Weiwei and his Forever Bicycles in Toronto

Hot foot it or hot pedal it down to Nathan Phillips Square in central Toronto to see the latest creation from the renowned Chinese contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.  Using 3,000 bikes - actually Yongjiu bikes, (Yongjiu roughly translates as forever- hence the installation's name), Weiwei's labyrinth installation is 100 ft long and 30 ft wide. It more or less fills the outdoor space of the square. Visit before October 27.  Who knows what happens to the bikes after that - one assumes they at least, will go on forever.

What makes the quintessential English summer?

Yes, it's been a while since we last put fingers to keyboard and added a blog.  This is because come May,  things start getting a little crazy around here.  2013 has been our best year yet and despite the fact that we are well in to the summer, there are still a few last minute bookers who have hung on, in the hope of good weather and are now being rewarded for their patience.  Sudden bursts of sunshine are definitely part of the quintessential English summer but what else is at the heart of this much longed-for time of year?

1. The promise of a holiday, whether it be at home or abroad.  Apart from the occasional rainshower, our best weather occurs now but yet most chose to travel abroad.  Have we got it all backwards?
2.  Getting out your summer clothes that have been sitting in the wardrobe waiting for their brief appearances. Short sleeves and summer dresses reveal limbs that haven't seen the light of day for 9 months.
3. Eating alfresco.  Just the hint of a warm weekend and we hot foot it to the shops to stock up on BBQ goodies, garden furniture and the now compulsory chiminea or fire pit.
4. Spontaneous get-togethers.  No need to squeeze everyone into your house or a cramped pub when there is the garden to take advantage of.  It's like suddenly having a new room in the house.
5. Summer events. Literary and music festivals, regattas and of course, Wimbledon. Nothing encapsulates the English summer better than the Wimbledon fortnight.  The hopes for good weather, the expectations placed on young shoulders, strawberries and cream and 2 weeks spent watching television as the sun streams through the window!

You haven't left it too late.  Make the most of the summer and book a cycling holiday today.

All England's 17 World Heritage Sites

Prompted by a recent article on the most expensive luxury travel holiday ever - a 2 year tour of all Unesco's 962 World Heritage Sites costing a cool $1.5 million, we decided to tot up the sites in England you can visit on our tours and the associated luxury holiday price tag.

Currently. by bike or on foot we take you to 9 of the sites - 
The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Maritime Greenwich, The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Canterbury Cathedral, Stonehenge and Avebury, Bath, Blenheim Palace and  the Jurassic Coast of Dorset.


Adding visits to the 8 others - Durham cathedral, Fountains Abbey, Hadrian's Wall, Derwent Valley Mills, Saltaire, Ironbridge, the Cornwall and Devon mining landscape and Liverpool would take 19 days in all. With a  price tag of just less than £3,500 with our hand picked luxury hotels and our very special tailor made service, this all feels like a wonderful and incredible luxury holiday - and is, dare we say it, a bargain!. It's unique too - we only offer one of these holidays per year.   Book it ! 
.

At Last - an Invisible Inflatable Cycle Helmet

Brilliant!
2 industrial designers from Sweden have finally come up wtih a sensible solution to the cycle helmet problem. Many of us don't wear a helmet as it doesnt do much for the cycling experience. Their design is a bit like the air bag in cars - it inflates on the way to impact. Read all about it on their website. They don't have an outlet in the UK yet but you can buy it online or view it at the Spin London Urban Cycle Show in May.

4 Heated Outdoor Pools for Cool Spring Days

Lehon swimming pool France

There's nothing better than finding an nice outdoor pool on a cycle ride or walk. Even better if its heated and its one of those cool spring days or even a cold winter day.

So here's our list of 4 wonderful heated pools, all open throughout the winter and all on biking or walking  tours we offer year round. 3 are in Britain and one in France.

• .Hampton Pool close to Hampton Court Palace and on the perimeter of Bushy Park. Accessed from any of our Lower Thames cycling and walking tours
• Chesham Moor in the Chiltern Hills. On our Chiltern Challenge Tour
• Bath Spa Thermae  The original and only natural spring in Britain first discovered in 863 BC. Heated by high temperature rocks 2km below the earth's surface, the waters rise through a city centre spring which until recently ran very wastefully into the River Avon. Since 2006 you can swim at roof top level in the waters which are 33C. On any of our tours going to Bath
• Lehon Pool, France. Minutes fromDinan this charming village and its pool are adjacent to the Rance river. On our Emerald Coast Tour

Where in the World?

It was only last week and it was sunny and warm as we explored routes for a another new tour.. Seems like a dream as its barely above freezing here this week.

