Bespoke features regularly on CyclingEurope.org – see these posts from the past – and it is now in its 8th year. As in most of the previous years, the event takes place in Bristol, just next to the main railway station, this year from April 20th to April […]
It’s nice to inspire others… Good luck Bob and bon voyage!
I was recently asked by the Calderdale branch of the Cyclists’ Touring Club, or CTC (or indeed ‘Cycling UK’) to give a speech at their annual prize-giving evening. As I had previously spoken to the group about my most recent journey (and book) from Spain to Norway, it […]
Well, that is the question… I was telephoned earlier this week by a chap called Jack: ‘Hi, I’m Jack from The Handlebars…‘ he said. I initially struggled to piece together what he was talking about; bicycles, plays, Romeo & Juliet… It then suddenly clicked; I’d misheard the name […]
When it comes to cycling, the Dutch know what they are talking about. The Netherlands has featured often on these pages although as a cyclist, I’ve only ever spent a day and a bit travelling in the country. Back in 2015, it was cycling day 42 of my […]
I find that by searching for ‘snow’ in the back catalogue of CyclingEurope.org posts, I’m not short of pretty photographs. From Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, Slovakia, France, Switzerland, Norway… There was even a film!
Cold? This might warm you up… …as might reading this; my 2nd (and favourite) book, Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie, where I cycled the length of the EuroVelo 8 from Greece to Portugal:
Yorkshire Summer Time starts on Sunday 25th March 2018. OK, so does British Summer Time, but bear with me… It finishes on Saturday 27th October 2018 and lasts for 217 days. The great thing about Yorkshire/British Summer Time is that it is handily located on the calendar when […]
I shouldn’t really mock the accent; it is, after all, my own… but this event – the first ever Cycle Expo in Yorkshire – from the 12th to the 14th October is something to look forward to. It will be taking place in Harrogate at the Yorkshire Event […]
‘…about the secret world of middle-aged men in Lycra.‘ I’m not sure, when I think about it, that I want to find out too much about the ‘secret’ lives of MAMILs, but this does look good and, if you happen to live anywhere within spitting (or perhaps more […]
As we probably all know (even if we’ve never had the chance to visit the country), Denmark is a great place to cycle. So is northern Germany, especially the one-time Danish territory of Schleswig-Holstein. The facilities on offer, the topology, the attitude of road users… it’s all, well, […]
Avid readers of CyclingEurope.org (I’m sure there must be one or two such people out there, no?) may remember this post from last March about my visit to the 2017 Sheffield Adventure Film Festival or SHAFF. Well, this week I have received an email about the 2018 festival […]
It was, at times, challenging on two wheels for me back in 2015; here’s someone cycling parts of Norway on one…
Well, not quite. More like losing my faith in the belief that cycling infrastructure here in the UK will ever improve. A report today from Cycling UK is headlined “Flatlining cycling numbers ‘failure by successive governments’” and it makes depressing reading. A few selected lowlights: In 1989 2% […]
From Sustrans: World record breaking cyclist Mark Beaumont is calling on families to take up the challenge of ‘Around the world in 10 days’ as part of Sustrans Big Pedal 2018 – a UK-wide event to get more young people cycling and scooting to school. The Big Pedal […]
The Adventure Junkies top 25 list is just out and CyclingEurope.org is up ten places at number 9: # BLOG SCORE 1 Bike Packing 268 2 Travelling Two 261 3 The Path Less Travelled 254 4 Tom’s Bike Trip 254 5 Rodadas 254 6 Bike Touring Pro 252 […]
This is all very reminiscent of planning past continental adventures, the only difference being that this one will be in my back yard of Yorkshire (read here to catch up on the plan). My maps have just arrived from Sustrans and they nearly cover all of Yorkshire. In […]
Second post of 2018. Second quote from a book – a different book – that I’m reading: “Cycling is a popular pastime in Yorkshire, especially in the industrial areas – there are no fewer than sixty clubs in West Yorkshire alone. Indeed, the county’s dedication to cycling led […]
I woke this morning to the sound the radio (that had been playing quietly all night although, having gone to bed beforehand, I have no recollection of hearing Big Ben at midnight). I stared around the room a little whilst at the same time trying to catch the […]
As 2017 draws to a close I take a few moments to look back over the 150 posts from the past 12 months on CyclingEurope.org. It started in reflective mood, looking forward to the publication of Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie in May. Here I […]
On foot, not bike…
It’s been a quiet end-of-year here at CyclingEurope.org but it’s back to normal service in 2018, a year that marks the 10th anniversary of the site. Tempus fugit… The card, by the way, is courtesy of the Cambridge Cycle Campaign where I gave a talk earlier in the […]
Last week I was contacted by Nicholas Waite, a cyclist who is planning to travel from Tarifa to Nordkapp by bicycle in 2018. As with anyone attempting such a feat, he has done the wise thing and read my book: Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie […]
