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The flat East


The hills in the distance are the North York Moors, which I am trying to circumvent. Hutton Rudby. This is the kind of flat landscape that I'm hoping for. The shortest route around the hills is that taken by the A19. It does have narrow strips along the s... Just a house. I've taken a short cut, which seems to be part of some kind of coast-to-coast route. It's nice and flat but the track isn't very good. Wheat. Northallerton, the administrative centre of North Yorkshire. Northallerton. A place to eat some of the food that I've just bought, and to book a hotel for tonight. Beans? Thirsk. He's got a lot of cuddly toys on that motorbike. Also, there seems to be a remarkably large police p... The James Herriot museum, in the building where James Wight worked as a vet and wrote the books. Thirsk. A pretty old house and a milestone. There would be milestones all along the road from here to York, ... There's no room for art on this roundabout. The Clifton area of York. According to a sign this is the Burton Stone. It is thought to be the base of an old cross and when ... The Burton Stone pub has one of those yellow Tour de France bikes. I get the impression that York City FC don't get many visitors. This is the sign pointing towards th... This is the sign one street away. York City's ground, Bootham Crescent, is there on the left. I've found a name stranger than the Whitby Morrison Ice Cream Van Stand. This is the Prostate Cancer... This part of the ground looks a little run down. Like Accrington Stanley, whose ground also looked p... The front entrance looks better. First game 1932. Capacity 7872. Record attendance 28123. 51. York City... Bootham Crescent, which gives its name to the ground. Approaching one of York's medieval gates. The gate, with some tourists climbing the stairs to walk around the city walls. There are probably quite a few people reading this who know more about York than I do. York Minster. York Minster. Near the Minster. Near the Minster. York. York. York. The sign on Starbuck's isn't terribly accurate. York. York. I hadn't been intending to go down the shambles because whenever I've been there in the past, it has... Tourists reading about the Shambles. Miriam from the Netherlands said that she had been looking for something in a wool shop in the Shamb... The Shambles. Nothing here is very level. The Shambles. York. I've noticed on this trip that it's often hard to tell whether or not a Subway restaurant is open. T... York has some unusual names for roads. I'm afraid I didn't go looking for Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, whic... This little bridge has a kind of Dutch feel to me. What? Eh? This is a different petrol station, where I've come to find somewhere dry to look at my map in the t... On the first day of this trip, where I kept seeing the number 116 everywhere, I was worried that it ... Tonight, my bike will be staying in here. The bike's garage The motel. By the way, if you're interested in my review of this Huawei whatever-it-is G7 phone, it'... These biscuits don't fit. Monday. Day 17. There's a little bit of mist around at the moment. The main road which I used for th... Having planned today's route, I see that the terrain around here isn't quite as flat as I had hoped.... That's a slightly awkward place for a notice board. It's a toposcope showing what you would be able ... You don't often see roundabout bike signs. Scenery. The road. More scenery. The road towards South Dalton. Somehow, in taking this picture I managed to disorientate myself and ... Beverley Minster in the distance. Some silos. The previous two pictures were both close-ups from this scene. This stretch of road has several horses grazing by it. These horses probably belong to the same place. In the early 20th century, many British cities had their own telephone companies, which in some case... The KC Stadium, also known as the Circle, seen across its vast car park. Somebody exercising in the park. The local pub, bearing the crests of the two clubs based at the stadium. The approcach to the main entrance. First game 2002. Capacity 25400. Record attendance 25030. I have two issues with this stadium. The first is that it's shared by two clubs, called Hull City an... Hull City are known as the Tigers. ... 