Category: Route research

Final bits of cycle route research round Stratford and Warwick. Threw it down with rain today. No problem for my Ortlieb panniers, which are 100% waterproof. My socks on the other hand are 99% waterproof. Today was the other 1%.

Beautiful October day doing more cycle route research, this time round Shakespeare’s Stratford and the Cotswolds. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Obviously not, ‘cos it’s October.

More route research, this time up spectacular Mow Cop (rhymes with ‘Cow Mop’) south of Congleton. A mile of relentless uphill, average 12%, max 25%, with sweeping views from the folly at the top. Cycled up it, and I didn’t stop once. More like four times.

Another wonderful day researching routes round the hillier and fordier bits of the underrated Staffordshire Moorlands. The scenery in the evening sunshine round Hen Cloud and the Roaches was particularly lovely, and inspired some music for guitar, which you can hear at the bottom of the page. Music for guitar: Hen Cloud Listen to my…

More cycle-route research, this time in Staffordshire Moorlands, aka the bits of the Peak District that aren’t in Derbyshire. Mr Kipling makes exceedingly good lakes.

Surrey Hills Cycle Route Research finished today with Box Hill, a secret known only to me and 15,000 other cyclists on this baking hot sunny day.

More lovely cycle route research in the Surrey Hills that involved lots of traditional English things, such as quaint villages, more sunken country tracks, and anti-fracking protest camps.

More cycle route research, this time in the lovely Surrey Hills. They’re hilly.

Lovely sunny weather for a route research jaunt along the canal from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk.

More route research in Rutland, this time a complete 65-mile circuit of the traditional county’s border.