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Wiltshire Exclaves, 5 October 2024

Readers of my earlier travelogues may guess that I am fascinated by enclaves and exclaves – “a portion of territory of one state completely surrounded by territory of another or others.” I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that until 1844 there were several parts of Wiltshire that were distantly detached from the main part of that county. This is a day ride to visit those exclaves. It may look as though I had lost my sense of direction and had gone astray, but the route is a consequence of the irregular polygon exclave boundaries.

I must confess that I had thought that it was nonsense that there could have been Wiltshire exclaves separated from the county by as much as thirty miles: either a misinterpretation of the historical record or a cartographer’s joke, but visual evidence on this ride confirms that it was indeed true.

Starting from Mortimer railway station, the ride followed quiet lanes until crossing over the M4, then good cycle paths through the centre of Reading, parallel to the A4 London to Bath road, and a short distance in the direction of Wargrave to the northernmost tip of one exclave. Turning back and into the centre of Twyford where there was apparently a tiny exclave (no more than 180 metres in length) where Waitrose is now (although the adjacent Tesco was Berkshire).

Continuing southwards along The Straight Mile where the exclave narrowed to a strip only the width of the road before widening again. The railway line and A329(M) dual carriageway form a barrier to the strict exclave perimeter, so I continued through Amen Corner and crossed using the large footbridge – presumably built for people to walk to work (um…) – and into the large new Peacock Farm housing area, where credit is due for incorporating a network of new cycle paths. North again, then along the Forest Road, and turning south at the Warren House Roundabout (Bracknell has been described as roundabout-ey) and into Wokingham for a stop for coffee and food.

Heading northwards again, I spotted an old metal boundary marker at the corner of Rose Street and (duh) Wiltshire Road that said “Berks” on one side and “Wokingham Wilts” on the other. Gob well and truly smacked. Do the residents know that they are Moonrakers?

Onwards with short excursions along the lanes that surround the M4-A329(M) interchange, where old Wiltshire wrapped around Berkshire, then to Hurst and past The Castle Inn with its old winged wheel Cyclists' Touring Club plaque, before turning south again at Whistley Green.

Away from the Wokingham-Twyford exclave, and to a separate Wiltshire patch around Farley Hill south of Arborfield Green. I did get lost a bit here, as I had hoped to cross over the River Blackwater but the fords proved unfordable. Finally, into the remaining historic exclave at Swallowfield and through Riseley to return to the railway station.

Perhaps it is time for a campaign to repeal The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, so that Wiltshire can reclaim its historic territory?

Greenwich Meridian Ride, 4 to 7 August 2024, Part Two

Day Four: London Docklands to Peacehaven (129 km)

A glorious morning: blue sky and sun shining. The first objective today was to get over the river Thames, and I enjoyed doing this using the Docklands-Greenwich cable car (currently sponsor-named the IFS Cloud) which lifts you 90 metres over the river. You are allowed to travel with a bicycle at any time of day, and “Guests with bicycles travel for free on the cable car before 09:30 on weekdays, excluding bank holidays” (Transport for London); otherwise, it costs £6. I was the first guest as the entrance gate opened at 07:00, and the time from take-off to landing was about 10 minutes; cable cars arriving every 30 seconds. Magnificent views over the Thames in both directions.

Disembarking near the O2 (Millenium Dome), I rode upstream to the point where the Meridian crosses the Thames then climbed to the Royal Observatory before the 10:00 opening time, so no tourists jostling to take photographs straddling the Meridian line defined by Sir George Biddell Airy’s 1851 transit circle. There is, however, a marker line on the path just below the Observatory. Spoilsports might note, however, that the modern IERS Reference Meridian (zero longitude) used by Global Positioning Systems is about 100 metres east of the historic reference, so the 1851 Meridian is now at longitude -0.00141 (I know, yawn).

