To the North

My five mile cycle ride to Chippenham station is now a familiar one. At seven thirty on a cold winter-like morning I am cycling towards a still-low, and milky sun; only the winding of the narrow lanes and the high hedgerows which enclose me shield my eyes from its brightness. This is the start of my journey north towards Hadrian's wall. I am heading for a train to Bristol and then on to York where I will have a weekend stop in nearby Alne before another train to Newcastle and the start of my ride. 

With the exception of the usual difficulties when trying to store a bicycle in the undersized and poorly designed bike storage areas on trains my trip proved uneventful and by early afternoon I was in York where I was met by Steve. Together we cycled the fifteen miles north to Alne. It was a pleasant route along wooded tracks and empty lanes with a stop in the quiet village of Newton on Ouse, all aging red brick buildings and greenery. As we sat under sunny skies in the garden of a pub with the village church opposite us across the lane I was struck by the quintessential Englishness of it all, by the lack of cars parked along the narrow road and the settled calmness of a previous decade. We continued past the nearby approach lights of a silent and now closed RAF Linton on Ouse, lost somewhere across the fields, a throwback name to another time for both me and the Royal Air Force and two miles later we arrived in the tiny village of Alne and, for me, a weekend of rest.