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54-554: The National Cycle Network ( NCN ) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring . It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million National Lottery grant. However Sustrans themselves only own around 2% of the paths on the network, the rest being made of existing public highways and rights of way, and permissive paths negotiated by Sustrans with private landowners. In 2017,

108-593: A 7 start in Scotland and northern England, routes beginning with an 8 are generally in Wales, and routes beginning with a 9 are in Northern Ireland. The main route numbers have one digit (1 to 6 radiate clockwise from the south of England); other routes have two digits, starting with the number of the relevant main route. There are also many shorter routes, reaching smaller towns and cities, that have three-digit numbers. Again,

162-468: A cycling holiday. The authors Roderick Watson and Martin Gray say: Hoopdriver is certainly liberated by his machine. It affords him not only a country holiday, in itself a remarkable event which he enjoys immensely, however ignorant of the countryside he may be, but also a brush with a society girl, riding on pneumatics and wearing some kind of Rational Dress. The book suggests the new social mobility created by

216-521: A dead trail, in this case most bicycle tourers simply backtrack and try another route. Examples of fictional works featuring bicycle tours include: Dandy horse The dandy horse , an English nickname for what was first called a Laufmaschine ("running machine" in German), then a vélocipède or draisienne (in French and then English), and then a pedestrian curricle or hobby-horse , or swiftwalker ,

270-528: A delightful adventure, despite bad road surfaces, dust and lack of signposts. Husband and wife team Joseph Pennell (illustrator) and Elizabeth Robins Pennell (writer) published travelogues of their journeys framed as literary pilgrimages; they "wheeled" a tandem tricycle from Florence to Rome, attracting more attention than she was comfortable with, as possibly the first female rider that the Italians had ever seen. Journeys grew more adventurous. Thomas Stevens ,

324-472: A few days may cover as little as 200 kilometres (120 mi) and a long tour may go right across a country or around the world. There are many different types of bicycle touring: Cycle touring beyond the range of a day trip may need a bike capable of carrying heavy loads. Although many different bicycles can be used, specialist touring bikes are built to carry appropriate loads and to be ridden more comfortably over long distances. A typical bicycle would have

378-552: A form of transit that did not rely on the horse. After the eruption of Mount Tambora and the Year Without a Summer (1816), which followed close on the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars , widespread crop failures and food shortages resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of horses, which either starved to death or were killed to provide meat and hides. "In wartime," he wrote, "when horses and their fodder often become scarce,

432-494: A growth of organised cycling holidays provided by commercial organisations in many countries. Some companies provide accommodation and route information to cyclists travelling independently; others focus on a group experience, including guides and support for a large number of riders cycling together. A variation on this is holidays, often in exotic locations, organised in partnership with a charity, in which participants are expected to raise donation as well as cover their costs. Due to

486-519: A later date, that the bicycle had "been responsible for more movement in manners and morals than anything since Charles the Second." The bicycle gained from the outdoor movement of the 1930s. The Cyclists' Touring Club advertised a week's all-in tour, staying at hotels recommended by cyclists, for £3 10s. The youth hostel movement started in Germany and spread abroad, and a cycling holiday staying at hostels in

540-576: A longer wheelbase for stability and heel clearance, frame fittings for front and rear pannier racks , additional water bottle mounts, frame fittings for front and rear mudguards/fenders, a broader range of gearing to cope with the increased weight, and touring tires which are wider to provide more comfort on backroads. "Ultralight tourers" choose traditional road bicycles or " Audax " or randonneur bicycles for speed and simplicity. However, these bikes are harder to ride on unmade roads, which may limit route options. Since about 2015, gravel bikes are

594-516: A new option to combine speed and unpaved road capabilities. For some, the advantages of a recumbent bicycle are particularly relevant to touring. To lessen the weight carried on the bicycle, or increase luggage capacity, touring cyclists may use bicycle trailers . For a "supported" rider, luggage carrying is not important and a wider range of bicycle types may be suitable depending on the terrain. There are many navigation apps and websites available for bicycle touring. Sometimes GPS routes lead to

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648-434: A patent for a two-wheeled human-powered vehicle was awarded to W.K. Clarkson of New York on June 26, 1819. However, in 1836, a fire in the U.S. Patent Office destroyed the only surviving drawings, and a prototype of the invention was never built by Clarkson. Dandy horses first appeared on the footpaths of Mannheim, Germany, in 1820. They were heavy and cumbersome, and as a result, riders preferred to operate their vehicles on

