Category: Route research

Researching cycle parking in Birmingham. I’m working, really. Proof: look, there’s my bike, in the top left of the picture.

Weekend researching cycling routes in East Yorkshire’s Wolds on my folding bike. An area that’s compact, beautiful, and great value. All descriptions that don’t apply to my folding bike.

Enjoyable day researching Leicester’s exciting cycle infrastructure, such as this fine path on Newarke St, wide enough to park a large van on.

I’m researching cycling routes in the Derbyshire Peaks with Mark. His local knowledge proved invaluable – ‘closed roads’ (like the one on Mam Tor, which we didn’t visit today) that are actually open to cyclists (hence car-free) for instance. And pubs, also open to cyclists…

Very enjoyable day of route research in Nottingham. The quirky Park Tunnel, underneath Street-View-invisible, gas-lit Park Estate; the delightful long stretches of bike path by the Trent; the Market Square; and the tram system, roamable on a four-quid day pass.

Final day of route research on the Speyside Trail, finishing at the mouth not far from Elgin. Which, incidentally, has a distillery.

Day of whisk… er, route research in distillery country. I mean, Speyside.

Excellent first day of route research on the Speyside Trail up in the Scottish Highlands.

German Christmas Markets seem to be everywhere these days. We’ve been visiting a few – Leeds, Sheffield, York, Birmingham – in the echt German way. That is, on bikes, and not spending more than we can afford. Which means not spending anything, when they want four quid for a sausage. The Birmingham trip was an…

Cramond Island, five miles or so from central Edinburgh along the coast, is a kind of mini-Lindisfarne: a small isle connected to the mainland by a narrow concrete causeway. Most of the time the causeway is under water. But for a couple of hours at low tide, when the waters recede, it’s perfectly cyclable. Go…