What the Dickens! A bicycle ride?

Seeing as we are celebrating what would have been the 200th birthday of that great writer, orator, and erstwhile superstar Charles Dickens, how about a themed bicycle route. This velocipede was probably coming into the market in the 19th Century, though I don't know how much it would have been to Dickens's taste!

I haven't read many of his works, but the ones I know referred to various areas of London - and of course much of his early life was based in around Southwark and Bloomsbury.

In his day, Dickens spent hours on end walking around the squalid, smelly, overcrowded streets of London. Apparently the insomniac in him meant that he could walk up to 15 miles on a particularly sleepless night. Dickens's time was not wasted though, since it was during these nights that he gained the inspiration to write such fine works as Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist.

A number of the areas he passed and frequented (including various pubs) have been mentioned in his novels.

If only the modern bicycle had been available at that time. Sadly, the workaholic in him meant that Charles Dickens died at the ripe young age of 58 and did not actually get to see the new two-wheeled inventions of the late 1800s. Imagine how much more ground he could have covered during those nocturnal outings, and even more observations from the 'burbs and the shires!

So, here's a quick cycle tour which takes in some of the significant London spots where the great author lived and walked.

http://www.sharemyroutes.com/routes/United-Kingdom/Southwark-Greater-London-England/Dickens-London/elevationmap.aspx

The Borough/Southwark
Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison, Borough High Street – Dicken’s father was imprisoned here in 1824 for his bad debts. The prison was featured in Little Dorrit.

Lant Street – Dickens found temporary accommodation here to be near his family while they were in Marshalsea prison.

St George the Martyr, Borough High Street – Dickens featured St George’s in Little Dorrit. There is a representation of Little Dorrit in the east window.

The George Inn, Borough High Street – a coaching inn frequented by Dickens and featured in Little Dorrit and Pickwick Papers.


Embankment
Warren’s Blacking Warehouse, Hungerford Stairs (Hungerford Bridge) – as a teenager Dickens took a job here polishing boots. Featured in David Copperfield.

York Water Gate and The Adelphi (now York House), Strand/Villiers Street – Dickens lived here for a short time.


Covent Garden
Charles Dickens Coffee House, 26 Wellington Street – the offices of All the Year Round, Dickens’s magazine were based here (1859-1870).

Covent Garden – an actual working market rather than a tourist spot. It was featured in Oliver Twist and Pickwick Papers.

Seven Dials, junction of seven streets including Monmouth Street, Mercer Street, Shorts Gardens, Earlham Street – setting of the most notorious slums in London in the 19th century and described by Dickens in Sketches by Boz.

Bow Street Magistrates’ Court, Bow Street – was featured in Oliver Twist and Barnaby Rudge. The court closed in 2006 and is being developed as a luxury hotel.


Bloomsbury/Holborn
Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street – location of the former family home (1837-1839) and where Dickens wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby.

Dickens worked as a solicitor’s clerk in the inns of court in London and featured them in his different works - Lincoln’s Inn (Bleak House), Gray’s Inn (David Copperfield, Pickwick Papers) Staple Inn (The Mystery of Edwin Drood)


The City
Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street – the church bells chiming in A Christmas Carol are referenced here and Dickens also refers to the church in Barnaby Rudge.

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub, Fleet Street – Dickens regularly frequented this place. The pub in Fleet Street described in A Tale of Two Cities is assumed to be this pub.

Smithfield, West Smithfield – Pip goes walking around this area in Great Expectations, while Bill Sikes and Oliver walk through the market before robbing the Maylies in Oliver Twist. Dickens criticised the location of the former live cattle market in the heart of London in his 1851 essay A Monument of French Folly.

My Cycling Moment of the Week - 2

It is great to hear that the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and the National Trust have decided to increase spectator capacity on Box Hill. Where originally access was limited to just 3,500 spectators for the Cycle Race, this figure has now been increased to 15,000. After missing out on tickets for the track cycling, myself and many other cycling fans I know had been relying on going to Box Hill for a piece of cycle racing action. It was quite disappointing therefore, to discover that there would only be comparatively few people having access to Box Hill.