702-452: A reporter to follow them in a coach and pair, reported an "Extraordinary Velocipede Feat." Three riders set off from Liverpool to London, a journey of three days and similar to modern cycle-touring adventures, in March that same year. A newspaper report said: Their bicycles caused no little astonishment on the way, and the remarks passed by the natives were almost amusing. At some of the villages

756-552: A single speed bicycle with little more than a revolver and a change of underwear. In 2006, she described how, aged 74, she was held up at gunpoint and robbed while cycling in Russia. Eric Newby , Bettina Selby, and Anne Mustoe have all used cycling as a means to a literary end, valuing the way that cycling brings the traveller closer to people and places. Selby said, In more recent years, British adventurers Alastair Humphreys ( Moods of Future Joys ), Mark Beaumont ( The Man who Cycled

810-514: A small fleet of such wagons at each corps could be important, especially for dispatches over short distances and for carrying the wounded.” Several manufacturers in France and England made their own dandy-horses during its brief popularity in the summer of 1819—most notably Denis Johnson of London, who used an elegantly curved wooden frame that allowed the use of larger wheels. In the United States,

864-489: A sort that scandalised society but made cycling much easier. The Rational Dress Society was founded in 1881 in London. It said: The Rational Dress Society protests... against crinolines or crinolettes of any kind as ugly and deforming... [It] requires all to be dressed healthily, comfortably, and beautifully, to seek what conduces to birth, comfort and beauty in our dress as a duty to ourselves and each other. Both Hoopdriver and

918-508: A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle , set off around the world on April 22 1884, on a 50-inch Columbia with a money belt, a revolver, two shirts and a rain cape, spending two years on the road and writing articles which became a two-volume, 1,021-page book. The feminist Annie Londonderry accomplished her around-the-globe bicycle trip as the first woman as early as in 1894–95. John Foster Fraser and two friends set off round

972-521: Is a human-powered vehicle that, being the first means of transport to make use of the two-wheeler principle, is regarded as the first bicycle . The dandy horse is a foot-propelled vehicle, powered by the rider's feet on the ground instead of the pedals of later bicycles. It was invented by Karl Drais (who called it a Laufmaschine [ German: [ˈlaʊfmaˌʃiːnə] , "running machine"]) in 1817, and then patented by him in France in February 1818 using

1026-620: Is a 14-mile (23 km) walking and cycling path on a disused railway. It opened in 1984 and was the first part of what would later become the NCN. The National Cycle Network began with a National Lottery Grant from the Millennium Commission in 1995. The original goal was to create 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of signposted cycle routes by 2005, with 50% of these not being on roads, and all of it being "suitable for an unsupervised twelve year old." By mid-2000, 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of route

1080-515: Is now the biggest body campaigning for cycling and cyclists' rights in the UK. It continues to organise group touring events including day rides through its local groups and CTC holidays in many countries led by experienced CTC members. Since 1983, Sustrans has created a National Cycle Network of long-distance cycle routes including back roads and traffic-free tracks built, signed, and mapped in partnership with local organisations. Since 1980, there has been

1134-891: The Danish National Cycle Route network . One thousand "Millennium Mileposts" made from cast iron were funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the creation of the National Cycle Network, and these are found along the NCN routes throughout the UK. Following the de-designation of approximately a quarter of the NCN in 2020, a significant number of the mileposts are now orphaned from their intended routes. There are four different types: "Fossil Tree" (designed by John Mills), "The Cockerel" (designed by Iain McColl), "Rowe Type" (designed by Andrew Rowe), and "Tracks" (designed by David Dudgeon). The four artists are from each country of

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1188-490: The 1930s could be had for £2. Roderick Watson and Martin Gray estimate there were ten million bicycles in Britain to one million cars. A decline set in across Europe, particularly in Britain, when millions of servicemen returned from World War II having learned to drive. Trips away were now, for the increasing number who had one, by car. The decline in the United States came even sooner. McGurn says: The story of interwar cycling

1242-487: The 19th century for riders of hobby-horses – machines pushed by the feet rather than pedaled – outspeeding stagecoaches . "One practitioner beat a four-horse coach to Brighton by half an hour," he says. "There are various accounts of 15 to 17-year-olds draisienne -touring around France in the 1820s. On 17 February 1869 John Mayall, Charles Spencer and Rowley Turner rode from Trafalgar Square , London, to Brighton in 15 hours for 53 miles. The Times , which had sent

