When cycle touring (and occasionally on other rides), I write a report after each day to record my experiences. These ramblings are always written immediately after the ride so they represent my thoughts at the time. For several years, I published these on Facebook, and below I have reproduced them as they were initially written. I have resisted the urge to alter or amend them, although occasionally I have seen the need to add some explanatory notes to explain topical events that I’d commented on.
As with most things on this web-site, these essays for personal use.
Les Glover (one of my favourite songwriters) puts it very well in one of his songs: “if you don’t like it, well, I don’t care, you see; I didn’t do it for you, I did it for me.” (This song. 33 seconds in)
| Title | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 67. Extending my Veloviewer tile cluster | Oct 25 | A trip to gather more Veloviewer tiles in Cheshire & North Wales (8 minute read) |
| 66. In search of English counties | Sep 25 | A short trip to the Home Counties (10 minute read) |
| 65. Gathering tiles in September | Sep 25 | A rather mixed account of a few days in September (10 minute read) |
| 64. Return to Alnwick | Aug 25 | Lightweight bike packing trip to Alnwick (12 minute read) |
| 63. Touring the Southeast | Jun 25 | Six days touring and two day-rides in the South East of England (30 minute read) |
| 62. Mallorca 2025 | May 25 | An account of a cycling holiday with ten friends to Pollença. (25 minute read) |
| 61. Wooler trip | Apr 25 | An account of my delayed trip to Wooler, Northumberland (20 minute read) |
| 60. Wales & Cheshire | Mar 25 | Three day rides out from Trafford Hall (8 minute read) |
| 59. Exploring the Kent Valley | Jan 25 | Two day-rides in the quiet lanes Northwest of Kendal (4 minute read) |
| 58. Ambleside and Barrow | Dec 24 | Two solo cycle rides in Cumbria (7 minute read) |
| 57. Wigtown trip | Sept 24 | Short break with Jim, Jo and JP (15 minute read) |
| 56. Here again | Aug 24 | More rides out from Trafford Hall (13 minute read) |
| 55. Good Tile Hunting | July 24 | Searching for Veloviewer tiles on four day-rides in North Yorkshire (10 minute read) |
| 54. Chester & North Wales | July 24 | Two day-rides from Trafford Hall hostel, near Chester (9 minute read) |
| 53. Summer MTB rides | May -July 24 | Four mountain bike rides in the Yorkshire Dales (14 minute read) |
| 52. Cairngorms tour | June 24 | A five-day tour with friends passing through the Cairngorms. (20 minute read) |
| 51. Trips from York | May 24 | Four day rides while on a long weekend in York (10 minute read) |
| 50. Tour of South West England | Apr 24 | A solo tour designed to collect a further six English counties and visit the Haynes Motor Museum. (20 minute read) |
| 49. North Wales trip | Mar 24 | First tour of the year in difficult circumstances. (10 minute read) |
| 48. Sheffield in the cold | Jan 24 | A chilly trip to Sheffield to look after Felix the cat. (10 minute read) |
| 47. Chester and North Wales | Nov 23 | Touring to Chester and back plus a day ride in North Wales. (10 minute read) |
| 46. Walney Island | Oct 23 | Exploring the Southern Lake District and Walney Island. (10 minute read) |
| 45. A Scottish quasi tour | Sep 23 | A Scottish tour that wasn’t really a tour. (20 minute read) |
| 44. A trip to Hathersage | Aug 23 | A solo Veloviewer explorer tile-gathering trip to Derbyshire. (9 minute read) |
| 43. Finishing Facebook posts | Aug 23 | My reasons for no longer posting on Facebook. |
| 42. Exploring Wirral | Jul 23 | A wet start to a three day ride around the Wirral peninsula collecting Veloviewer explorer tiles. (6 minute read) |
| 41. NSPCC Charity ride | Jul 23 | An organised charity ride from Liverpool to Chester, travelling through the Mersey tunnel. (3 minute read) |
| 40. Appeal | Jun 23 | An appeal for sponsorship for a charity ride. (1 minute read) |
| 39. A trip to Wales | Jun 23 | A two day jaunt from Oswestry to Ffestiniog. (4 minute read) |
| 38. Rides from Sheffield | Jun 23 | Rides whilst cat-sitting in Sheffield. (6 minute read) |
| 37 To Chester again | May 23 | A return visit to YHA Trafford Hall. (5 minute read) |
| 36. Three rides from Mansfield | May 23 | Three day rides from Mansfield. (6 minute read) |
| 35. Day ride in Cheshire | May 23 | After an enforced break from cycling for a few months. (3 minute read) |
