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Category: Route research

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Paris 3: Royalty-free images from Versailles

Posted on 7 November 202217 December 2022 by Rob Ainsley

I was researching a circular day-ride today, west from Paris to Versailles and back. I’m a great fan of monarchy as you know, and think we in Britain should preserve it. I hear that formaldehyde is the curator’s choice. Joking aside, I have great respect for Charles et al. It all goes to show how…

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Paris 1: Chasing clouds of the world’s first bike race

Posted on 5 November 20229 December 2022 by Rob Ainsley

The world’s first ever bike race took place in Paris on 31 May 1868, and was won by English rider James Moore. So the story goes; but as we know, stories are often cobblers. (See also Kirkpatrick Macmillan, Leonardo da Vinci’s designs for a bike, my-helmet-saved-my-life etc.) However, I was in Paris researching routes for…

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Liège 3: Stairing into space

Posted on 3 November 20223 December 2022 by Rob Ainsley

One of the world’s most unnecessary ‘No Cycling’ signs is probably here in Liège. If you’ve been exploring the little Impasses of the Hors-Château quarter, at the foot of the citadel, you might be tempted to take the footpath to the top for a view over the city. Not when you actually get to the…

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Liège 2: Down-to-Ourthe alternative to Bastogne

Posted on 2 November 202216 December 2022 by Rob Ainsley

Liège–Bastogne–Liège is a notoriously tough one-day annual cycle race. It’s a classic of the calendar, particularly the bit of the calendar just before the end of spring when it still might be horribly cold, wet and snowy. It’s nicknamed La Doyenne, ‘the old lady’. No wonder it’s sometimes also nicknamed Neige–Bastogne–Neige. Cycling the 260km of…

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Liège 1: Maastricht treat

Posted on 1 November 20222 December 2022 by Rob Ainsley

I rode like the wind today. Not surprising, as it was a hefty southwesterly, and I was heading north-east. The w-assist powered me up the banks of the Meuse into the Netherlands which, unlike Belgium, was not closed for All Saints’ Day today. Riding along the river round Liège (which I’m researching for an upcoming…

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Manchester: Bee prepared

Posted on 26 August 202228 August 2022 by Rob Ainsley

Britain’s de facto second city (sorry, Brummies) was utterly terrible for cycling until recently. Now though – thanks to some determined installations of segregated cycle lanes – it’s much better. Compared to the best large cities. Which means it’s only slightly terrible. To be fair – which would be a departure for me, granted –…

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Portsmouth: Naval gazing and seaside scoots

Posted on 7 August 202214 August 2022 by Rob Ainsley

En route home from the Isle of Wight, I found Portsmouth surprisingly difficult to tear myself away from. Though that was largely because a station fire knocked out the trains for four hours. But spare time in a city is never a problem with a bike, so I spent the hiatus enjoyably exploring the city’s…

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Isle of Wight 2: Red Squirrel Trail

Posted on 6 August 202210 August 2022 by Rob Ainsley

No wonder, in this era of neoliberal capitalism, red squirrels are struggling. Their old ways of social equality and communally-owned hazelnuts have been pushed aside by the aggressive, exploitative, money-making urgency of the greys. However, on the Isle of Wight, like amiable old lefties with control of some niche council, the reds still cling on….

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Isle of Wight 1: Round the Island

Posted on 5 August 202230 August 2022 by Rob Ainsley

The round-the-island cycle route is the keynote bike ride of the diamond-shaped island off the south coast. And it is indeed a gem. Because it’s got many faces. And it’s hard. It’s sixty-odd miles of ups and down giving some splendid views and scenery along the way, but it also misses a trick or two…

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Otterburn Ranges: Remote possibilities

Posted on 1 August 20221 January 2023 by Rob Ainsley

This is as remote as England gets. The top of Coquetdale in Northumberland is over thirty miles’ ride west from the nearest railway station at Alnmouth. I was cycle-camping here to research a magazine article, exploring the Otterburn Ranges: Ministry of Defence land only open to the public a few days a month, like our…

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