52. Hull City... The Circle. Hessle. Heron Foods is a local supermarket chain. I saw one in York yesterday. I'm back on the Trans-Pennine Trail again, this time near its East end and heading West. On my American trip in 2007, I showed you the bridges which had held the record for the world's long... The Humber Bridge. The bridge deck is passing across the upper part of this picture, behind the trees. The underneath. A view from the bridge. There's a line of flotsam stretching into the distance. I wonder whether it has collected in the bou... Hull City's stadium, seen from the bridge. Looking towards the docks. The view towards my next target, Grimsby. The bridge. The bridge. One of the supports. I'm back into the world of normal telephones now. A train snaking its way onto a side track. The little station of Brocklesby Junction. I was intending to go that way but it turns out to be a footpath, not a bridleway. I didn't know it was called Great Grimsby. Blundell Park, the home of Grimsby Town. I watched them play at Aggborough, the first ground on my l... Somebody doesn't want their tree. There is soil right across the road from where it has obviously be... First game 1899. Current capacity 9546. Record attendance 31651. This ground has clearly signed bike parking. Adverts for the fish market and a shipping company. Fishing is big business in Grimsby. I read that ... 53. Grimsby Town... In contrast to Hull City, Grimsby Town have, in my opinion, a very good choice of sponsor. Young's, ... Findus is part of the same group of companies. Cleethorpes Imperial Flying Club is based in the next street to the football club, rather than anywh... Two old mechanisms outside a church. Laceby. The building on the left used to be the Post Office. It seems from the sign that the one on ... They must have been worried about somebody stealing the floodlights. I've stopped to check the map. This is the view forewards... ... to the right... ... and to the left. This is Humberside Airport, where a twin-prop plane took off over me as I was r... Brigg. There's a lot of algae on the river. Several times on this trip, I've finished riding too late to find any food anywhere. Today is differ... While I was shopping, I could periodically hear what sounded like large amounts of steel being dropp... I don't think anybody is going to steal that tonight. I'm taking the other wheel to my room to chang... My room last night was very steamy because I forgot to open the window so my clothes didn't dry prop... I've come across town to Scunthorpe's ground, Glanford Park, without my luggage and before breakfast... Apparently, Scunthorpe is the UK's biggest steel processing centre, which surprised me as I thought ... I see they have the same sponsors as York. This ground was opened in 1988, the year before the Hills... 54. Scunthorpe United... They aren't locked. In fact, it looks like there's a bus route which goes through here. A lot of bins near my hotel. Although nowhere on today's route is more than 75 metres above sea level, the road is constantly ris... More scenery. In Sheffield, I put some extra air in the tube and within a few hours, it had burst on its inside ed... For the first few kilometres, this road had a nice wide strip for me to ride on outside the white li... An impressive old gateway. I wondered why this road well outside any towns had double yellow lines, and why it was curved when ... York Minster didn't reveal itself until I was very close to it. Lincoln Cathedral is different. Here... The gate to Lincoln isn't quite as impressive as the one to York. Lincoln. The footpath has had to be kept at the medieval ground level so that people can get through the arch... Lincoln. Lincoln. You can't stand back to get a view of the face of the cathedral because of that archway. Lincoln Cathedral. The castle. Some tourists up a tower. I think he's seen me. The next part is quite steep. See. Lincoln. Lincoln. Lincoln. The modern city centre. The gate at the South side of the city. The railway line comes right across the main shopping street. A footbridge is under construction. It looks like the Argos and the Wetherspoon's are both trying to resemble whatever establishments we... The water here is Sincil Dyke. The road next to it is Sincil Bank... ... which is the name of Lincoln City's football ground. First game 1895. Capacity 10120. I don't ha... 55. Lincoln City... That's a strange thing to have here. Clearing Sincil Dyke. Sincil Bank. I chose a short ride for today so that I could finish before the rain came. Then I spent ages doing ... This was my attempt at getting a picture of the flag of Lincolnshire. The headwind isn't that strong... Some artwork on a short stretch of cycleway to avoid a busy roundabout at Sleaford. It didn't strike me as unusual when I saw it on the Sincil Bank stadium but now that I see it on a s... This is where I'll be staying tonight. I think I managed today