Calderdale CTC

Graham Joyce – 50 Years of Cycle Touring

For someone born and bred in Motor City (Coventry, not Detroit), it may seem unusual that cycling became my passion, not cars. However, we should remember that it was Robert Starley who invented the modern bicycle and started production in Coventry. I rode a bike (or trike) from as long ago as I can remember, but got into club riding around the age of 13, after I progressed from a heavy Phillips 3 speed to my first hand built (531) ‘lightweight’ – a Pollard, made in Coventry. This took me on Sunday adventures with the Coventry Nomads to such far flung places as Stratford, the Cotswolds and the quiet lanes of Leicestershire. Having found other distractions (cars, girls, music etc) by the age of 17 it wasn’t until I moved to Huddersfield to study that my interest in cycling was re-kindled.  

I started venturing further afield with student friends into the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales. This led to some ‘epic’ day rides of 100 miles, then in 1978 a friend asked me if I fancied riding to Spain and Portugal for a summer holiday. Without thinking, I agreed and set off on my newly built Mercian riding to Plymouth to catch the ferry to Santander. It was an eventful six week tour of countries that had not long emerged from fascist dictatorships and were not popular cycling destinations, being relatively poor and lacking infrastructure away from the coastal resorts. We reached Porto, having crossed the Picos de Europa, and returned via the Pyrenees and through France, camping every night for 6 weeks.

I got the bug  and when I left University, facing unemployment , I took a one way flight to Los Angeles with my Mercian and a tent and set off cycling from Portland, Oregon to Jasper in British Columbia, coming home six weeks later.

Despite the complications of demanding jobs and raising a family, I managed to keep cycle touring over the years. Early tours were with my partner (pre-children) cycling from Paris to the South of France , crossing the Apennines of Italy, returning to Northern Portugal and venturing into Hungary and Czechoslovakia, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Living in mid Wales we went on tandem rides with children enjoying the traffic free lanes and stunning scenery on our doorstep.

Then, based in Brussels for a few years, I took advantage of our free movement across EU borders and explored Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands alone at weekends, using the superior (and cheap) train networks available. These remain some of my favourite countries for cycling and I’ve organised a couple of tours for CTC comrades, using my knowledge of routes and places to visit.

At the last count, I have cycled in 22 countries, including Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia (4 times), Bulgaria, Norway and New Zealand. There’s many more places I’d like to visit before I get too old but things may not be so easy in the future, for obvious reasons. Then there is issue of air travel and climate change. I love using trains to travel with my bike, but it is not always practical or affordable. I may have to content myself with returning to the stunning places within easy reach, including Wales, Scotland and Ireland, having toured extensively in these countries over the years. Having cycled the End to End in my mid 50s, I hope to do the Side to Side before I hit 70! 

The freedom of travelling by bike and camping, being self reliant, is truly liberating but I equally enjoy using hostels and other accommodation where you can meet like minded people. I can also recommend organised cycle tours, where someone else takes the stress out of organising routes, accommodation etc, but still enjoy planning routes of my own.