Want to sound like an East Yorkshire native? No, I thought not. But if you did, you’d describe today’s route as ‘Pock to Brid, via Drif’. We’re keen on initial syllables as nicknames here. Anyway, after a sound night’s sleep in my own bed at home in York, I got back to last night’s finish at Pocklington using the bike-carrying X46 bus again. Follow that road: Kilnwick Percy My final day of WoRing was super: gentle sunshine, friendly topography and a helpful tailwind. Seventies sunhat in Millington Out of Pocklington was some of my favourite riding in Yorkshire: the Wolds, and specifically, the ..read more

The Pareto Principle splits things into 80/20 contrasts (such as ‘80% of the work is done by 20% of the people’, an idea most of us in the 20% can agree with). On the other hand, the Football Principle splits things into two halves: usually, along the lines of, ‘we may have lost the first half 6-0, but we won the second half 1-0, so morally that’s a draw’. Well, the WoR is a ride of two halves: the first hilly, the second flat. Ish. Image of two halves: Devil’s Arrows in Boroughbridge So today, with the first two days’ leg-busting climbs and brake-frying descents mostly behind me, I could enjo ..read more

Another hilly day today, though to me it was a walk in the park. Because it’s the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and whenever it got steep I got off to walk. All thrilling scenery, though, as more quiet back lanes wound their way through, up and over the hills of Malhamdale, Wharfedale and Nidderdale. It rained a lot, and I spent a lot of money on emergency coffee and cake; but I survived the horrible descent of Greenhow Hill, so on balance, a good day. From Malham it was only a couple of miles to rejoin the WoR at Airton, a handsome village of stone cottages round a green. The original series ..read more

I’m doing the Way of the Roses 1970s-style: the 170 mile coast-to-coast east across northern England, from Morecambe to Bridlington, on a 1978 bike and using only seventies kit. No gadgets, no lycra. A rain cape, not Goretex jacket. Terrible old Ever Ready lights, not LEDs. Fixing accommodation on the hoof, in a callbox or by word of mouth. A 35mm SLR shooting black and white film. Cash only; no cards. In short, nothing which was unavailable to my native East Yorkshire public in 1978: no internet, email, mobile phones, GPS, cleats, Channel 4, real ale, avocados or banoffee pie. Negative, capta ..read more

I started my Netherlands End to End at the Highest Point, down at Drielandenpunt near Maastricht, so – as I’d been a couple of days in Rotterdam – I couldn’t resist going to the Lowest Point today, between there and Gouda. At 6.76m beneath NAP (normaal Amsterdams piel, in other words, essentially, sea level) it’s the lowest point in the Netherlands, and indeed the European Union. Chilly start: Rotterdam centre from the east across Kralingse Plas Yes, yes, it depends what you mean by ‘lowest point’. The previous day I’d cycled well below that when I rode through the Benelux Tunnel south of Rott ..read more

Having completed the Netherlands End to End, I added the country’s middle point today. I seem to be collecting them: I’ve cycled to national foci in Britain, Belgium and Portugal recently. The centre of the country – in other words, the point at which a piece of cheese the shape of the Netherlands would balance, if a hungry cyclist hadn’t snaffled it for their picnic lunch – is just outside Lunteren, a modern small town in – well, the Dutch midlands, obviously. That installation is pants: Fashion art in Lunteren The nearest town of consequence is Ede, which shortly after my visit made the head ..read more

I finished the Dutch End to End today by riding the short last leg up to Noordkaap: the lonely, windy, northernmost point of the mainland, with little but electricity pylons, wind turbines and the odd oystercatcher for company. Wow, so there’s a thousand of these paths?: F994 from Gronigen to Bedum Another F route took me fast and car-free right from my hostel in the centre of Groningen to the town of Bedum, an appropriate name as it only took a few heartbeats to get there. After that I could use, for the first and only time on this trip, the Netherlands’ code-number system of negotiating its ..read more

I followed an imaginary coastline today: where the Netherlands would meet the North Sea if it hadn’t been for centuries of land reclamation. Given the recent few months of incessant rain and a fair bit of standing water still in fields, as in England, it wasn’t that hard to imagine. I must go down to the sea again: Leaving Zwolle on the LF9 I started in Zwolle with a hearty Dutch breakfast from my Vrienden op de Fiets host Marijke and left the town on the well-signposted LF9. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite well-signposted enough to acknowledge roadworks at a couple of points, and I had to impro ..read more

Another day of banktop riding, with sunshine in the afternoon, following the meanders of the IJssel river on the LF3. I wasn’t due in Zwolle at my accommodation tonight until 7pm, giving me plenty of time to dawdle, which at the pace I cycle on my folder is just as well. I can hear a dog embarking: Ferry over the IJssel at Bronkhorst After leaving the raucous city mayhem of Bronkhorst – birdsong, in other words – behind me, I had the excitement of a ferry crossing. The Netherlands still has countless regular ferries across waterways like this, platform jobs that shuttle people, bikes and cars ..read more

A change of pace today, as I switched from direct, roadside commuter paths to a leisure route, the LF3. The change being from a slow pace to an even slower one. Bridge camera: F235 starting over the Maas in Nijmegen The first half of the day was on one of the most famous fast-commuting bike paths in the country, though: the F325 from Nijmegen to Arnhem. F routes (F for ‘fiets’, ‘bike’) are bike parallels to motorways, sharing their numbers, and their concept of providing non-stop travel: the F235 provides through priority at all junctions. No traffic signals, no give ways. F is for fiets – and ..read more