Tag: United Kingdom

The Cycling Europe Podcast: Episode 060 – Cycling The Route of โ€˜The Wheels Of Chanceโ€™ By H.G. Wells

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Tristam Newey is a science-fiction writer from Southampton who loves all things sea, air, space.. and cycling. Inspired by H.G.Wellsโ€™ 1896 comic novelย The Wheels of Chance, in July 2022 Tristam set off to retrace the journey of the bookโ€™s main protagonist, Mr. Hoopdriver โ€“ a frustrated draperโ€™s assistant from Putney โ€“ from London to the south coast of England (and halfway back). As he travelled, he rediscovered the places that H.G. Wells wrote about and recreated the sketches that appeared in the original book. In the words of H.G. Wells himself, โ€œWhoop for freedom and adventure!โ€,

Le Grand Tour: Day 0 – Halifax To Hull (17km)

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Welcome to Le Grand Tour! I canโ€™t decide whether the cycle officially started in Halifax when I shut my front door behind me or whether it will start when I get to the Hook of Holland tomorrow. Iโ€™ve compromised and called this โ€˜firstโ€™ day, โ€˜Day 0โ€™. Now I think about it, thatโ€™s not a compromise is it? Oh wellโ€ฆ

‘Cycling Stuff’: Hostels In Scotland And Great British Gravel Rides

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Having a presence online, as I do, can create a rather skewed image of the person writing this. The books, podcasts, films, social media etc… don’t help in this regard. I dare say some of you think I lead a rather different life to the one that I actually experience myself. Yesterday, a colleague in the school where I toil asked if my work as a teacher subsidised the ‘cycling stuff’ or the other way around. I broke the news gently that, without my income from cajoling the 11 to 18-year-olds of my small town in West Yorkshire into engaging with the educational process, I would be living on the streets. Perhaps one day the ‘cycling stuff’ will be the bread winner and the teaching a nice add-on. For the time being however…

Cycling The Way Of The Roses: The Film (Premiere)

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If you are reading this before 7pm on Thursday 2nd June 2022 you are invited to a film premiere tonight at 7pm! That doesn’t happen every day, does it? It’s the film that I’ve made about my recent cycle along the Way of the Roses from Morecambe to York. If you are reading this after 7pm tonight well, your invite to the premiere is no longer valid, sorry. But you can, of course, still watch the film in all its 4K glory below. Don’t forget that you can get the full story of the three days of cycling across the Pennines by listening to episode 50 of The Cycling Europe Podcast. Full details below.

The Cycling Europe Podcast: Episode 050 – Cycling The Way Of The Roses

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To celebrate its 50th episode, Andrew P. Sykes takes The Cycling Europe Podcast out on the cycle path and travels from Morecambe on Lancashire’s west coast to the county’s historical capital at Lancaster, across the Pennines and through Yorkshire via Settle and Ripon, completing his trip in that county’s historical capital at York. The Way of the Roses is a route of contrasting landscapes and, at times, challenging terrain; join Andrew (and his bicycle Wanda) as they spend three days following one of northern England’s most popular cycle routes.

Coming Soon: The Film And The Podcast Of The Roses

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Now back home in West Yorkshire after my-day trip across the Pennines from Morecambe / Lancaster to York. It was a fun weekend with varied terrain; flat by the sea, beautiful gentle-sloping valleys, sharp climbs, even-sharper descents and then the flatlands of the Vale of York. Many of you will have been following the posts that were published here on the website in recent days – you can find them linked to below if you missed them – but there will also be a podcast and a longer film that uses the majority of the video that it wasn’t possible to use in the short films I managed to edit in the tent at the end of each day, including much more footage from the air, in glorious 4K.

The Way Of The Roses: Day 4

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It was flat and it was a tale of two cities; Ripon and York. A functional day of cycling but enjoyable nevertheless. The route was a turney-twistyโ€‹ one sending me in most directions; east, south, northโ€ฆ but never west. With a wind from the south-west, I invariably had to fight against it, rewarded at the next turn with the push of the gusts.

The Way Of The Roses: Day 3

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Anything that followed yesterday morningโ€™s bucolic ride through the Lune Valley / Forest of Bowland was always going to come second in the rankings, especially when there are so far only two contenders for โ€˜morning of the tripโ€™ ride. That said, it was still a good one. A short ride from the campsite in Horton-in-Ribblesdale (very highly recommended) to Settle (where the service and food at the Singing Kettle Cafรฉ and the fact that it was open at 9am on a Sunday morning also deserve placing in Cycling Europeโ€™s โ€˜highly recommendedโ€™ category).