| 34. January to May 2023 | May 23 | The sorry story of an icy road. (7 minute read) |
| 33. Chester via Liverpool | Nov 22 | A cold start to a short trip over the Mersey to YHA Trafford Hall. (5 minute read) |
| 32. Rides from Hazel Grove | Nov 22 | A few days in Hazel Grove. Not touring, just day trips. (8 minute read) |
| 31. Ingleton | Oct 22 | On a Veloviewer ’tile-bagging’ trip. (4 minute read) |
| 30. East Coast rides | Aug 22 | Initially planned as a tour, but became a series of day rides out from hostels in North Yorkshire. (14 minute read) |
| 29. Keswick to Carlisle return | Jul 22 | Midweek trip to Carlisle to gather Veloviewer tiles. (5 minute read) |
| 28. Cotswolds tour | Jun 22 | Four-day tour around the Cotswolds starting from Solihull. (12 minute read) |
| 27. Hazel Grove | Jun 22 | Cat sitting in Hazel Grove for a few days. (8 minute read) |
| 26. Weardale | May 22 | Day rides from Westgate in Weardale with a group. (9 minute read) |
| 25. Shrewsbury | Apr 22 | Day trips out from Shrewsbury. (9 minute read) |
| 24. Keswick Charity Ride | Apr 22 | A ride with some new cycling chums . (7 minute read) |
| 23. Cycling in March | Mar 22 | General bike rides during March. (15 minute read) |
| 22. CoP-inspired trips | Nov 21 | Cycling trips inspired when the UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021. (5 minute read) |
| 21. Shrewsbury tour | Sep 21 | Cycling to and from Shrewsbury. (9 minute read) |
| 20. Nottinghamshire to Essex | Aug 21 | A ride to create a continuous route from Switzerland to the North of Scotland (over 1700 miles). (19 minute read) |
| 19. Cycling holiday in County Durham | Jul 21 | This was in place of a holiday in Italy which had to be cancelled. (13 minute read) |
| 18. Trip to Hartington Hall | Jun 21 | Cycling to and around the Derbyshire countryside. (8 minute read) |
| 17. Test ride to Hazel Grove | May 21 | I began using the Cycle.Travel website to devise routes on quiet roads. This ride tested it out. (3 minute read) |
| 16. Winter rides from Waddington | Dec 20 | Day rides only – Covid-19 restrictions still applied. (3 minute read) |
| 15. Grinton Lodge | Sep 20 | First proper ride out since Covid-19 struck. (4 minute read) |
| 14. Trip to Saint Gervais les Bains | Oct 19 | The one before the world changed. (8 minute read) |
| 13. From Source to sea | Sep 19 | An account of a trip along the EuroVelo 15 cycle route following the river Rhine from Switzerland to Hoek van Holland. (45 minute read) |
| 12. Great Dun Fell | Aug 19 | Climbing the highest paved road in the UK. (This was written by Jim Solan) (5 minute read) |
| 11. Riding from Wilderhope Manor | Aug 19 | Rides out from a magnificent Youth Hostel in Much Wenlock, Shropshire. (5 minute read) |
| 10. Practice ride for the EV15 | Jul 19 | A 3-day trip to ensure that four chums could manage the challenging 1000 mile EV15 ride in September. (6 minute read) |
| 9. Trip to Liverpool | Jul 19 | Short break to Liverpool. (3 minute read) |
| 8. Prestwick Cycle Challenge 2019 | Jun 19 | A ride to join an organised 3-day sponsored ride around the West of Scotland. (11 minute read) |
| 7. A Hebridean adventure | May 19 | Cycling the Hebridean Way. (20 minute read) |
| 6. A short tour from Málaga | Mar 19 | My first time international touring. (8 minute read) |
| 5. A ride up Tan Hill | Oct 18 | Tackling Tan Hill in the right direction. (2 minute read) |
| 4. North Wales | Oct 18 | Adding Wales to my collection of UK countries cycled in one year. (4 minute read) |
| 3. Cycling in Fife | Sep 18 | A trip around Fife with Jim. (5 minute read) |
| 2. Up in the Alps | Jul 18 | A description of a trip to the French Alps with nine pals. (10 minute read) |
| 1. Prestwick Cycle Challenge to Galway | Jun 18 | The Prestwick Cycle Challenge ride from Larne to Galway. (7 minute read) |
Cycling blogs
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Extending my Veloviewer tile cluster
Wednesday 1st October 2025 Veloviewer fans will know that there’s far more than just hunting explorer tiles. In fact there’s…
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In search of English counties
Sunday 21st September 2025 I had thoroughly planned this ride with everything thought through beforehand until I received a text…
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Gathering tiles in September
This chapter might be rather jumbled. It is neither a cycle tour, nor even a single trip away, but it…