1296-645: The Frenchman, Paul de Vivie (b. April 29, 1853), to found what became the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme, the world's largest cycling association, and to coin the French word cyclo-tourisme . The League of American Wheelmen in the U.S. was founded in Newport, Rhode Island , on May 30, 1880. It shared an interest in leisure cycling with the administration of cycle racing . Membership peaked at 103,000 in 1898. The primary national bicycle-touring organization in

1350-560: The Middle East, Turkey, western Europe, Scandinavia, then another 100,000 km across Africa, Latin America and Australia. Others attempt long voyages in exceptionally short time periods. The current circumnavigation record by bicycle is 78 days 14 hours, and 40 minutes by Mark Beaumont Noted writers have combined cycling with travel writing including Dervla Murphy , who made her first documented journey in 1963, from London to India, on

1404-601: The Network was used for over 786 million cycling and walking trips, made by 4.4 million people. In 2020, around a quarter of the NCN was scrapped on safety grounds, leaving 12,739 miles (20,501 km) of signed routes. These are made up of 5,220 miles (8,400 km) of traffic-free paths with the remaining 7,519 miles (12,101 km) on-road. It uses shared use paths , disused railways , minor roads, canal towpaths and traffic-calmed routes in towns and cities. The Bristol and Bath Railway Path (now part of National Route 4)

1458-628: The Richmond Road, and a lark on Putney Heath. The freshness of dew was in the air; dew or the relics of an overnight shower glittered on the leaves and grass...He wheeled his machine up Putney Hill, and his heart sang within him. Wells puts Hoopdriver in a new brown cycling suit to show the importance of the venture and the freedom on which he is embarking. Hoopdriver finds the bicycle raises his social standing, at least in his imagination, and he calls to himself as he rides that he's "a bloomin' dook " The New Woman that he pursues wears Rational Dress of

1512-477: The U.S. is now Adventure Cycling Association . Adventure Cycling, then called Bikecentennial , organised a mass ride in 1976 from one side of the country to the other to mark the nation's 200th anniversary. The Bikecentennial route is still in use as the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. The first cyclists, often aristocratic or rich, flirted with the bicycle and then abandoned it for the new motor car. It

1566-1379: The UK, though all posts can be found in all four countries. Most mileposts contain a disk featuring symbols and text in code. There are 60 different designs, spread across the country. They form part of the Millennium Time Trail, a treasure hunt puzzle created by Sustrans in 2001. The Verse held within the coded text is: M EASURE EVERY HEARTBEAT TO COUNT OUT OUR LIFE'S SCORE/ I S "TIME TO ESCAPE" MEANT TO FIRE OUR COMING AGE?/ L OCKED IN SEASONS' BARS SWINGS PENDULUM'S CEASELESS CLAW/ L UNGS NEVER FULL ENSNARE US IN TIME'S EIGHT PIECE CAGE/ E NTROPY'S AIM SHOOTS LEPTONS IN DANCING CYCLES OF LIGHT/ N ATIONS REACH OUT IN HOPE ACROSS TIME ZONES AND LONG DEGREES/ N O CORNERS TO HIDE US, EARTH’S SHADE SPINS HOURLY ROUND TO NIGHT/ I N ALL MIND-STREAMS WE WADE, OUR WORLD-LINES WEAVE PAST TAPESTRIES/ U NCERTAIN DREAMS EVOLVE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE “WHY?”/ M UST IN ALL THESE TIDES OF FAITH, FLOW STILL SUCH WAVES OF FEARS?/ P LACE AND TIME TEMPT FATES, BUT ALL LIFE’S NATURE IS TO DIE/ O UR ERA, STARS, BOWS OUT, PLAYING ITS MUSICAL SPHERES/ E VERY GAINED UTOPIAN GOAL MAKES US MANIFOLD TIME’S TREASURE/ M APPED OUT, AS ABOVE SO BELOW, NERGAL TICKS OFF TIME’S MEASURE/// Bicycle touring Historian James McGurn speaks of bets being taken in London in

1620-412: The United States, it lasted longer. The expansion from a machine that had to be pushed to propelled through pedals on a front wheel made longer distances feasible. A rider calling himself "A Light Dragoon" told in 1870 or 1871 of a ride from Lewes to Salisbury , across southern England. The title of his book, Wheels and Woes , suggests a less than event-free ride but McGurn says "it seems to have been

1674-497: The World ), and Rob Lilwall ( Cycling Home From Siberia ) have all been on epic bicycle expeditions and written popular books about their exploits. But most bicycle tourists are ordinary people out of the spotlight. One economic implication of bicycling is that it liberates the cyclist from oil consumption. The bicycle is an inexpensive, fast, healthy and environmentally friendly mode of transport. Ivan Illich said that bicycling extends

