Review: Britain by Bike

I love cycling. I came to it late, though, because the house where I grew up in Sydney was located on a terribly dangerous road. It was bad enough for motor vehicles, and I have a memory of at least one cyclist who came, covered in blood, to our door to ask if he could call an ambulance. Needless to say, requests for bicycles were not greeted positively by my parents. I was about 14 when a school friend decided to teach me how to ride a bike, and then my grandmother gave me her old beast to ride at her place. A mountain bike it was not, but its simplicity of design did mean I could - and did - treat it more like a BMX than it had ever been intended. I was saddened when a bike shop took advantage of my grandmother and stole all the good stolid parts and made it virtually unusable for when I went to university in bike friendly Canberra. She had asked them to make sure it was roadworthy. It had been, really, and only needed a new chain.

After I left home and started to live in Surry Hills I bought my self a green Avanti hardtail mountain bike. I lived quite close to Centennial Park and I discovered the world of road racers, and despite being on mountain bike wheels I started to go quite fast behind the lady cyclists. But I digress. I also started to use my bike to commute around Sydney. When some bastards stole the green bike, I bought a red Avanti Montari, which is also a hardtail mountain bike. I named her Max, and she has emigrated with me to the UK. I took her for a few spins around Birmingham, making it along the canals to Stratford-upon-Avon and also a round trip taking in Kenilworth Castle. I also purchased a silver Birdy fold-up bike, which I used quite a bit in the Netherlands. Sadly, since moving the London I haven't really been able to keep up the cycling.

My enthusiasm has been reignited by Clare Balding's rather lovely little six part BBC TV series Britain By Bike. I caught up with them via BBC iPlayer and I've invested in the book (written by Jane Eastoe).

The series is based on the post-WW2 writings of Harold Briercliffe, a journalist and keen cyclist who published a series of travel guides in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Balding's taken these books as a starting point and followed his wheels, on one of his old bikes. That was a nice touch, actually.

It's the countryside that grabbed me, and Balding's enthusiasm for it. I want to make one of my next holidays the Exmoor Cycle Route. The Isle of Wight also beckons, as do the Scottish Highlands (so close to the Isle of Skye), and the Cotswalds. I've been to Haworth, but by car, so perhaps by bike would be a real treat.

This series reminded me of the BBC's series based on the books by Alfred Wainwright. Presented by Julia Bradbury, those series introduced me to that other writer who was also a fell walker and sketcher of some pretty amazing parts of the world. The difference with Balding's biking series is that she took the time to stop off the saddle and check out some of the stories in the places she's riding near. Bruce Chatwin is one of my favourite writers for his clean, precise, yet incredibly evocative style. I was amazed to see her stop at the place where he wrote On the Black Hill and spoke at length with his biographer.

I heartily recommend this series to dip into. Rather pleasantly, there's no need to watch them in order. Equally as pleasantly, they're not repetitive. The overall feel is like an amiable chat, with very pleasant views, and a few fun facts about literature, geography and history. It's balanced between not being taxing on the intellect, yet also not treating the audience like idiots with barely any attention span.

Little update on a story connected with this: a columnist in the UK's Sunday Times (no link because it'll take you to a site where you have to pay) reviewed this series in July and used the opportunity to disparage Clare Balding on the grounds of her sexual orientation. Balding complained to the UK's Press Complaints Commission, who in September upheld her complaint, saying that the words used were gratuitous and demeaning.

Clare Balding said:

"It was important for me and, crucially, for millions of other people quietly going about their work, to make the point that we deserve to be judged on our ability to do our jobs and not on the basis of our race, religion, gender or, in this case, sexual orientation.

"I would like to thank all those who offered their support via e-mail, letter and Twitter - they gave me the strength to stand up and be counted.

"I hope that this decision shows we are moving on from the days when derogatory comments about a person's sexuality were regarded as clever or funny."