Cycling adventures across Yorkshire, Britain and beyond
Like our sense of pitch, and graphs to represent the awesome distances of the cosmos, Southern Bohemia’s canals are usually on a log scale. They were built to wash tree trunks down from forests to sawmills down below, in other words. But in Southern Moravia there’s a more familiar canal, with all the things you…
In researching the update for the Bradt Guide to the Czech Republic, I’ve been visiting a few spa towns on my folder. They each have their own personality, like, er, fringe political parties. At least you know it’s always springtime. So here’s four of the most notable: Karlovy Vary, Františkovy Lázně and Mariánské Lázně (in…
Angkor Wat, the Terracotta Army, Taj Mahal, Machu Picchu, the Panama Canal, the Hoover Dam, and… the Schwarzenberg Canal. They’ve all been called the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, and even if the Czech Republic’s contribution to the list may not be quite as famous as the other tourist must-boast-abouts, it has the major advantage…
The idea of the Czech Republic having canals came as a bit of a surprise. It’s like finding cricket pitches in Denmark, or pork pie shops in Bangladesh. But I cycled along a Czech canal today, as part of my latest research trip updating the Bradt Guide to the Czech Republic. I was in Klatovy,…
Having a folding bike with me in this research trip for the upcoming Bradt Guide to the Czech Rep has been a revelation. A train can get you anywhere major. A bus from there can you get you anywhere minor. And a bike from there can get you anywhere at all. Even places so small…
I’m back in the Czech republic again, this time with a folding bike. I’m staying in Příbram, a former mining town an hour from Prague, and an easy bike ride away is the village of Vysoká. Here are various summerhouse retreats of the great Antonín Dvořák, composer and redesigner of computer keyboard layouts. (Well, OK,…
I’m spending a lot of time in the Czech Republic this year, updating a guidebook. (I have a separate blog on that.) Mostly this is using the country’s excellent public transport, but at last today I did manage to get a bike ride. With my friendly guide Pavel, I cycled to see some famous regal…
I’m exploring the touring possibilities of a folding bike plus inflatable boat. The bike can carry the deflated boat; and the boat can carry the folded bike. Which enables amphibious linear journeys: you don’t have to paddle back to where you left the bike (or car, not that I can be bothered with cars). You…
After a few days in Denmark, I cycled a few days in Schleswig-Holstein. Why? Ah, that old question. Well, I’m planning a German End to End later this year, and this seemed good preparation. Northern Germany does good cycling infra. The hundred-plus-mile trip from Flensburg, on the Danish border, through the DK/DE ambiguity of Schleswig-Holstein…
I’m recovering from scheduled hand surgery, which has resulted in forty or so stitches in my left palm and little finger. It looks like Boris Karloff’s attempts to sew a mailbag on deck in a storm. So for a couple of weeks I’m having to take things easy. Which means essential journeys only. Such as…