Continuing from Greenwich Park, my route through south London was remarkably good: mainly quiet residential streets with little traffic: Blackheath, Hither Green, Catford, Shortlands, Bromley, Hayes, and into countryside after Coney Hall. However, I was surprised to encounter heavy traffic flowing in both directions along Layhams Road - a narrow lane barely wide enough for cars and vans to pass each other. I wonder if this is being used sneak past TFL ULEZ (ultra-low emission zone) cameras. A little further on that traffic had disappeared and my route took me down Beddlestead Lane – a remarkable hidden valley, the only noise that of sheep on the downland, yet still 5 km inside the M25.

Dropping from the North Downs to Oxted, Lingfield and East Grinstead I continued on the disused railway line to Forest Row. Dr Richard Beeching’s former house, Little Manor, is left off the cycle path on the Brockhurst estate. Stopped then in Forest Row at In-Gear Cycle shop for coffee, cake, and emergency brake pad replacement, before returning to the Meridian line through Danehill, Sheffield Park, Fletching, and into the west side of Lewes, where there is a substantial if somewhat-unheeded marker obelisk. Alas, the morning sunshine was replaced by increasingly heavy rain for the last two hours. Continuing southwards on Newhaven Road through Iford, Rodmell and Southease, this appears on the map to be a minor road, but just before 17:00 was thick with fast moving commuter traffic – so much so that I got off the bike and walked some of the way along the verge. Anyway, finally up into Peacehaven and onto The Promenade to the rain-lashed obelisk. Apart from some unexpected traffic in two places today, a superb route.

Greenwich Meridian Ride, 4 to 7 August 2024

“An honest tale speeds best being plainly told” (Shakespeare, Richard III). And to be honest, you might find this to be very boring: a travelogue about cycling in a straight line. I would not be dismayed if you don’t read this. Still with me? OK. For some time, I have thought to try ride as close as practicable to the Greenwich Meridian line and, with some experimentation using cycle.travel, this is my attempt.

This is partly a route planning challenge, but was also designed to take me to parts of the country where I have not ridden, such as south London. As the crow flies, it is 306 km from point to point, but in practice this becomes 506 km since inevitably the route zig zags as you try to adhere to the Meridian vector, or there is a natural obstacle like the Weir Wood reservoir. In a few places I opted to drift away from the line because the nearest road was likely to have heavy traffic; as a wise person once said: life’s too short to ride busy roads.

S’il y a des cyclistes francophones ayant une expérience comparable, J’aimerais lire sur le cyclisme la Méridienne de France: un parcours nettement plus difficile.

My thanks to Graham Dolan’s detailed website (www.thegreenwichmeridian.org) for its vast collection of information including an interactive map.

Day One: Cleethorpes to Boston (105 km)

For the true completists there is a 13 km part of the line north of the Humber that crosses the East Riding from Tunstall to Sunk Island Sands, but I rode there damply last year, so my route started in Cleethorpes with a short ride in the morning sunshine along the marine embankment cycle path to the pavement line and finger post.

Southwards then across flat countryside to Fulstow, and the next Meridian object: a marker tablet near the village hall. There are many such pieces, usually placed by the local council, some of them a little neglected. I did not try to spot them all, but they were helpful in confirming that I was sticking to the invisible Meridian line. The Meridian passes through Louth (a plaque in Eastgate), which gave an opportunity for a coffee break after finding some artworks loosely connected to the Meridian theme: three Lawrence Edwards sculptures entitled “Searching”, “Mapping” and “Solution”.

Thereafter a bit of climbing through the Lincolnshire Wolds before dropping into flat farmland again. The route passed by the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby, but that and its NAAFI café were not open on Monday. Thence into the east side of Boston where the Meridian crosses the tidal Haven river, and an overnight stop.