quite badly really. I've ended up wit... It's a nice big room. There's plenty of coffee with the kettle, unlike in some recent hotels, and a ... The view from my room at night. I don't think I've had a napkin ring at breakfast before. I think the rain has gone now so it's back on the road. On the horizon, you might just be able to spot a caravan on the A15. Bourne. Bourne, featuring another branch of Heron Foods. In pog form! A bridge into the park in Bourne. Bourne. Market Deeping, where the view, like the ability of those cars to get out of the car park, is rather... I've come in here for the sweets but this place also has a ladies hairdresser off to the left, a gen... Market Deeping. I was amused at those cycle route signs being quite so high up a lamppost. It looks like the buildings in Peterborough have grown over time while retaining their original colo... Peterborough. Peterborough. A nautical-looking building next to the River Nene in Peterborough. London Road, home to Peterborough United. First game 1913. Capacity 15315. Record attendance 30096.... 56. Peterborough United... Near the stadium. London Road. A train going into a curve. The A15 out of Peterborough is less busy than I expected. A different road which goes straight to th... The A15. An eyecatching block of flats. Next to the crossing for pedestrians and cyclists is this crossing for horses. The upper push-button... It's familiar but slightly different. For about an hour, I will be riding on this road, the old A1, which runs alongside the modern A1(M) ... An old milestone from when this was called the Great North Road. The writing is badly worn but it sa... A more modest milestone. A marina off the River Great Ouse between Huntingdon and St. Ives. Houghton. St. Ives. Just a building in St. Ives. The monument says that it was erected for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. I knew that Oliver Cromwell came from Huntingdon and was that town's member of parliament but accord... For about 20 km, I will be riding alongside this guided busway, which runs from St. Ives to Cambridg... I'm now into the kind of low-lying countryside where a flood is the main reason why a path would be ... The sails were going round. The busway and cycle path. A guided bus. You can see the little wheels under the front which run along the inside of the concre... Bike parking at the Cambridge Science Park stop on the busway. By the River Cam. The River Cam in Cambridge. It seems common for parks in Cambridge to have cows grazing in them. I've seen them on previous trip... By the river. A couple of weeks ago, I explained that modern game of soccer is derived from the Cambridge Rules of... I don't know exactly where within the park those early games were played but I would guess that it w... 167 years on, people are still having a kickabout here. This lapmpost, known as the Reality Checkpoint, is a feature of Parker's Piece. The origins of its n... The fire station. Okay, here it is: my nemesis: the Abbey Stadium. This is the one which I'm least confident in being ... The main entrance is this way. The Abbey Stadium. The stand is the building on the far side of the fence. I think this might be as close as I can get ... The entrance to another park. Oh, hello? This is a bit of a chink in the armour. All the rest of the way round, the ground is surr... 57. Cambridge United... I'm surprised to have bagged that one. That's 57 done, 59 to go. People flying a kite in a park. The Abbey Stadium in the distance. I'm amazed that my unpowered journey is still going. I've always tried to avoid any lifts or escalat... Newmarket racecourse. Newmarket. I knew Newmarket is heavily associated with horses but I didn't expect to see quite so many of them ... There was a constant procession of horses going round this circuit, with more streams of horses bein... Horses. I've read about a man from Newmarket who is curently in the process of doing something a bit like my... It looks like this entire grass area, as well as quite a lot of the rest of the landscape around her... Ah, "By road" signs. I had forgotten about these. They are common in East Anglia but not e... Where a railway line used to be. Pigs. The village green in Great Livermere. As I rode past a place called something like Coney Weston House, I got a glimpse of the driveway and... ... and the long driveway to the next set of gates is lined with American flags. I don't know why. T... Riddlesworth Hall. I'm definitely in pig country now. Three little pigs. A house in East Harling. The Post Office. There's been some severe tree surgery here. Hmmm. The American connections