By Nancy Moss When looking to upgrade your bike for a more comfortable ride, cyclists will generally look to pedals, saddles and handlebars to make the difference as these are the three key touch points that connect you to your bike. Now while riders will generally spend a […]
…while I wait for the bus. Again. There are towns and cities across the globe; in the developed, developing and (probably even) the under-developed world where you can turn up at a bus / tram / train stop and, with a high degree of certainty, expect a simple […]
Cycling Plus is an admirable publication, even more so in November 2017 (issue 333) as ‘Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie‘ gets a mention…
Yes, it’s true… …however you write it, Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie and Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie are now available for Amazon Kindle for a mere 99 pence or 99 cents. (If you buy the paperbacks from Amazon you can download the […]
Some of you may have been there… look out for yourself if you were. The film does seem to link the two previous posts on CyclingEurope.org together quite nicely: the film-themed podcast and this morning’s cycle into the Peak District, just. Eroica Britannia is back in Derbyshire in […]
I now have cold feet…
It’s the first of the month (white rabbits etc…), which means just one thing; the next episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast is available to download from your preferred podcast purveyor or direct from this website! It’s episode 003 already (I’ll stop when I get to 999) and […]
The cycling film special! The Leeds Bicycle Film Club (Ian Street), Mongolia (Jimmy Hyland), bikepacking & filmmaking (Barry Godin) & the definitive list of the greatest cycling films ever, perhaps (BFI/Harry Bunnell).
Harry Bunnell appeared on these pages a couple of weeks ago and he will be soon heard on The Cycling Europe Podcast (available to download from 1.11.17) talking about the greatest cycling films ever made. Here he is cycling around the coastline of Sicily:
A second day of hiking in the Lake District…
Time to dust off the backpack and head for the hills… (in the Lake District).
The end of the month approaches…. which can only mean that The Cycling Europe Podcast is just around the corner. November’s podcast – episode 3 – will be film themed. Here’s a short extract from the part of the podcast where I visit The Leeds Bicycle Film Club. […]
CyclingEurope.org often veers off topic, but here’s a story that is bang on topic. It starts with an email from Harry: Hi Andrew, I’m planning to cycle EuroVelo 3 in September this year, and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions? My father read about […]
…Stainland to Halifax. New commute; the (inevitable) new film:
Yes, it’s true, kind of… The story of a cyclist from London who became the first person to ‘Everest’ Mount Etna in Sicily. On 16th September 2017, Harry Bunnell took on the volcano multiple times until he reached the same elevation as the world’s highest peak, 8848 metres. […]
Since the publication of Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie in May 2017, the speaking tour has taken in the Cycle Touring Festival in Clitheroe, Oxford, Bristol, The Immrama Festival of Travel Writing in Lismore, Ireland, London, York, Cambridge and an audience of hundreds in the […]
…then three – one for each book – come along all at once! Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie: “Five stars as it kept me smiling throughout, written simply but in a compelling style that made me want to get on my bike, forget Strava and just […]
I’m delighted to announce that as from tomorrow, I return to life as… a regular cycling commuter. It is now nearly three years since I said goodbye to my colleagues at Gillotts School in Henley-on-Thames where, for most of the previous eight years I had regularly cycled to […]
I’m going to start with a short extract from ‘Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie‘. I was in Denmark at the time and, having just paused to buy some new tyres, was en route to Copenhagen: Cycling route 8 had now finished and was replaced with […]
Episode 2 of The Cycling Europe Podcast is now available to download! More details on how to do so here… or simply click on the arrow below, sit back and relax: This is what you’ll find in episode 002: The Cycle Show (o minutes 40 seconds) Ridgeback Bikes (1″14″) […]
The Cycle Show, La Vuelta a Espana (Matej Mohoric, UAE Team Emirates), Brussels (Eurovelo 5), The Ryburn Valley Greenway.
It’s Cycling UK’s verdict of Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie of course…
A few words from the Tour de Yorkshire, including some very good news for the CyclingEurope.org’s home town, Halifax: The eight host locations for 2018 Tour de Yorkshire have been unveiled today. The stages for the newly expanded fourth edition will begin or end in: Barnsley (South Yorkshire) […]
I am writing to ask if you could write to the motorists of Britain (as you wrote to the cycling associations of Britain last Friday), asking them to follow the Highway Code. Specifically, could you remind all drivers about the following things: respecting the speed limits, even in […]
If only you could bottle autumn evenings like this one…
A few weeks ago at the start of September, I posted an article to CyclingEurope.org about something called the Ryburn Valley Greenway. You may want to read what I wrote at the time (and watch the videos that I made) before you continue to read this but basically… […]
A rather beautiful film about an Australian cyclist travelling the length of New Zealand… The full story can be read here.