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1728-526: The Young Lady in Grey, as he refers to her, are escaping social restraints through bicycle touring. Hoopdriver falls in love and rescues her from a lover who says marrying him is the only way that she, having left alone for a cycling holiday, can save her reputation. She lowers her social status; he raises his. McGurn says: "The shift in social perspectives, as exemplified by Wells' cyclists, led Galsworthy to claim, at

1782-509: The activity's informal nature. Market research indicates that in 2006 British cyclists spent £120m on 450,000 organised cycling holidays, and a further 2.5 million people included some cycling activity in their annual holiday that year. The total economic benefit to communities visited during the nine-day long Great Victorian Bike Ride was estimated at AU$ 2 million in 2011, which does not include costs paid directly to ride organisers and ongoing benefits to towns. Sustrans estimate that

1836-551: The bike, which breaks the boundaries of Hoopdriver's world literally and figuratively. Hoopdriver sets off in a spirit of freedom, finally away from his job: Only those who toil six long days out of the seven, and all the year round, save for one brief glorious fortnight or ten days in the summer time, know the exquisite sensations of the First Holiday Morning. All the dreary, uninteresting routine drops from you suddenly, your chains fall about your feet...There were thrushes in

1890-547: The boys clustered round the machines, and, where they could, caught hold of them and ran behind until they were tired out. Many enquiries were made as to the name of 'them queer horses', some called them 'whirligigs', 'menageries' and 'valparaisons'. Between Wolverhampton and Birmingham , attempts were made to upset the riders by throwing stones. Enthusiasm extended to other countries. The New York Times spoke of "quantities of velocipedes flying like shuttles hither and thither". But while British interest had less frenzy than in

1944-443: The country. I pictured thousands of people, a sea of people with their bikes and packs all ready to go, and there would be old men and people with balloon-tire bikes and Frenchmen who flew over just for this. Nobody would shoot a gun off or anything. At 9 o'clock everybody would just start moving. It would be like this crowd of locusts crossing America. The ride eventually ran from Astoria, Oregon , to Yorktown, Virginia , site of

1998-492: The first British settlements; 4,100 rode, with 2,000 completing the entire route. It defined a new start for cycle-touring in the United States and led to the creation of Adventure Cycling Association . Adventure Cycling has mapped routes across America and into Canada, many of the rides taking up to three months to complete on a loaded bicycle. In Britain, the Cyclists Touring Club grew to 70,000 members by 2011 and

2052-707: The industrial world. The post-war peace was to lay the bicycle low. However, between 1965 and 1975 the U.S. experienced a bike boom . In 1976, to celebrate the bicentennial of the founding of the United States, Greg Siple, his wife June, and Dan and Lys Burden organized a mass bike ride, Bikecentennial , from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Siple said: My original thought was to send out ads and flyers saying, 'Show up at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco at 9 o'clock on June 1 with your bicycle.' And then we were going to bicycle across

2106-463: The network which made it inaccessible by some users. As a result, around a quarter of the network was de-designated. As of July 2020, there were 12,739 miles (20,501 km) of signed cycle and walking route that are part of the Network. There are ten main national routes. As of 2020 they are not all complete. NCN routes beginning with numbers 1 to 6 are generally in England, routes beginning with

2160-405: The rise of hospitality exchange services from the nineties on, cycle travelers like other travelers got the means to better organize their stays at local hosts. The hospitality exchange website Warm Showers , which is specialized for cycle travelers started in 2005 and has over 100000 members worldwide today. The scale of bicycle touring and its economic effects are difficult to estimate, given

2214-506: The route numbers start with the number of the main route for that region. For example, the Great North Cycleway in northern England has route number 725. Signs showed the route numbers on a blue background. Routes have been progressively renumbered with three-digit national numbers. Some routes are numbered to match the motorways and major roads that connect the same destinations; examples include National Route 62, which by connecting

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2268-455: The smooth pavements instead of the rough roads. Their interactions with pedestrians caused many municipalities worldwide to enact laws prohibiting their use, and in New York City, a law was passed that banned dandy horses from all footpaths and public places. Later designs avoided the initial drawback of this device when it had to be made to measure, manufactured to conform with the height and

2322-520: The term vélocipède . It is also known as a Draisine ( German: [dʁaɪˈziːnə] in German, a term used in English only for light auxiliary railcars regardless of their form of propulsion), and as a draisienne ( French: [drɛzjɛn] in French and English. In English, it is also sometimes still known as a velocipede, but that term now also has a broader meaning . The dandy-horse