Day Two: Boston to Cambridge (156 km)

This was the longest day but was exceptionally flat, and drizzling for all of the morning. Through Boston and into flat countryside. In lonely isolation alongside the Frampton Roads was another Meridian marker: a millstone with attached plaque.This is vegetable growing heartland: fields planted with potatoes, onions, brassicas, celeriac, fennel, courgettes and more. For fans of my photographs of potato fields (I’m not aware that there are any such fans), I offer a picture of Maris Piper in flower.

I crossed the river Welland at Fosdyke bridge and then rode onward through Holbeach to the rather imaginatively named Gedney Hill (2 metres above sea level). The strict southward line is impeded by the A47 and River Nene, so I opted to go further east to Wisbech (lunchtime), then worked back westwards through March, Chatteris and St Ives before taking the superb cycle path alongside the guided busway to the edge of Cambridge.

Day Three: Cambridge to London Docklands (128 km)

Returning westwards from Cambridge to the Meridian line, I found myself riding beside fields of gold, the ears of wheat crackling and popping ready for harvest. There was a slight route glitch south of Melbourn, as when I crossed the hideously busy A505 it tried to take me along a path that turned out to be an overgrown drainage ditch (note on OSM says "It is completely overgrown as of June 2021, not a trace of a path"), so I walked the bike along the verge to the next turn and continued south to Buntingford for a food stop. Continuing south in Hertfordshire, through the villages of Nasty and Cold Christmas, and through Ware, Waltham Abbey, under the slow-moving M25, and through Gunpowder Park before latching on to the Lee Navigation path (NCN Route 1). The strict Meridian line would involve weaving through the streets of Chingford and Walthamstow, but it seemed more sensible to use the NCN route.

The river Lea, called Lee when canalised, flows imperceptibly south via numerous locks, and the towpath is obviously traffic-free but is quite rough. One section has the canal and towpath running between the steep banks of the King George’s and William Girling reservoirs on one side, and giant warehouses of the Brimsdown industrial estate on the other. After passing under the North Circular Road, the Lee is crowded with permanently-moored canal boats, forming a linear town of alternative lifestyle. At Hackney Wick, after Old Ford Lock 19, I continued south past Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond’s 2012 Olympics Orbit tower and onto the Greenway (London cycleway C22) before lastly heading south to the Royal Albert and Royal Victoria docks for the overnight stop (many hotels near the Excel exhibition centre). I have separated the last day of this Meridian ride into a separate travelogue, as this is a distinct route that others may want to try.

Belgium-Germany-Luxembourg day 7 (2 June 2024)

Last day, and fortunately the rain had finally faded. Away from Mons to the artificial lake Le Grand Large and then along the Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes canal – flat but into the wind – then alongside the river Escaut (later known as the Schelde, which eventually reaches Antwerp) and into Tournai. A brief sight of the five towers of Tournai cathedral from Place Paul-Émile Janson (named after the Belgian prime minster, who died in Buchenwald in 1944), then out of the city past the Pont des Trous (Bridge of Holes). Continued along the bank of the Escaut/Schelde, crossing the Wallonia/Flanders boundary repeatedly in various places, where it rather strangely wanders from side to side of the river, then along the Bossuit-Kortrijk canal and permanently into Flanders. Finally, to Kortrijk railway station to get the train back to De Panne via Lichtervelde (again only €8,30 plus €4,00 bike supplement). Rode along the coast to Dunkerque ferry port, maddeningly with blue sky and sunshine for the first time since leaving UK shores. While waiting for the ferry, I chatted to a lady from Denmark who was 30 days into the North Sea cycle route, having already ridden through Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France, and who hoped to complete the circuit in 100 days, including a connecting flight from Shetland to Norway - absolute respect.  Distance to Kortrijk 93 km, elevation 209 m (cycle.travel estimate 105 m).

