. . . and far away

Cycling Big Tree Country

2008-01-22T20:22:00.000Z

Off-road cycling in Perthshire Big Tree Country is featured in a forthcoming short DVD produced by the Countryside Trust to encourage more visitors to the area. Filming took place in August and September last year and mixes stunning helicopter shots of Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park, The Hermitage, Queens View and other locations with footage of a wide range of activities on the ground.

Beware of what you wish for. . .

2007-11-22T20:06:00.000Z

The ByCycle riders on Sunday had no fewer than 4 punctures on a short stretch of Luncarty cycle path. For months we've all being banging on about how the vegetation along there never gets cut.
Guess what? They flailed the hawthorns last week.

3rd Sunday Ride

2007-11-13T19:49:00.000Z

ByCycle's 3rd Sunday ride for November will be a run out to Burrelton. (There's a hotel there with particularly comforting food for this time of year. But leave the Knickerbocker Glory for some other day when you'll be taken home in a car. KGs and cycling dinna mix ...)

For those who want to look at the route in advance on Memory Map or old fashioned paper, we'll be leaving the North Inch for Bankfoot using the Luncarty cycle path. Then it's up Heart Attack Hill and on to Murthly. From there to the Kinclaven Bridge and, for those with cameras, a short detour to catch the last autumnal flush on the Meikleour Beech Hedge. From there to Burrelton via Campmuir. The return leg will flirt with Wolfhill before dropping down to Guildtown and taking the 'back road' to Stormontfield. Once past Scone Palace there will be a reminder to everyone just why you, your kith and kin, colleagues, and even people you don't like, should visit the Sustrans Connect2 website and register to vote in the Peoples Millions competition. If Sustrans wins the £50 million, Perth's share will be funding for the Destiny Bridge, and we would be taking a right turn opposite Quarrymill Woodland Park and crossing the Tay in style. That would make a splendid finale to this run. Instead, hopefully only for one last time, we'll have to negotiate our way past Bridgend to reach the North Inch.

Meet at Bell's Sports Centre at 10.00.

Cycling Choristers

2007-11-08T13:14:00.000Z

In a previous post
I mentioned having to dodge out of the way of a posse of cycling hymn singers.
This is what they looked like.
But would 'posse' be the right or apt collective term?
You can have:
A band of coyote
An obstinacy of buffalo
A congregation of birds
A plaque of lawyers
A waffle of bloggers
And a . . . . of cycling choristers.

Vote early . . .

2007-11-07T11:33:00.000Z

It's becoming clearer, as we all learn more about the individual contenders for the Big Lottery Fund's £50 million, that the Sustrans Connect2 bid is simply the one that benefits the most people. Not only will its 79 individual projects create more walking and cycling opportunities. Each of them will be free at point of use. And very close to home. Whereas the others in Cornwall, Nottingham and the Black Country will inevitably put more cars in your road, and cost a bundle when you get there.

To remind you – you can vote on the web from 26th November on www.thepeoples50million.org.uk or by phone on 8th and 9th December.

Visit Big Lottery website. You'll see that Perth's 'Destiny Bridge' features highly in the projects Sustrans seek to deliver.

Bicycle Busking

2007-11-06T10:49:00.000Z

This would be sooo wrong . . . in a Perth context. For one thing, you can't even cycle solo down the car less precincts. ( Would this be 6 on-the-spot fines, or just one?) Of course the unforgivable sin here is playing 'unplugged'. Where are the amps? Where the wee red Honda generator that's so vital for the pan pipes and flutes of even Los Indios?

This was taken on a Sunday morning in Utrecht. Just before I had to dodge out of the way of a posse of cycling hymn singers . . .

Roger Lite

2007-11-02T08:48:00.000Z

Suddenly the nights have closed in with a vengeance. It's getting to that time of year when I do more reading about cycling than working the pedals. If that's the case for you I can recommend Roger Leitch's By Bicycle in Scotland. Professing to cycle only "as a means to an end" to reach Scotland's half-forgotten roads and upland tracks, Leitch nevertheless comes up with 10 fascinating tours packed with history, folklore and quirky insights.

It's not just that the book starts in Perth, when he cycles away from Tay Street on a 5 day trip by the Braes of the Carse through Strathmore to Marykirk. Or that he too uses a Kalkhoff. What brings me back to his book again and again is that Leitch is a mentor offering 10 studies in slowing down, taking time to enjoy the experience of travelling. Heck, he's not 20 minutes out of Perth on the Scone - Pitroddie backroad before he parks the bike and takes a half mile detour to explore the old crofting settlement of Boglebee. The book is full of such digressions.

I'm for ever meaning to stop and explore such and such, reach those ruins way over there, actually visit Wolfhill. But generally I give in to speed and miles, stopping only for a special view or photo op. I'm afraid I'll only ever be Roger lite . . .

Fence Falls On Pensioner

2007-10-26T12:14:00.000+01:00

The paper of record that diligently notes Births, Marriages, Deaths (and a fa’ings oot that make it to court) for us little folk is the twice weekly Perthshire Advertiser. It’s the very embodiment of parochial. For instance, some years ago in the week of Black Wednesday when Major Major and Norman Lamont tossed billions of pounds away in a vain attempt to stabilise the exchange rate, the front page headline of the PA was:FENCE FALLS ON PENSIONER accompanied by a photo of said auld yin with a sticking plaster on his forehead gazing down at a bit of dilapidated larch lap.

However. The PA is not blind to the rich variety of our rural hinterland, and to its credit regularly carries well illustrated articles encouraging us all, young and pensioners alike, to get out there. Currently, the paper is running a competition inviting readers to nominate their favourite viewpoint in Perthshire and submit a photo from it. But their timing is a bit off. Thus far readers don’t seem able to see the views for the trees, with Big Tree Country right now in full autumnal pomp.

So this would be a good time to sling a camera into your bar bag and get out on your bike to your fav viewpoint. And if you get a rejection from the PA. . . Bless. Flickr it instead, and send me a link.

50 mil up for grabs!

2007-10-23T19:39:00.000+01:00

The Sustrans Connect2 bid for Big Lottery sponds has made the cut to the last four projects going for a whopping £50m jackpot this December. ITV will be hosting a series of programmes leading up to a crucial televised poll when viewers will decide which project will scoop the lot. Unlike the other three single site candidates (BOO! HISS!) the Connect2 bid will benefit people all over the UK. In all, Sustrans has 79 individual projects designed to make walking and cycling in and out of towns and cities and out into the countryside a whole lot easier. And the one dearest to Fietser's heart is the Destiny Bridge across the Tay. . .

Linking Perth with Scone, the Destiny Bridge (geddit?) will give cyclists and walkers a virtually traffic-less passage in and out of town. Better still, it will be a boon to the wheelchair gaddabouts from Upper Springland who will be spared the hassle of getting through Perth's notorious Bridgend. They'll be straight across the bridge onto the North Inch and heading for the bright lights in the time it would have taken their minibus to get as far as the traffic lights on the Scone road.

But the Connect2 bid needs all your votes. Visit www.sustransconnect2.org.uk to register and get updates on how and when to vote.