Well, from the perspective of a touring cyclist it is… all €8,133 of it. The Van Nicholas Deveron, as described by the company’s sales director earlier today at the Cycle Show at the NEC in Birmingham. More snippets from the show in the podcast: download on October 1st. […]
Fantastic news from Welcome To Yorkshire, organisers of the Tour de Yorkshire: Yorkshire has received a huge boost today with the news that the Tour de Yorkshire will grow from three to four days in 2018. Organisers Welcome to Yorkshire and A.S.O had been seeking to extend the […]
It’s that time of the year when the cycling world heads for the NEC in Birmingham for the annual Cycle Show… I’m off to the press and trade day today; the show opens to the public tomorrow and continues until Sunday. Expect a few posts about the event […]
I had the pleasure of visiting Bergen – host of this year’s UCI World Championships – a few days after arriving at Nordkapp back in 2015. I recommend a visit… These pictures (see link to original post below) may tempt you to book a flight (or perhaps even […]
From the EuroVélo website… (and the reason why I was in Brussels last week): “A new application has been launched for smart phones and tablets to help people plan and then cycle the route of EuroVelo 5 – Via Romea (Francigena). Over a thousand years ago, pilgrims used […]
The following report will be included in the next episode of The CyclingEurope.org Podcast published on October 1st. It was recorded during my visit to Brussels last week to meet up with the project team developing the tourism aspect of the Eurovelo 5. It also includes a look […]
A busy day…
I’ve spent much of the past three years thinking about cycling from southern Spain to northern Norway; planning the journey, completing the journey, recovering from the journey, writing the book about the journey and, more recently, marketing the book about the journey. (What? You hadn’t noticed?) The next […]
As predicted a few weeks ago here on CyclingEurope.org (10 Things To Know About… La Vuelta A España), Chris Froome did indeed win the Vuelta. OK, it wasn’t a difficult prediction to make and anyway, I was merely quoting the predictions of those with greater knowledge at Cyclist.co.uk. […]
I pick out this review for Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie from Amazon.co.uk as I’ve rarely (well, never) been described as ‘heroic’ before. I have already updated the CV… “A book which serves up so much. It will delight not just avid touring cyclists but […]
I’m currently reminiscing, putting together a short presentation* for my visit to Brussels next week where I’ve been asked to reflect upon my 2010 cycle from the UK to southern Italy along the EuroVelo 5. Browsing through the photos and website posts from the time (I came up […]
Yes, single speed. Just to clarify: with one gear. It sounds a crazy idea to most but not to Markus Stitz, an Edinburgh-based bikepacker from Germany. In the autumn of 2015 (shortly after I finished my own somewhat-less-epic ride from Tarifa to Nordkapp), Markus set off to cycle […]
It’s rest day at La Vuelta.. have you been keeping up? With just six stages remaining, here is some background information about the race published on CyclingEurope.org back in the hot, sultry [are you sure?] days of August. Interesting to compare the names mentioned in point 10 with […]
‘Greenways’, ‘Vias Verdes‘, ‘Voies Vertes‘… they are all the same thing – in English, Spanish and French respectively – and they have cropped up from time to time in this parish, most recently a couple of months ago when I had the opportunity of cycling along the Waterford […]
It’s Friday 1st September 2017. On this day in history… …Louis XIV died (1715) …the last known passenger pigeon, Martha, died in captivity in Cincinnati Zoo (1914) …Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer-prize winning novel, The Old Man and the Sea was published (1952) …the wreck of the Titanic was discovered […]
UK to Istanbul, the Calder Valley of Yorkshire, ‘Along The Med…’, CTC Birthday Rides, Cycle Touring Festival.
I went walking in the Picos De Europa back in 2007 and they are certainly a spectacular range of mountains in northern Spain. Here’s a good blog post from ‘Reading, Running, Cycling‘ about attempting them on two wheels… A few years ago, I watched the whole of the […]
Only four days to go… A monthly digest of news, interviews, reports, rides, readings, features… from the people behind CyclingEurope.org. If you think you might have something to contribute, please get in touch. Whether you’ve embarked on an epic ride or simply decided to to get back into […]
“You should read this book. It is a wonderful tale of a bicycle journey…” So says Tom Ivar Horvei in a review of Spain to Norway on a Bike Called Reggie in a review just published on Goodreads, the respected literary review site, where the book is currently […]
Here is a post from Rachel Cullen’s website. She’s a runner but has caught the bug for cycling… For anyone who knows the Calder Valley (as I do), the hills she refers to will be familiar. I feel her pain!