Belgium-Germany-Luxembourg day 6 (1 June 2024)

Rain again in the morning, and back along the side of the Meuse before switching to another adapted railway line, now RAVeL L150A, which climbs gradually to Mettet through some ghost stations and a red-illuminated tunnel, before descending to rejoin Eurovelo Route 3 alongside the river Sambre at Tamines. Most of the rest of the tour then used canal or canalised river towpaths, but these are not as we know them in the UK: the canals are very wide and the towpath is tarmac or concrete service road. These are also working industrial canals with large barges moving heavy materials such as stone/gravel and periodically there are loading docks where the cycle path is briefly routed around. At Châtelet there were construction works blocking the route and a few vague signs zip-tied to lampposts to take you away from the towpath. I had hoped to cross the river to visit Maison Magritte, childhood home of surrealist painter René Magritte, but the small bridge was also blocked.

Anyway, onwards and towards Charleroi. A few odd conical hills could be seen through the mist on the approach to the city: these are mounds of geological spoil resulting from coal mining activity, but have gradually become covered in trees and other vegetation. Fourteen former coal mines surround Charleroi, and the many artificial hills have been described somewhat imaginatively as “Like beads of a necklace, the terrils delicately encircle the city” (The Architectural Review, 2018). Extraordinarily, there is a website, www.destinationterrils.eu, dedicated to these industrial remains. The website includes a “find a slag heap” feature (isn’t this just “the internet”?), although it does sound better as “trouver un terril” in the region’s language. Into the centre of Charleroi at Quai Arthur Rimbaud and across Pont Roi Baudouin with its two bronze statues by Constantin Meunier (Mineur accroupi and Forgeron au repos). Stopped at the Central railway station for coffee and food and some shelter from the rain.

Leaving Charleroi and departing from Eurovelo Route 3 onto RAVeL W4, the route headed north alongside the wide Brussels-Charleroi canal where the towpath runs between the canal and the railway sidings and is quite isolated but felt perfectly safe. Discretionary valour: I opted not to explore the feature that appears on the cycle.travel map as “creepy tunnel” – a narrow unlit tunnel that goes under the railway line just south of Roux station.

At Seneffe I switched to the Canal du Centre, but I found that there was some work underway to construct a new loading dock (Quai public de Manage): no signs, just the towpath abruptly sliced and had to pick my way over building site mud to get to the next bridge. Ah well, the bike was going to need a clean anyway. North of La Louvière the Canal du Centre splits: the old canal is to the south, while the wider new (2002) canal is a little further north. Following the Canal du Centre Historique for three kilometres took me to the first of the historic canal lifts (Ascenseur № 1) at Houdeng-Gœgnies, a 15.4 metre double tank lift built in 1888 by the British company Stansfield & Clark, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Doubling back, and continuing along the new canal brought me to the towering 73.15 metre Strépy-Thieu boat lift which can raise barges of up to 1350 tonnes – I watched it lifting one small cruise boat, the machinery operating remarkable quietly. The building itself is a tourist attraction (www.canalducentre.be).

Continuing westwards from there, I took a detour to visit the Saint Symphorien WW1 cemetery – unusual in having graves of both British and German soldiers – I am told that there is a particularly poignant memorial service each 11 November with representatives of both German and Commonwealth armed forces. Among the gravestones is that of the first British soldier killed in the conflict: John Parr (aged only 17). He was a bicycle scout sent to Obourg to locate German forces in this early mobile phase before the conflict became entrenched. Another grave is that of George Lawrence Price (from Nova Scotia and later Saskatchewan) who is believed to be the last Commonwealth soldier to be killed (at 10:58 on 11/11/1918). Other memorials are for recipients of the first WW1 Victoria Cross (Maurice Dease) and Iron Cross (Oskar Niemeyer). After the cemetery, the route took me along a lane with the most ancient and vicious cobbles I have yet encountered, impossible to ride, and quite difficult to walk. Finished in Mons, a place I must revisit (ideally for the Ducasse de Mons festivities), its Grand Place really buzzing on the early Saturday evening. Distance 132 km, elevation 356 m (cycle.travel estimate 280 m).

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