• When You Get To Know One Tree; You Learn to Love the Forest.

    London National Park City. In many respects it should be no surprise that London is the world’s first National Park City.  One of the criteria for this is to be: “A large urban area that is managed and semi-protected through both formal and informal means to enhance the natural capital of its living landscape.”  With about…

  • The Destruction of our Chalk Streams Continues – But they could be Saved.

    Following my blog post last week about the ecocide of many of England’s chalk streams, I received some queries which I have decided to answer in the form of another post. As requested, this includes more links to further sources of information. Can Chalk Streams really be compared to the Rain Forests? I’ve been questioned…

  • You Don’t Miss the Water until your Well Runs Dry.

    At the moment there is widespread flooding in parts of the North of England and, quite rightly, the news channels are reporting this and featuring the poor people who are currently unable to live in their homes as a result.  Once the immediate relief efforts have subsided hopefully the media will focus on the abject…

  • Cattle, Crashes and Collateral Damage.

    A couple of weeks ago I decided that, despite an overcast sky, the crisp dry weather demanded that I take my off-road bike and search out some bye-ways and bridleways to explore. By lunchtime there were patches of blue sky and stray spots of sunlight appearing. All was well with the world as I set…

  • Long Tails – How Idealism and a Desire for Social Justice gave birth to New Type of Bicycle.

    When Carl Kurz, a bike mechanic, and transport planner Michael Replogle, started the ‘Bikes Not Bombs’ (BNB) movement in 1984, they could hardly have anticipated it would have resulted in a new type of bike and accessory system.  BNB was a response to the United States giving military backing of the Contra attacks on Nicaragua.…

  • The river that’s been in my bones since before ever I was born

    “For a lot of us in the UK, chalk streams are our water-wells. But they’re much more than that too. They’re part of our landscape and our natural environment – our history, culture, geography and economy as well as our ecology.” WWF-UK The State of England’s Chalk Streams 2015 I have always loved chalk streams;…

  • London’s Cavalcade of Cargo Cycles, How the Post Office Delivered, and Ikea makes a Start.

    What is in a name – or would a bike by any other name still smell as sweet My last blog was about cargo cycles, focusing particularly on cargo tricycles. This is something of an update on that; before my next bike related blog which will be on cargo bicycles, trailers, multi-axle vehicles, and the…

  • Cycles that Change Cities.

    One of the recent growth areas in cycle sales has been that of cargo cycles.  Always popular in countries like Holland and Denmark, they are now becoming a more familiar site on the streets of many cities worldwide.  In some cases this has been driven by the authorities taking measures to reduce pollution and improve…

  • Teachers – Beware what Passions you Stir or Interests Unleash

    Why The Ridgeway As I set out to write this piece, I expected it to be about some forthcoming trips and how I research them before I make the journey.  I was going to share some of that process with you, including what I had found about one of England’s oldest pathways – the Ridgeway.…

  • Clean Air, Running Water and Electricity, make Happy Fish

    Farewell King Coal ? Why did we not Party? I bet Sir David Attenborough at least smiled and raised a cup of tea, or possibly something stronger, to his lips.  The 21st April 2018 was the first day since the 1880s, in the UK, that no coal was used for electricity generation. In fact, since…