Off Season - Ups and Downs

The good

And the not so good

Off

News from Paris

Paris is a fun place to cycle with its broad boulevards allowing nice wide cycle lanes. Not quite as good as Amsterdam but not bad. The city's Velib bike program is now more accessible to visitors, who can buy a one- or seven-day subscription online (http://en.velib.paris.fr). This is a fun way to tootle between sights -- the first 30 minutes of any trip are included with your subscription; after that there's a small fee for each additional 30 minutes.

If you prefer a guide to show you around on a bike, have a look at the cycle cities website covering bike tours in over 30 cities in Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Fly Over - Tunnel Under the Thames. A Great Day Out

These are two unique ways of crossing the River Thames in London by bike. They make for a great day out. The  Emirates Flyer is the 1.1 km cable car crossing  that links the Greenwich peninsula on the south side of the river with The Royal Docks on the north and gives a unique view of London. Flip the seat to load your bike and 'enjoy  your flight' as the commentary requests. Its quick- some say too quick, painless and fun.  Pedal past the O2 to Greenwich village, or for a bit of added fun board the Thames Clipper at the North Greenwich Pier and be propelled there. Stop for a refreshment at The Trafalgar with its atmospheric riverside  views, or busy yourself with a visit to the Cutty Sark or Maritime Museum before heading for the lift down to the Greenwich foot tunnel that takes you 50ft below the Thames. Opened over a hundred years earlier than the Flyer, in 1902 and free, (the Flyer is £3.20 on the Oyster) it was built to enable shipyard and dock workers to reach their jobs on the north bank Isle of Dogs. You will have to walk your bike along the tunnel and from the lift you emerge up in Island Gardens. Follow Sustrans Route 1 north through the Isle of Dogs where you'll get some great surprise views of the docks, the Thames and the London skyline. Almost at Limehouse - where you can detour via several canals to the Olympic Park, the Greenway and Broadway Market to mention but a few options, you turn east and pedal along the Cycle Super Highway. Here Dutch style cyclist traffic lights, alleys, bridges and bike paths thread you through east London.  Leave the Highway near the East Inda Docks and then its not far to reach the Royal Docks where you started. This last section is poorly signposted and I admit we took a few wrong turns. You will need a map or local knowledge or one of our guides here.

The name's Sport, Capital Sport

You have been assigned a mission to uncover the secrets of Kent.  Intelligence tells us some of the best cycling in the UK can be found in this well known but seldom visited area.  Q will supply you with the latest in hybrid bikes and detailed route directions.  Book a place on the Luxury Coast to Capital tour beginning in Dover where you can explore the secret tunnels left over from the cold war.  Watch out for those pesky Ruskies! Nearby is St Margerets Bay the former home of Ian Fleming and location for some of the scenes in Moonraker.  The Red Lion at St Margarets at Cliffe was one of Fleming's regular haunts and is mentioned in Goldfinger as a place Bond liked to frequent.  It is now home to a fabulous collection of Bond memorabillia and the best Martinins in the county.  Don't overdo it or you may feel a little too shaken and stirred. Continue your tour through the pretty seaside town of Sandwich, passed the towering Cathedral at Canterbury, the fascinating dockyard at Chatham then on to London where M will be waiting to be briefed on your mission. Good luck!
St. Margaret's Bay featured in Fleming's Moonraker
St. Margaret's Bay featured in Fleming's Moonraker

And the cycling holiday award goes to.....

Awards are jolly nice things to have.  We have been lucky to have been given a few and it certainly swells the heart with pride to put that certificate on the wall.  Blowing ones' own trumpet is de riguer when presented with an award and the hotels we use for our tours are not slow to do so.  Recently we have been sent several emails informing us of gongs most gratefully received.  As they are for hotels and areas we have picked out as being the best for our cycling holidays, it affirms what we already knew.

For example Cotswold House in Chipping Campden has just been awarded Spa of the Year by Laterooms.  We include this hotel on many of our luxury Cotswolds tours including "Cotswolds and Stonhenge".  Lucknam Park near Chippenham was given the Travellers Choice award in the Spa section by Trip Advisor  and is a favourite with our clients looking for the 5 star treatment on our Simply The Best tour.  The Cotswolds Inns group won small hotel group of the year from the AA and own several stunning hotels in this highly popular and frequently booked area.  London topped the Conde Nast vote for Best City and Devon claimed silver in the Best Holiday County category in the British Travel Awards. Neither of these came as much of a surprise but both offer fabulous cycling and accommodation and so are perfect for our clients.

As the year draws to a close there will be more plaudits to come for sure.  Hopefully we will need to make some room in the trophy cabinet. 

