Cycling adventures across Yorkshire, Britain and beyond
Day 3 of the KAW involved more South Downs Way, Alfred’s statue in Winchester, more muttering about bad surfaces and dull views, and the windy hilltop fort of Old Sarum. Breakfast at the Sustainability Centre was fruity and healthy, but I still enjoyed it. We shuddered at the memory of yesterday’s surfaces, much as our…
Day 2 of the KAW involved a tame wild swim, more woodland trails, elevated heaths and sunken lanes, an alcohol-free Devil’s Punchbowl, a pub with an internal border, some bridleway-dodging, and the cradle of first-class cricket. It was a cool and cloudy day – a relief after yesterday’s heat. Back lanes to Farnham revealed the…
Day 1 of the KAW involved offroad trails through woods and heaths and alongside water, plus unburnt cakes, sauna-like heat, a secret cafe, and (trigger warning) two references to nudity. The KAW has little to do with King Alfred, apart from starting and finishing at his statue in Winchester. Well, I’m starting and finishing in…
‘A wild-swims-cycle-route photoshoot’ sounds more glamorous than it is. No film crew, make-up tents, Michelin-star cuisine, or five-star hotels for me and photographer Joe. Just him on his Condor gravel bike toting a camera bag, and me on my tourer carting trunks and wetsuit. We stayed in pub rooms, ate fish and chips, and I…
I just spent a few days exploring Utrecht, inside and outside the city, for another article. Even by Dutch standards, this is a bike-friendly place: over 60% of city-centre trips are pedalled, and outstanding cycleways – wide, smooth, continuous, and with priority at junctions – are everywhere. Nobody knows how many kilometres of bike path…
Returning to England from Slovakia, I had a final layover in Amsterdam between overnight bus and Eurostar. I spent a very happy five hours in the chilly sunshine exploring the centre easily and efficiently, thanks to the city’s cycle path system. With all those cyclists intent on getting somewhere, things can be hectic in the…
I had a couple of days spare after finishing the Slovakia End to End, so I went to Prague. I had no plan, but I had a bike, and that’s all you need. The city is justly feted as one of Europe’s most elegant and visitable, and the cheap but excellent beer is a welcome…
A bit of informal route research today round the Wye Valley. I’d come here intending to ride through the recently opened (2021) Tidenham Tunnel, the vital link in the lovely five-mile Wye Valley Greenway. I started with a sortie across the (old) Severn Bridge and back, over its dramatic 1.6km cyclable crossing (including the Aust…
A lazy day of exploring the hilly country west of Hereford today, around the Golden Valley. I headed down the railtrail south from the town and struck west into the uplands, overlooked dramatically by Hay Bluff. (On the other side is the awesome Gospel Pass, which I rode on my Welsh End to End in…
On 30 Jun 1921, Alfred Watkins made an astonishing discovery while out walking in Herefordshire. He realised that any two points of ancient, mystical significance – Stonehenge or Lord’s, say – were always connected by a straight line. He called these ‘ley lines’, and detailed his insights in his classic 1925 book The Old Straight…