For most club cyclists in London and the South East, Box Hill is a cycling mecca. Its zig zags to the summit make Box Hill the nearest you get to an Alpine climb. To be honest, it's not that tough as climbs go. It's probably one of the easiest of the Surrey Hills to cycle up. But there is something quite iconic about riding up the zig zags, and then when you reach the top the views over Surrey are too impressive to be missed. Oh, and there's a National Trust tea shop that serves the best cakes. Many club cyclists like to ride up Box Hill as fast possible, using it as a de facto hill climb competition, then collapse in a heap at the summit, thus justifying the need for cake.
Go to Box Hill on any weekend and you will find cyclists in their droves riding up the hill, and even more queuing up for their just friandise!

So really, the inclusion of Box Hill as part of the London 2012 Road Race route has been a good call in terms of showcasing cycling in London.

The trouble is, every single cyclist and their friends and family including Old Uncle Tom Cobley will want to be there - especially given the popularity of road racing nowadays. That will make slightly more than 15,000 people applying for tickets, I think! Although I am happy to know that my chance of getting access to Box Hill has suddenly benefited from a 4-fold increase, I don't think there is any cause for celebration. The section around Box Hill will now also be a ticketed event, with tickets on sale in April. The capacity at the Olympic Stadium is 80,000 but yet lots of people lost out in the ballot for tickets for the athletics events. So, if past record is anything to go by, I will only get onto Box Hill if there is a small section reserved for Greco-Roman wrestling where the cyclists wouldn't even bother to ride by! Or, I'll just resign myself to not getting a ticket and start making alternative plans. Leatherhead, here I come!

Victoria's New Bikes

Following on from the successful Cycletta events which aim encourage more women into cycling, Victoria Pendleton has taken things one step further by launching a range of women's bicycles for new lady cyclists.

In the genteel neighbourhood of Knightsbridge, a very graceful Ms Pendleton showed off one of her two-wheelers - the stylish blue and cream Somerby.

Victoria got the idea of launching this new range while at the Cycletta ride last year. She noted the great number of women doing their first ever cycling event were using bicycles borrowed from their son, their brother or another male relative.
The ladies expressed a wish to ride a women-specific bicycle that they can use for keeping fit, and something that they can look good on when riding.

With that in mind, the Olympic Individual Sprint Cycling Champion set to work designing bicycles that would suit new women cyclists and women looking for a traditional bike that can be ridden in neat non-cycling clothing.

So, from 22nd March (online)and 29th March in stores we ladies will have the choice of a step through Somerby with optional basket on the front, a Brooke hybrid, or a Dalby hybrid with more gears and mud guards - all at reasonable prices from Halfords.

"I have cycled since I was 6, so I know a bit about bikes," said the eight-time World Track Cycling champion. "These bikes are designed to be lightweight, functional and useable, though not competing with performance bikes. I just want women to enjoy riding their bike while looking good. I'm really excited to have had the opportunity to design these bikes."

My personal favourite is the Somerby as I fancy something that I can wear with a skirt. I may have a little penchant for the rough and tumble of a bike race, but it's still nice to feel like a lady when I ride my bike at other times. Good call, Victoria!

My Cycling Moment of the Week - 1

Happy New Year All!

Inspired by Andrew Neil's This Week programme I have decided to post my moment of the week on the blog. It won't be about politics (or at least only where it relates to cycling), I won't have the charm of Michael Portillo, the smoothness of Diane Abbott or the looks of Jacqui Smith! But it will be weekly and it will be on here rather than in a late-night studio with soft lights and a cosy settee. You won't even need BBC i-player to look at the post if you miss the first airing of the piece! It'll just be sitting here for you, dear Reader - for your enjoyment as you sip a glass of Blue Nun!

So, here is the first instalment.

Dear Miss David,

I am writing to both cyclists and drivers to remind them to take care on London’s roads.

Cyclists are reminded to:
• Be aware of blind spots all around large vehicles. It’s often safer to hang back
• Make eye contact with drivers to make sure they have seen you
• Not ride through red traffic lights. It’s dangerous and you can be fined £30
• Allow space between you and parked vehicles. Doors may be opened suddenly
Cycle training courses are available in most London boroughs.
For more information, please visit tfl.gov.uk/cyclesafety

Yours sincerely,

Ben Plowden
Director, Surface Planning

The good people at Transport for London (TfL) sent this rather helpful email (above) to cyclists earlier this week providing tips and guidelines.