Our Top 5 Hotels With Swimming Pools

Whately Manor

A gentle swim is most welcome after a long day cycling. The following hotels with pools are on many of our cycling holiday routes.  Here is our top 5.

1. Whatley Manor Hotel, Malmesbury - A beautiful Cotswolds hotel with excellent spa facilities
2. Christchurch Harbour Hotel, Mudeford - A seaside retreat with a pool big enough to stretch your legs in.

3. Wallets Court, Dover - A classic British country house in the Garden of England boasting an endless pool trainer jet.
4. Hempstead House, Sittingbourne - A stunning Kent hotel with pool facilities to match.
5. Royal Crescent Hotel, Bath - An iconic hotel with a beautiful relaxation pool heated to a toasty 35 degrees.

Are you looking for a late summer deal?

We don't usually go in for blatant plugs but this one is too good to miss. Summer is making a late appearance from next week and to celebrate we have a great deal on offer. The Real Steal : Dorset Delights is a no frills version of our usual yours. This idyllic 4 night getaway takes in the sandy beaches of the Isle of Purbeck with back lanes, fords and forests linking the pretty historical towns of Wareham and Dorchester. Enjoy 3 days of gentle cycling with one day saddle free at the bargain price of £349.00 per person. Hand picked accomodation, luggage transfers and our usual excellent route directions and maps are all included.
Call us on 01296 631671 for availability and further details.

Top 5 Hotels with Tennis Courts on our tours.

A recent pre-occupation with food on my last few blogs has led me to think it must be time for a little light activity.  We are lucky to have a great selection of hotels on our lists, many with tennis courts on which to stretch the legs after a hard day in the saddle. So where can you show off you best serves?  Here's our pick:

1. Lygon Arms, Broadway. The epitome of tradition but with a floodlight court.
2. Wallets Court Hotel, Dover.A well hidden ace in white cliffs country.
3. Christchurch Harbour Hotel, Mudeford. Oh I do like to serve beside the seaside.
4. The Pig, Brockenhurst. A small hotel for big hitters.
5. Buckland Manor, Cotswolds. Volley in the valleys.

5 Great Places to Eat in Plymouth

Treat yourself and enjoy these wonderful eateries as a finale to our cycling holiday  Devon Coast to Coast Tour

• Tanner Brothers, Prysten House, Finewell St, Plymouth, PL1 2AE  01752 252001. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Located in a grade 1 listed building, and owned by brothers Chris and James, they major on locally sourced produce with a variety of menus from set to gastronomic tasting.
• River Cottage Canteen, Royal William Yard, Plymouth . PL1 3QQ. 01752 252702. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest creation is housed in a waterside ex Royal Navy victualling depot with a theatre kitchen and a wooden fired oven. Ethically sourced food.
• Arthouse, 38 Looe Street  Plymouth, PL4 0EB 01752 206114. Closed Mondays and Sunday lunch. The veteran Arts Centre includes this revamped restaurant which uses meat from it's own farm shop. Until 8pm you can take advantage of a £12 cinema/meal deal and add the movie of the day afterwards?
• Morgans,  19 Princess Street, Plymouth.PL1 2EU. 01752 255579. This modern restaurant situated in  the heart of Plymouth offers the best of Italian Mediterranean cuisine
• Bistro One, 68 Ebrington Street  Plymouth, PL4 9AQ 01753 313315. Closed Sundays and Mondays. This jolly little off-centre restaurant is one of Plymouth's finest, thanks to its wine-loving owner, Stephen Barrett. It's big on fresh seafood, Yealm river oysters, hand-made breads and vegetarian dishes

A Deli to Die For

Last night we attended a networking event organised by Tourism Southeast.  Over 30 people were there including representatives from hotels, tourist attractions, and tourist boards.  It was a great opportunity to meet other people working in the same industry in this area.  The added bonus was the location.  No 2 Pound Street in Wendover is a deli with a difference.  It stocks a huge selection of wines, cheeses and meats which can be taken away or enjoyed on the premises.  They recently won Best New Retailer at the British Cheese Awards which is not surprising when you see the interesting selection on offer including Stinking Bishop which should be handled with care.  The deli sits in the pretty Chiltern town of Wendover which is at the end of our new Challenging Chilterns tour.  We recommend leaving some space in your panniers for a few goodies.

