The third lockdown of early 2021 is as restrictive as the first, when we were in SW Scotland, but cyclists are freer than most to spread their wings for their daily exercise. I have found four fine routes – NE, SE, SW, and NW, with variations – to use as a 20 miler. They have extended my knowledge of and appreciation of the metropolis. Continue reading
Epping Forest has had short shrift from Cycle Orbital. The reason is that rides taken a decade or more ago, before this network was conceived, were disappointing; there were few off-road tracks well enough surfaced to replace the busy A104 road that runs as a spine through the forest. Spinoff 2 has a rewarding section running east-west through the forest, but now at last Zone 5 Chingford and Zone 6 Epping are linked into the network. Continue reading
Checking out Cycle Orbital in ‘longshot’, with all 750+ miles of it standing out so well now against Ordnance Survey Light, a longstanding niggle was all the more clear: there is a long gap between Spin-off 10 and 11, and I knew there was fine Chiltern countryside there, especially around Ashridge Estate (arrowed). Furthermore, the existing Spin-off 11 (ringed) is a stubby 4 miles of admittedly good cycleway – but Continue reading
Cycle Orbital has its own site, so this is now an occasional blog. This autumnal Lockdown 2 is my first in London, and I’ve had to devise some 20-30 milers from the front door here in Camden’s Primrose Hill. So far I’ve chased the best of the falling leaves in three satisfying runs that conform to CO standards pretty well: as off-road, traffic-lite and rural-green (well, russet-gold) as possible: Continue reading
Martin’s winning design in the Greater London Council’s competition to initiate 1000 miles of dedicated cycle routes. Evening Standard, February 1978
Since this was posted at autumn equinox, you may have been directed here from an equinoctial greeting, announcing a completely new website – Cycle Orbital. This was born from the C25 project documented here in Trailblazer, but Cycle Orbital shares some brand features with its equinoctial “parent”, EQ. Continue reading
This blog has been idle since the return from Scottish lockdown in July – but its author has not. Rather, a completely new website has been under construction, and now in September 2020 it is ready to be unveiled. The gestation process whereby Continue reading
How will you Spring into action and Turn over a new leaf? Make your Pledge Card and share your ideas here
Beneath and beyond two good slogans and these pledges lie the unique qualities of equinoxes*; these can activate Earth Days anew, helping us rise to the challenge of the biosphere/climate crisis: Continue reading
This is No 3 in a sequence of 6 prepared for EQ a while back by Jonny Biggins, CEO of The Book of Everyone. They will show in rotation at the top of the site. Can’t wait for the next instalment? Click here
This is No 1 in a sequence of 6 prepared for EQ a while back by Jonny Biggins, CEO of The Book of Everyone. They will show in rotation at the top of the site. Can’t wait for the next instalment? Click here
Well beyond. Our Covid hideaway here in S Ayrshire, to which we decamped exactly on the equinox, is 400 miles NW from Luton Airport Parkway. There was just room for my bike, and goodness! I am grateful for the luxury of freedom it gives me.
The Bruce Stone above Loch Trool Continue reading
Our climate and biosphere are now universally recognised to be in crisis, as this chart* of 1000 years of ice core and 50 years of atmospheric data starkly shows, and as we all experience the exponential realities of pandemic infection. Humanity’s influence is causal in both instances – again, beyond reasonable doubt. Continue reading