I must admit that when I received it I could see the good intentions behind the note and how it could be useful to new cyclists. However, it made me chuckle a little and a sentence along the lines of granny and suck eggs crossed my mind.

Some of my fellow cyclists were particularly inflamed by the email and poured scorn on the memo, dismissing TfL as patronising and completely missing the point in terms of ensuring cyclists’ safety on London’s roads.

Although I did not react in the same way, I think that the people who got annoyed do have a point.

We have just rounded off a bad year for cyclists in London, with sixteen riders killed on the capital’s roads in 2011 (compared with ten in 2010). There were even two fatal accidents in as many weeks on the Bow roundabout, on one of the Mayor of London’s signature Cycle Superhighways.

Clearly, a review and re-design of busy junctions needs to take place. If people received details of the new measures being implemented, that would give a better signal to cyclists that TfL are addressing our needs.

A note like the one above may be useful to a newby commuter cyclist, but really TfL would be given more credit if they demonstrated what they will be doing to improve traffic flows for cyclists. Strangely enough I don't see any briefing to motorists reminding them not to drive so close to cyclists, cut us up at junctions or jump red lights....

TfL announced last week that it will be re-designing the cycle route on the Bow roundabout. I look forward to them sending me an email setting out the new cycle facilities.

That's your lot for this week!

A Year in Words

The weather in 2011 was quite memorable - from a snowy January in Yorkshire to a wet balmy December in Sligo. I got a good soaking on the Champs Elysees in July, though had enjoyed glorious sunshine on my bike tour of Cork and Kerry in April. We even experienced tropical temperatures on the North and South Downs in October. The weather did go a little topsy turvy in 2011 but it certainly wasn't dull!

With all this talk of revolutions and natural disasters, not to mention certain economic pressures on my purse it's not surprising that I didn't get out of the UK much. In 2011 I learnt to appreciate my home country that bit more. I did various trips to other parts of England - a boat trip along the River Ouse in November, riding around the South Downs in October and the New Forest in November, going to the Notting Hill Carnival for the first time in decades in August, Morris dancing in East Yorkshire in December, and walking the Three Peaks in June. I did a bit of English Theatre in February, French Theatre in March, and Italian poetry in May just by hopping on the number 3 bus to Oxford Circus!

2011 was a year in which I met lots of new folks - mainly through the cycle journalism. Jens Voigt (July), Victoria Pendleton (September), Mike Smith (December) were the more famous names, but I also met various cyclists when gathering vox pops for event features and through interviewing people. I found that no matter how confident you may be there's always that apprehension, during that first meeting, about making the first 20 secounds count. The pressure to have a stimulating conversation or get an interesting quote always lurks.

I have done alot of visualisation this year to get myself into the right frame of mind when leaving my comfort zone. I've visualised so much that I'm almost tuned out of the real world!

I don't know how much impact I actually made on the interviewees, or if these folks even remember me. Whatever, I'm happy with the way things went!

Of course this has been the year for lots of writing. In 2011 I had regular slots in Cycling Active and event features in Cycling Weekly magazines, as well as features in Cross-Crazy, Sportsister and Bike Magic online magazines. Thanks to the editors of the publications for taking a chance on me! :)

You may or may not have gathered that I do like putting pen to paper (albeit in a virtual sense). Sometimes it comes out abit waffly. Sometimes it's lucid. Occasionally it's higgeldy piggledy as I have been known to write my blog entries in the small hours of the morning after a tipple. Either way, writing has always been and always will be a pleasurable activity for me.

Huge thanks to you, for reading my bits and pieces during 2011.

Happy New Year!

Cyclist meets Huntsmen

I usually like to take a walk on Boxing Day and burn off a few calories before the next deluge of Christmas stuffing.

As I was up North on this occasion I decided to add a little more interest to the outing by stopping by at the gathering for the Holderness Hunt in Beverley.

I'm not a fan of fox-hunting but I was still curious to see what goes on at these events and what type of people attend.

The masters of the Holderness Hunt had actually placed an article in the local newspaper inviting people to come along for a meet and greet session prior to them galloping off with their hounds.

