BRIGHT IDEAS

Rob Ainsley is inspired by the longer, warmer days

Where I’m based in York, 2017’s longest day – Wednesday 21 June – lasts 17 hours, 8 minutes and 18 seconds. Your reaction to that news reveals your personality type:

Half-full optimist – “Brilliant, it’s summer!”

Half-empty pessimist – “Terrible. The nights will start drawing in!”

Pedant – “No, the latest sunset is on 24 June at 21:40:40. Nights only start drawing in then.”

Cyclist – “Right. We’ll do a quick spin along the river before breakfast, ride out to the pub in the evening, and do a throughthe-nighter on the Friday...”

All my best friends happen to be cyclists, which is probably why they’re my best friends. When we get together, every conversation ends up planning a route. ‘Barmouth to Yarmouth’ was one halfjoking result. It became a series of rhyming coast-to-coast rides: Barrow to Jarrow, Poole to Goole, Lynmouth to Teignmouth...

All of them super trips, plus they made people laugh, and inspired them to suggest more, like Rye to Cley. Sadly, boats to Skomer Island don’t take bikes, or I’d do a traverse from there to Cromer.

I’m enjoying a fabulous series of day rides at the moment from my front door in York, each one out to a compass point on the historic border of Yorkshire. (Okay, the idea might not feel sufficiently challenging in, say, Rutland.) It’s proving delightful: stunning scenery; vibrant people; the sight of rare, ancient traditions thriving, such as coal-fired power stations.

Any reason to ride is a good one. York City fan Simon Hood biked to all his team’s home and away games one season, and had a life-changing year. When two of my friends wanted to celebrate their joint 40th birthdays, they rode between Ordnance Survey grid references given by their initials and birth dates – Cadair Idris to Dartmoor, pleasingly. They had a wonderful trip. Another friend did all of England’s cathedral cities; he didn’t find himself, or God, but he did find a wife.

A friend did all of England’s cathedral cities; he didn’t find himself, or God, but he did find a wife

Some of these might seem arbitrary devices. But that’s kind of the point. In a land so full of stories, history and people – and Travelodges and Wetherspoons – you can pick almost any end points, and the journey between them will be a unique and inspiring adventure. You find yourself well off the beaten track, where cyclists never normally go. Especially when electricity works close the Sustrans path without notice and throw you on to the A174 next to speeding HGVs.

There are always new ways to look at familiar routes. We thought we knew all of Harrogate’s bike possibilities; but the prospect of taking kids gave us the excuse to explore them again, looking for childfriendly places to eat, things to do, and ways to avoid the nastiest traffic. The resulting squeals of delight, childlike enthusiasm and beaming faces made it all worthwhile. We must go back and do it with the kids some time.

Infrastructure-spotting is a splendid reason too: investigating that new crossing or cycle path that has been installed. It’ll be terrible, of course, but if you can stand around in a reflective top taking pictures, making notes and tutting, people assume you’re official, and meekly obey you when you say they can’t park there.

If you’re planning a big ride this summer on a big-ticket route – Lands End to John o’Groats, Sustrans’s C2C, whatever – fine. But let’s remember that when walkingguru Alfred Wainwright first suggested his coast-to-coast from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay (which inspired the C2C) it was with the idea that hikers would be inspired to create their own variation. His was only proof of concept.

Everyone slavishly follows Wainwright’s route, which defeats the point and strains local resources. Sure, it’s a fine trek, and I defeated the point myself in 2012. But when I emulated it by bike, I devised my own version – Ravenglass to Ravenscar, Lakes to North York Moors, one Esk dale to another. It proved one of the most memorable and satisfying rides I’ve ever done. So let the End-to-End charity groups fight over accommodation and train spaces. Instead, plan your own bespoke experience, maybe tonight with friends while in the pub. Britain in summer, with its rare combination of stuff to see, benign weather, and almost unlimited daylight, is ours to exploit.