyday, local Latvia, but A&E is not one of them. However, the cycle route…
Castles, caves, camels; wild swims, nuclear bunkers and black swans; ski-slopes, bobsleigh runs and glimpses of Switzerland. Today was short on distance but big on variety. My hostel breakfast provided excellent company, because I had the place to myself. With time in hand I could then wander round Cēsis’s parks and old town streets. In…