A Cycling Year

Taking inspiration from an old map and her love of cycling, Heather Dawe spends a year exploring the roads and trails on her doorstep in and around Wharfedale in the heart of Yorkshire.

The map takes her from Otley to Scarborough by way of Knaresborough, the Wolds and the North York Moors, and from Hebden Bridge to Garsdale along the Pennine Bridleway, bivvying on the side of Ingleborough en route. Dawe rides to the Malham Show in late summer, takes winter rides to Masham and the Piece Hall in Halifax, and joines the crazy and wonderful Three Peaks Cyclo ‐ Cross. There is a chapter for every month of the year, each one telling the story of a bike ride.

Beautifully illustrated by Dawe’s, A Cycling Year also explores the ways in which other writers and artists have been inspired by cycling, nature and landscape, including Edward Thomas, Eric Ravilious and Rebecca Solnit.