Pathways through the Particular

The Cycle Path

In 1818 an order for hundreds of draisiennes, an early two wheeled machine developed in France, came to Britain because the order could not be fulfilled in war-torn France (Franco-Prussian war). They were made by the Coventry Machinist Company diversifying from the manufacture of sewing machines.

James Starley refined the design into the Penny Farthing and his nephew created the Rover safety bicycle with even sized wheels, as well as brakes and gears on the rear wheel. By 1871 70% of the cycle industry was in the Midlands, with companies such as Humber, Coventry Eagle, Swift and Triumph.

The British Cycling Federation started life as the Bicycle Union in 1878, later amalgamating with the British League of Racing Cyclists in 1959 and governs cycling sports such as track racing in velodromes across the country, time trials, and cross country or downhill mountain biking.

For more leisurely pursuits, local branches of the Cyclist's Touring Club, also set up in 1878, organise group tours still stopping off at their usual cafes, hotels and pubs en route. Some retain the once common ‘gold’ CTC plaques with their old logo of a wheel spoked with three wings, giving a welcome and perhaps special rates for cyclists. There is one on the wall approaching the Coach and Horses in Longborough village in Gloucestershire, at Jack Barrow's Cosy Café in Longridge in Lancashire, and the CTC café in Askrigg, Wensleydale. As well as tourers, cyclists in their bright gear are regular visitors to cafes at weekends when enthusiasts take to the roads and hills. Ripley in Surrey was a "mecca" for racing enthusiasts in the 19th century with its wide road that became deserted after Woking Station was built. Local pubs catered for the visitors and the Anchor took up to 7000 signatures in its visitor's book each year. St Mary's church has a stained glass window presented by cyclists in memory of Harriett and Annie Dibble who gave Bible readings in the Anchor for the cyclists who were missing church each Sunday.

In 2002 part of Nottingham’s heart stopped beating. Raleigh closed. It was founded in and named after Raleigh Street, Nottingham by Frank Bowden in 1890. The factory complex between Faraday Road and Triumph Road (there is also Cycle Road and Dunlop Avenue nearby) has been demolished and redeveloped as Nottingham University's award winning Jubilee Campus, leaving little trace of the buildings that employed a workforce of thousands, had two social clubs, sports ground, ballroom, bowling green and was part of the identity of the city. A building on Ilkeston Road has a bicycle sculpture outside, it is named Sillitoe Court in honour of the author of ‘Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’, another corner of Nottingham’s mythology, who worked at the age of 14 in the Raleigh factory. The biggest monument to this company lies not so much in the cycles made now in the east, but in the pride of the thousands of people who worked here over a century sending bicycles across the world and in the millions of us whose first bike was a Raleigh.

In addition to the hazards of busy roads cyclists can now use 10,000 miles of routes on the National Cycle Network created by Sustrans the charity that promotes cycling and sustainable transport. Following the lines of disused railways some are now lined with sculpture such as the Spen Valley Greenway from Dewsbury Rail Station, the Cuckoo Trail from Eastbourne to Heathfield (named after the local tradition of releasing a cuckoo at the Heathfield Fair) its verges awash with wild flowers in the spring and summer, the Phoenix Trail following the Thames Phoenix train line from Risborough, and the first route, the Bristol to Bath Railway, its first 2 miles built by volunteers. Cyclists and walkers along the Three Rivers Cycle Route which links Middlesborough to Newcastle passes the Lampton Worm, an earthwork by Andy Goldsworthy, Sleeper Seat by Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley, Beamish Shorthorns by Sally Matthews, Kyo Undercurrents by Richard Harris the Old Transformers by David Kemp and more wayside earthworks and sculptures which add excitement and insight to the ‘line’. C2C from Whitehaven in Cumberland to Sunderland has 13 steel wayside signs by Richard Farrington.

The Camel Trail, again along an old rail link, which hugs the Camel river and estuary from Bodmin to Padstow is Britain's most popular cycle path, with 350,000 visitors each year. Gosport's railway line is now a cycle path used by everyone from commuters to school children as a direct, traffic free route, though there are plans to reintroduce the railway.

Towpaths are open in some places, the Kennet and Avon Canal near Bath is popular as a gentle way through a hilly landscape. Whether orienteering or exploring across country, mountain bikers delight in the freedom of the forests and fords, if not always the mountains: there are places of conflict, notably sensitive upland peat areas, where erosion is being caused by overuse.

The world's most famous cycle race, the Tour de France sometimes has a stage in England to the delight of both sprinters and stamina enthusiasts. Duncan Mackay is exploring a different line. He is taking a Long, Slow and Wiggly bike ride from Culver Point on the Isle of Wight to Am Parbh (Cape Wrath, perhaps from Old Norse ‘hraf’ meaning turning point) Scotland’s northern-most mainland coast. "A few years ago I swapped my company car for a folding bicycle and now I bike and train to work. I feel fitter, more energised and I have voluntarily taken one car off the congested road network. I chose in 2004 to take a spectacular journey through Britain on a folding bicycle taking the longest straightest route with the greatest number of wiggles! It’s nearly 1000 miles long, mostly on Sustrans National Cycle Network sections, canal towpaths, disused railway lines, quiet lanes and single track roads with passing places… and the odd ferry. As members of Europe’s hardest working and most stressed out nation we seem to be rushing ever faster away from things that make life enjoyable: good regional food and drink, traditional local produce, cultural events, strong communities and all aspects of what Common Ground calls ‘local distinctiveness’ These are things that make all places special and their communities proud. I shall celebrate these ideas and gain first hand experience of good ‘slow’ practice as well as constructing an A-Z of local distinctiveness as I travel".

In the UK we are at the bottom of the European cycle use list. 3% of people in employment in Britain cycle to work (2001), add to this 2% of secondary school journeys and it is evident that we do not compare well with Holland with around 30%. Cycling in flat areas sounds all very well, but battling against the wind in east Yorkshire is a very lonely business and cities are never flat. London has a big cycling fraternity boosted in the 1990’s with the flourishing of cycle couriers. Stroud (Gloucs) has an active and inventive cycling campaign. The congestion charge in central London has made it an easier and safer place at least for a while. Cyclists add to the atmosphere of a place, most notable are the oldest university towns with their upright black bikes and baskets leaned against railings or being ridden flamboyantly from college to library or pub. Red cycles from ‘ Mike’s Bikes’ are commonly ridden by tourists to Cambridge, and Betjeman’s picture of "churches stacked with bicycles outside" on a stroll to the Eastgate of a "marmalade Oxford" in ‘Summoned by Bells’ is still part of the scene.

Text by Kate O'Farrell and Sue Clifford

Follow Duncan Mackay's LONG, SLOW and WIGGLY Cycle Ride across Britain
See the work of DENNIS GOULD, SHEILA BOOTH and the STROUD VALLEY CYCLE CAMPAIGN