So at around 11am on Boxing Day I and around 2,000 other townsfolk rolled up into Westwood Pasture. There were around 70 horseriders out and about all dressed up in their best livery. Their horses had also been dolled up for the occasion - with plaited mains, some with tinsel on, their coats trimmed and hooves clipped.

I was struck by how many women were out. It seemed like more than half the riders were women, many of them dressed up like Zara Phillips lookylikies. Once I got talking to them though, there was no chance of mistaking them for a royal. They were just straight-talking Yorkshire lasses! To be honest, in a funny way it made them seem more approachable and less stuffy. The riders were polite and friendly, and many of them seemed to have just come along for the ride. It was a chance to have a Christmas chinwag with other horsey friends and a quick hack around the local fields in East Yorkshire. The hunt was scheduled to leave around midday and finish around 3pm, though many of them were not expecting to stay out that long.

For some, a combination of the Christmas hangover and being up grooming and preparing their horse had put paid to anything longer.

Just before midday the master called everyone to order, ready for the off. Firstly he made the traditional Merry Christmas, "thanks to everyone for turning out etc," and then made the slightly controversial "please bear with David Cameron, I know he will repeal this unworkable hunting act, he's just got alot on his plate right now, please understand that the Conversatives are our friends and they have a strong bond with the Countryside Alliance."

And with that, the dogs were let out, the bugle sounded and the huntsmen and women rode over the Wolds in the December sunshine. Who knows what happened next....

I must say it was interesting to watch a few of the proceedings. I guess in that part of the world, these activities are part and parcel of their heritage and also the livelihoods of many folks in the area. It is still difficult to digest the brutality of what happens to the foxes though, so I can't say I am a supporter.
On a personal note, I was glad to meet the riders because I am likely to meet a lot of them on the local bridleways when doing my off-road bike rides. Speaking to the different horseriders in the area helps in maintaining good relations with other bridleway users - which is always a good thing.

Night Clubbing

You don't have to confine your weekend cycling to Saturday and Sunday morning club runs. How about a Saturday night?
That's what me and Higg did. Ok, so it was just a club run of two but then size doesn't matter as they say!

It's not always necessary to travel out so far to reach off-road trails. There is a pleasant circuit in nearby Banstead, so that's where we went. This was also the chance for me to use the Exposure Lights that I have on loan.

Good lights make such a difference to a night riding experience. I was using the Toro model on my handlebars and the Diablo on my helmet. As we weren't moving very fast it was possible to leave the Toro on the low setting and have the Diablo on medium. In fact, I found that if I left the Toro off completely it was still possible to see perfectly well with the Diablo alone. The Diablo has quite a powerful beam considering that it's just a helmet light.
Having two sets of lights is very helpful though when going round twisty trails, especially on a fast descent.

On we plodded through the Wallington small holdings and then on to Surrey Oaks Park and through to Banstead. It was great just riding along and not having anyone else around - not even animals. I think our presence scared away the most audacious of foxes - or maybe they just chose to have a night in with their mates! Ironically you notice so much more at night since your senses become heightened, and you see lots of lights in the distance from various places you had been unaware of by day - other buildings across Surrey, or the London skyline way in the distance.

There is also a night-time feel in the damp atmosphere which feels charged up as though something was about to happen, and you wait in anticipation. But nothing happens - it's just unassuming woodland in the London suburbs.

The ground beneath my wheels shows up as varying shades of black, and I can't tell what the texture is until I ride through it. Generally, the going is a constant medium to firm and easy to ride through. The fun gets thrown into the mix when the bike suddenly decelerates and pedalling becomes laboured - I keep turning the pedals, without really knowing when this interlude will end, or what it has taken me through. It is only when I get home that I find out whether it was mud or manure that I rode through! It's also interesting to check out the other bits and pieces I inadvertently pulled on my night out - dried leaves, pieces of twig, even the odd piece of rotten fruit.

When we started our ride at sunset the weather was still balmy and mild, but once the sun has well and truly retired I notice the drop in temperature more acutely and it's therefore better to not be out for too long. After about an hour we turn around to take the descent back home. It was a good way to spend a Saturday evening. We didn't do an all-night session and we weren't treated to pumping techno beats, but going out on a night ride is a rave - it rocks!

Photos by Higg