Here’s a list of all 50 chapters of 50 Quirky Bike Rides in England and Wales (Rob Ainsley, Eye Books 2008), with links to Google maps, hundreds of pictures, and other resources. To find out more details, buy the book!
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| Sample two complete chapters: |
SOUTH WEST
01 Gold Hill | map | pics
Re-enact the famous Hovis advert, but use your loaf
02 Bath-Bradford Aqueducts | map | pics
Britain's most beautiful canal scenery and architecture
03 Staple Hill | map | pics
The best railtrail tunnel on the best bike path of all
04 Clay Trails | map (PDF, sustrans.org.uk) | pics
Strange scenery, and a discount for biking to Eden
05 Caen Hill | map | pics
The longest canalside downhill? Devizes’ amazing ladder of locks
SOUTH EAST
06 Bosham Harbour | map | pics
Cycle on water in the flooding harbour road, see cars swim
07 Dover to Calais | map | pics
First off the ferry to the rest of the world – or the hypermarché at least
08 Channel Tunnel | map | pics
Take your bike through the world’s greatest undersea tunnel
09 Eynsford | map | pics
Britain’s most picturesque village ford: watersplash par excellence
10 Romney Hythe & Dymchurch | map | pics
The mini railway where your bike’s bigger than the loco
LONDON
11 Wellington Arch | map | pics
Picture-postcard London and a cycling triumphal arch
12 Lombard St | map | pics
Britain’s twistiest bike path on a lovely canal circuit: San Francisco in London
13 Woolwich Ferry | map | pics
Ride the famous free ferry between two different worlds
14 North Circular Aqueduct | map | pics
Britain's oddest aqueduct: the main road from nowhere
15 London Underground | map | cyclists' tube map (tfl.gov.uk) | pics
The capital by canal towpath, then take your bike on the tube
16 Floating Towpath | map | pics
London’s unique buoyant bicycle path to the Olympics (one day)
17 Thames Ferries | map | pics
Britain’s best riverside cycle path, with bike-only ferries
18 Savoy Court | map | pics
Cycle on the wrong side of the road in London, only legally
EAST
19 Cambridge | map | route planner (Cambridge Cycle Campaign) | pics
Britain’s cyclingest city: where bikes rule
20 Rutland Water | map | pics and text
Cycle round Britain’s oddest reservoir-lake
21 Debenham | map | pics
Britain's longest ford – a kilometre-long aquaplane
22 Harwich Ferries | map | pics
Summon your ferry with a table- tennis bat, and take Europe's tiniest
23 Dunwich Dynamo | map | pics
Britain's best cycling secret, for now: 200km mass ride to the sea
SOUTH MIDLANDS
24 Fosse Way | map | pics
The Tardis-like, dead-straight 200km-long country lane
25 Aston Clinton | map | pics
The cyclist’s dream just outside Tring: freewheeling uphill!
26 Netherton Tunnel | map | pics
Potholing with a bike: the spooky 3km canal tunnel
27 Blackpool Bridge | map | forest trails map (Pedalabikeaway) | pics
Original, preserved Roman Roads in the Forest of Dean
WALES
28 Fford Pen Llech | map | pics
Downhill-ski on a bike on Britain’s steepest road descent
29 Transporter Bridges | map | canal route map (waterscape.com) | pics
Is it a bridge? Is it a plane? Is it a coathanger?
30 Pontcysyllte | map | pics
Tightrope-walk with your bike on the amazing flying horse-trough
31 Barmouth Bridge | map | pics
Weird wooden rivermouth traverse in stunning scenery
NORTH MIDLANDS
32 Ashbourne Tunnel | map | pics
Tissington Trail’s nicely scary tunnel on a Peaks touring goodie
33 Mam Tor | map | read full chapter (PDF, 350K) | pics
The road they couldn’t tame: Derbyshire’s earthquake zone
34 Ironbridge | map | leaflet (PDF, telford.gov.uk) | pics
Where industry was born: historic little hop over the Severn
YORKS & LANCS
35 Chimney Bank | map | pics
Britain’s steepest uphill: the North York Moors’ tarmac elevator
36 Mersey Ferry | map | pics
Ride Britain’s most sociable, characterful and historic ferry. Just don’t try to sing
37 Humber Bridge | map | pics
Bike the world’s longest bikable suspension bridge: Hull’s thrilling world-beater
38 Grosmont to Pickering | map | pics
Revisit the 1950s in Britain's most perfect train-forest ride-railtrail day trip
39 York Planets | map | pics
Bike from the sun to Pluto (also available in Somerset)
40 Dentdale | map | pics
Your powered ride in the Dales. England's best freewheel? We think so
NORTH
41 Tyne Tunnel & Gateshead Bridge | map | pics
Britain's coolest ancient-and-modern river crossings
42 Consett Bike Maze | map | pics
Andy Goldsworthy’s unique giant puzzle on the C2C
43 Cam High Road | map | pics
Britain’s most exciting Roman Road over the roof of the Dales
44 Great Dun Fell | map | pics
Up to 850m, the highest you can go on asphalt in the UK – no cars allowed!
45 Lindisfarne | map | pics
Beat the tide on the dissolving causeway to Holy Island
EVERYWHERE
46 Critical Mass | map | pics
When bikes reclaim the streets. Forget the cars, but mind the jugglers
47 Bad Bike Lanes | map | pics
Some incredible-but-true examples of how Britain leads the world again
48 Weird Bikes | map | pics
Recumbents, folders, eight-person-tandems... try something kinky today
49 Bike Polo | map | pics
Like with horses, but without horses: how to be an international cyclist without the drugs
50 End to End | endpoints map | full route map (huge file) | pics
The ultimate cycling experience: Land’s End to John O’Groats