Bliss all the way to Padstow

The well pedalled Camel Trail from Wadebridge to Padstow is a family must - flat, traffic free and scenically beautiful as it skirts the Camel estuary along a disused railway line. Bike hire establishments lurk around every corner of  Wadebridge and the lure of a Rick Stein goody at the other end may entice or repel you depending on your pocket size and leanings.
But for me the more enjoyable (and far less busy) section of the Camel Trail is what comes before Wadebridge - the ride down from the NW edge of  Bodmin Moor along the pretty Camel valley.  Close to the the beginning of the traffic free section is the village of Blisland which easily lives up to its name. John Betjamin waxed lyrical about its Norman church with its unexpectedly dramatic interior and others have enjoyed its excellent pub.This is a village with some very fine houses, the Elizabethan Mansion House - and a green, something unique in Cornwall.  From here you can freewheel down to the trail for 17 miles of traffic free flat cycling. Whoever heard of that in hilly Cornwall?  Steep valley sides gradually give way to more open country as the river  threads its way downhill and you spin past platforms named Shooting Range and Grogley Hall.. Paul Jackson's pottery studio and the medieval river bridge both at Helland are highlights.

Tack this ride onto our Devon Coast to Coast Tour and bliss it will be.

Things you never knew about Easter Eggs.

With Easter on the horizon, thoughts turn to chocolate naturally, but why do we give eggs? The custom celebrates new life and like any excuse to indulge, we have taken to it with gusto. But eggs are not just for eating it seems.

Pace Eggs are hard boiled eggs with patterned shells, they are traditional in northern parts of England at Easter, with local variants in the name, such as Paste Eggs. The name is derived from Pesach (Passover). Decorating and colouring eggs for Easter was a common custom in England in the middle ages. Eggs were brightly coloured to mimic the new, fresh colours of spring. The practice of decorating eggs was made even more famous by King Edward I of England who ordered 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and coloured for Easter gifts in 1290.

Egg rolling is very popular in England and is an Easter Monday sport. Hard-boiled eggs are rolled down a hill. Customs differ from place to place. The winner's egg may be the one that rolls the farthest, survives the most rolls, or is rolled between two pegs.

Another activity that takes place on Easter Day is the playing of a game with the eggs known as "jarping", It's a bit like playing conkers, with players tapping their opponents' eggs until one breaks. The winner goes through to the next round, and so on until there is only one egg left unbroken. copyright of projectbritain.com A good hit by a jarper is called a "dunch". The game is popular in County Durham, where it is played on Easter Sunday.

Canterbury and Faversham like many UK towns are holding Easter Egg hunts over the holiday. The perfect excursion from our Gourmet Tour which begins and ends in Canterbury. Chocs away!

Easy Cycling to The Olympic Park

I would recommend the ride I took this week to the Olympic Park.  It's so easy, traffic free and gives a view of the capital most people have never seen. It gives away how startlingly near the Olympic Park is to central London.  Hop on your bike at Tower Bridge and pedal east through St Katharine's Dock and on to St Katharine's Way.  Ahead here, you pick up the waterside route to Shadwell Basin which leads back to the riverside. Don't overshoot the zigzag bike path taking you under the road. Follow the north bank of the river - some say this route is for pedestrians only;  even if it is, its a great walk with a fabulous view - until you reach Limehouse. Take a left here into the mega basin where canal boaters prepare to enter the tidal Thames (yep, I've done that too - choppy and a bit scary). Exit the basin following signs to Bow and ride for 20 minutes or so along the inelegantly named Limehouse Cut. You'll fly over locks and slide under the approach to Blackwall Tunnel before reaching elegant Three Mills (Britain's oldest Tide Mill and biggest film/TV studio) and the massive new locks round the back, designed to aid Olmpic Park construction, but never put to use. Cross the canal here and continue northwards and shortly you will reach The Stratford Greenway and Olympic Park.
From here you can explore all sorts of other fascinating areas of North London without any traffic at your backside. For our self guided circular rides to the Park. email us.
And the conclusion is: Don't/ do not/don't even consider reaching the Park during the Olympics via Stratford station with all the other thousands of people trying to get there by underground.  Pick up a Boris bike - there's got to be a docking station near the Park, although as yet I've not seen one and enjoy a quiet pedal.

How a tandem can open up the world

On the pm radio programme yesterday, a thrilled blind lady was featured - she had just been cycling on a tandem. Through Companion Cycling, a charity based in Surrey, people with disabilities are able to take to a bike and enjoy the wow feeling we all get from pedalling away.

Last summer, we had our own tandem wow, when Erik Weihenmayer took his young family cycling with us in Oxfordshire. Erik, who lives in Colorado is the only blind man to have reached the Everest summit which he did in 2001. His life reads like an action man Oscar and his autobiography, Touch The Top of the World is a source of inpsiration to all of us.  Now married, his wife took the front saddle of the tandem and with their two children following, they rode out of Oxford along the rural Thames to start their adventure with us. We had made some adjustments to the tandem before their arrival as the front rider is not usually the smaller of the pair. All went well and we were left standing in awe and viewing the crudentials of the tandem in a new light!