2376-462: The total value of cycle tourism in the UK in 1997 was £635m and they forecast £14bn for the whole EU by 2020. Among examples of current activity given by Sustrans are 1.5m cyclists using the 250 kilometres (160 mi) Danube Cycle Route each year and 25% of holiday visitors in Germany using bicycles during their visit. Bicycle touring can be of any distance and time. The French tourist Jacques Sirat speaks in lectures of how he felt proud riding round

2430-511: The two sides of the Pennines mirrors the M62 motorway . The network is signposted using a white bicycle symbol (and on some routes, walking) on a blue background, with an inset box showing a white route number on a red background. In general, signs do not show destinations or distances. On some older signs, regional route numbers have a blue background instead. The system of symbols is based on that used by

2484-434: The usable physical environment for people, while alternatives such as cars and motorways degrade and confined people's environment and mobility. The website crazyguyonabike.com includes thousands of rider-generated journals of cycling tours globally. Distances vary considerably. Depending on fitness, speed and the number of stops, the rider usually covers between 50–150 kilometres (31–93 mi) per day. A short tour over

2538-655: The world for five years – until he met an Australian who had been on the road for 27 years. The German rider, Walter Stolle, lost his home and living in the Sudetenland in the aftermath of World War II, settled in Britain and set off from Essex on 25 January 1959, to cycle round the world. He rode through 159 countries in 18 years, denied only those with sealed borders. He paid his way by giving slide shows in seven languages. He gave 2,500 such shows at US$ 100 each. In 1974, he rode through Nigeria , Dahomey , Upper Volta , Ghana , Leone , Ivory Coast , Liberia and Guinea . He

2592-579: The world on safety bicycles in July 1896. He, Edward Lunn and F. H. Lowe rode 19,237 miles, through 17 countries, in two years and two months. By 1878, recreational cycling was enough established in Britain to lead to formation of the Bicycle Touring Club, later renamed Cyclists' Touring Club . It is the oldest national tourism organisation in the world. Members, like those of other clubs, often rode in uniform. The CTC appointed an official tailor. The uniform

2646-451: Was a dark green Devonshire serge jacket, knickerbockers and a "Stanley helmet with a small peak". The colour changed to grey when green proved impractical because it showed the dirt. Groups often rode with a bugler at their head to sound changes of direction or to bring the group to a halt. Confusion could be caused when groups met and mistook each other's signals. Membership of the CTC inspired

2700-402: Was a two-wheeled vehicle, with both wheels in line, propelled by the rider pushing along the ground with the feet as in regular walking or running. The front wheel and handlebar assembly was hinged to allow steering. The dandy horse was capable of more than doubling the average walking speed, to around 10 mph (16 km/h) on level ground. Drais was inspired, at least in part, by the need to develop

2754-416: Was characterised by lack of interest and a steady decline... Cycling had lost out to the automobile, and to some extent to the new electric transport systems. In the 1930s cumbersome, fat-tyred 'balloon bombers', bulbously streamlined in imitation of motorcycles or aeroplanes, appealed to American children: the only mass market still open to cycle manufacturers. Wartime austerity gave cycling a short reprieve in

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2808-544: Was robbed 231 times, wore out six bicycles and had five more stolen. Heinz Stücke left his job as a die-maker in North Rhine-Westphalia in 1962 when he was 22 — three years after Stolle and is still riding. By 2006 he had cycled more than 539,000 km (335,000 mi) and visited 192 countries. He pays his way by selling photographs to magazines. From Asia, Gua Dahao left China in May 1999 to ride across Siberia,

2862-505: Was signposted to an "interim" standard, and a new goal was then set to double that to 10,000 miles (16,000 km) by 2005. August 2005 saw the completion of that goal. In 2018, Sustrans published the National Cycle Network - Paths for Everyone report which reviewed the quality and usage of the Network and set out a vision for its future. The report rated 42% of the then network as 'very poor' and identified over 12,000 barriers on

2916-565: Was the lower middle class which profited from cycling and the liberation that it brought. The Cyclist of 13 August 1892 said: "The two sections of the community which form the majority of 'wheelmen' are the great clerk class and the great shop assistant class." H. G. Wells described this aspirant class liberated through cycling. Three of his heroes – in The History of Mr Polly , Kipps and The Wheels of Chance – buy bicycles. The first two work in drapery shops. The third, Hoopdriver, goes on

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