It’s back: will you pledge? You can do so here. Here’s what the organisers have to say: Cycle to Work Day, the annual event encouraging workers across the UK to take to two wheels for their commute, will celebrate its 5th anniversary this September 13th. The event invites […]
Does the world need another cycling podcast? We are about to find out…
What is the CyclingEurope.org Podcast? Here’s your answer. Over to, err… me: Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes or listen on the Awesound website.
Hola! This year’s Tour of Spain got underway last weekend with a really absorbing Team Time Trial in the ancient city of Nîmes. My first image is of the team with the magical name ‘Sunweb’ – They put in a great performance, but lost out to eventual stage […]
A sample from the soon-to-be-launched Cycling Europe Podcast. The full podcast which includes reports and interviews from across the world of cycling, adventure and travel is published on September 1st (and every first of the month thereafter!).
Here’s a cycling event with a difference: ‘Up The Buttress…’. The buttress in question is a steep, cobbled 365 metre lane from Hebden Bridge in the direction of Heptonstall in the Calder Valley of Yorkshire. In the words of the organisers: “£10 to attempt the Buttress, then your […]
In fairness, the climb to the third of my Yorkshire Three Peaks was always going to struggle to meet the standards set by the wonderful hike to Ingleborough (see previous post). That said the not-always-favourable comparisons actually started on Ingleborough itself with a treacherous steep descent into the […]
A wonderful climb to Ingleborough this morning. Listen to my thoughts recorded at the top of the mountain: …and here are the photos:
Shortly after completing the previous post about La Vuelta this morning, I looked at the computer and wondered where my summer was going. I then looked outside and questioned the use of the word ‘summer’. Grey sky, breezy… but dry. August? Well, if the calendar says it is. […]
After this year’s visit to see the Tour de France and my ever-growing enthusiasm for the Tour de Yorkshire, I feel I should know the other big ‘classic’ races better than I do. Yesterday saw the start of La Vuelta, Spain’s grand tour, so I’ve just given myself […]
A guest post by Alexa Cobb Whether you’ve seen someone riding down the street on one or you’ve read about them in a magazine, electric bikes are becoming a popular phenomenon. For some, an electric bike enables them to get to work without needing a shower when they […]
The observant amongst you will notice that, on September 1st, the first CyclingEurope.org podcast will be unleashed into the world! It is still very much a work-in-progress but I’ve decided to share with you a snippet (well, it’s a 15 minute long ‘snippet’ that will probably be trimmed […]
CyclingEurope.org has just received a bit of a makeover… and what better way to mark the event than an initiative that seeks to reinvent a disused railway tunnel into something that could benefit generations of future cyclists: The Queensbury Tunnel. This website has seen how disused railway infrastructure […]
One of those ‘nothing-to-do-with-cycling’ posts, although I have tried to include a few bicycles in the photographs taken today and shown below. Between speaking at the CTC ‘birthday’ rides on Thursday, a day of cycling in the Cotswold yesterday (see previous post) and staying to hear fellow touring […]
It’s a tradition that dates back many years – nearly 50 I think – and is held every August in a different location over the course of a week. Around 500 members of Cycling UK (although these guys hang on to the original name, the CTC) pay a […]
A few weeks ago, as the Tour de France made its way across the French countryside, I had the opportunity of visiting the Dordogne region of France courtesy of the organisers of the Tour de Yorkshire, Welcome to Yorkshire. If this is news to you (or you have […]
12:33am: Talk went very well. Good crowd of 30ish. It’s been a long day. Another two hours until home… Goodnight from Leicester Forest East. 5:55pm: Bicycles and… err… cows: 5:45pm: Business on the Cam is brisk. Well, there seem to be lots of punters… (I’ll get my coat…) […]
Don’t believe any author, actor, painter, candlestick-maker… who says they don’t read their reviews. Of course they do. They then just deny it so as to sound self-deprecating. However, perhaps because of the long road along which I have pedalled both literally as well as metaphorically to becoming […]
Updated 31/7/17 – Scroll to bottom for a few notes about ‘audax’ On the day of perhaps Britain’s largest and most well-known sportive – the Prudential Ride London – a few reflections about language. As a French speaker I know the meaning of the word ‘sportive‘ in its […]
Here’s a sad tale. The Transcontinental Race is described as follows: “Race from Flanders to Istanbul via checkpoints at some of cycling’s most iconic locations and Europe’s historic landmarks. The route you take is up to you but will be at least 2500 miles of riding and some […]
I joined Warmshowers – the cycle touring community’s accommodation sharing website – over 7 years ago but after finishing my last long trip in 2015 and moving up to Yorkshire, things went quiet. In Reading – in the Thames Valley – I was en route to London from […]
I’ve just spotted this on the Cycle Touring Festival twitter feed… Over to you Laura! Regional Gatherings [Read the original post here] The best thing about the Cycle Touring Festival is the chance to spend time with like-minded people. The worst thing is that it only happens once […]