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Return to Alnwick
Tuesday 5th August 2025 My plan for the next three days was to gather more Veloviewer explorer tiles in a…
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Touring the Southeast of England
Sunday 8th June 2025 This tour was designed to help me continue in my quest to cycle in every English…
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Mallorca with ten friends
Thursday 1st May 2025 I want to be sufficiently fit to enjoy the mountains in the Northern part of Mallorca…
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Wooler trip
Tuesday 8th April 2025 I’d arranged to go to the Wooler Hostel in Northumberland in late September last year, but…
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Wales & Cheshire
Sunday 9th March 2025 About a year ago I planned a ride across North Wales, starting from YHA Trafford Hall…
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Exploring the Kent Valley
Tuesday 15th January 2025 I began to plan this short break before Christmas and sketched out the routes to collect…
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2024 Cycling statistics
I managed to cover quite a bit of ground this year one way and another. Several tours and multi-day rides,…
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Cycling from Ambleside.
Tuesday 10th December 2024 The long-range weather forecast was spot on last week. I don’t usually pay much attention to…
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57. Wigtown trip
Monday September 2nd 2024 This trip for just four people was arranged back in March, although now I cannot remember…
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56. Exploring Cheshire and North Wales
Wednesday August 14th 2024 There are a whole bunch of Veloviewer tiles in the area to the West of Manchester…
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54. Good tile hunting
My never-ending search for Veloviewer tiles has seen me on four rides in North Yorkshire in the last few days. …
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54. Chester & North Wales
Tuesday 9th July 2024 I’ve been watching the weather forecast for the last few days and it’s been awful, even though…
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53. Summer mountain bike rides
Friday 24th May 2024 I had a plan to colour in some tiles around the upper Ribble Valley, specifically the…
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52. Cairngorms tour
3rd – 7th June 2024 Sunday 2nd June 2024 The last (and first) time I cycled in the Cairngorms was…
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51. Trips from York
Friday 17th May 2024 There have been a series of events this week which caused me to doubt whether this…
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50. Tour of the South West of England
Tuesday 23rd April 2024 I had planned a South West cycle tour late last year so that I could claim…
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49. North Wales trip
Wednesday 20th March 2024 It rained all through January and February (well, it seemed like it) so I had no…
4 replies on “Cycling Blogs”
Great idea Bernard ????♂️????????
Westerly and Easterly winds just when you needed ‘em. How lucky are you?
That sculpture of local musician Anna Novotny. I’d convinced myself it was Cilla Black. I mustn’t have read any signage.
I thought that Dungeness Estate WAS fascinating. Maybe it was me that helped raise your expectations too high. Sorry!
Who’d’ve thought Canterbury would be the epicentre of dogfighting? Thought it was classier than that. And then you seemed to find the South East Half-a-dog Chariot Racing Club too. Marvellous.
I’m impressed that you were able to even estimate up to 100,000 cars!
Enjoyed the read. And the data. Bravo!
Thanks Jim. I read that Ann Novotny was a longstanding volunteer in the region.
I think I’ve seen Dungeness on TV and it wasn’t at all what I thought.
I loved seeing those dogs. I even have a video. The lady was throwing sticks in the sea for them!
To guess the cars, I zoomed in on Google, counted a few and then extrapolated. I’ve since had another look, and I think I’m wrong by an order of magnitude, so I’ve modified the text. Sorry for misleading you. My mileage and the climbing quoted were right, though!
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