continue. Here's a plane with USAF markings. Part of Snetterton motor racing circuit. The Tour of Britain will be passing through Attleborough in a couple of weeks. Almost every business... It seems natural for the haberdashery shop to have one... ... and one of these belongs to a bike shop, which incidentally was receiving a large delivery of bi... ... but this one is a bit weird. More. Very hilly, Norfolk. That looks like it must be part of the old city wall.... Norwich's statue animal of choice is a dragon. I like this one with a map of the world on it. Norwich has a very square castle, and a bike-only branch of Halfords, which isn't something I've see... Norwich. It looks like the cinema has a restaurant in the upstairs part. Approaching Carrow Road, my reason for coming to Norfolk. The River Wensum and the stadium. I've been there. Carrow Road. First game 1935. Capacity 27224. Record attendance 43984. It's the home of Norwich City... The extraction chimney from the "Yellows" restaurant doesn't look long enough. The fumes h... They have their own dragon in club colours. 58. Norwich City... It's a large and quite messy building. This looks like another bit of the old city walls. The control room for a lifting bridge. Been there. I have now visited half of the 116 clubs on my list so if I see something like this from... Now here are some opening windows! A look at the scenery from where I have just had to come off the road to get out of the way of a pol... Yet again, rain clouds have made it go dark a good hour before sunset. I've been on a lot of roads today which have been compacted gravel with signs saying that the resurf... My bike locked up for the night. There's certainly no shortage of power sockets in this room. Unusually, I can make use of three of t... An unusual and unexplained set of newspaper covers in the corridor leading to the hotel's attempt at... The Magpie pub has gone for a similar form of advertising to the Green Man and Black's Head in Ashbo... After about 25 km on a nasty busy main road, I'm suddenly on this. Scenery. When the seagulls follow the trawler... The Portman Road entrance to a church in Ipswich. Ipswich. Portman Road. First game 1884. Capacity 30311. Record attendance 38010. Home to second division Ipsw... It's one of the grounds which overhangs the surrounding roads. Portman Road has stands named after Bobby Robson and Alf Ramsey, both of whom managed Ipsich Town at... 59. Ipswich Town... These doors look even narrower than normal. Yes, thank you Mr. Robson. I can see where it is. Ipswich Town. Attached to the stadium. Ipswich railway station. Ipswich. Some sunflowers. More scenery. This looks like a little-used road. It was a shame to have to waste some of my height coming down th... Acorns. An expensive-looking restaurant. I happen to have got off to climb a hill next to this sign. I haven't yet checked how many of the pr... A bridge in the process of being closed off. The Colchester Community Stadium. First game 2008. Capacity 10105. Record attendance 10064. Home to Colchester United, who are current... I haven't seen a sign like this before. The Colchester Community Stadium. It's got a large seating area. 60. Colchester United... It's got a big car park too. The Colchester Community Stadium. This looks like the coach drop-off area. Thistles. The pitches get smaller as you come away from the stadium. Houses coloured in the Essex style. I wonder if there was some confusion about which was the Post Office. Today I saw branches of the East of England Co-op which used three different types of branding, incl... More interesting colours. This town is Coggeshall, whose football club had a banner proclaiming that... To use a phrase which I haven't had to invoke as many times as I expected to on this trip so far: Oh... My navigation has one slightly wrong now. I thought Braintree Town's ground would be here. The ground is behind the block of flats ahead. Fifth division Braintree Town's Cressing Road ground. First game 1923. Capacity 4151. Record attenda... No, I can't reach a stand this way. 61. Braintree Town... An old turnstile. I've just checked the aerial photographs online and the wall in the previous pictu... I haven't seen seats like these at any previous ground. There's an advertisement for a building restoration company but I can't tell whether they think they... I've sat in traffic several times looking at that tunnel. Now I've been through it. A green space where I've just had to do a bit of messing about with two of my phones to let my dad k... At a bridge over the railway. Why have I never noticed all these horse-related signs before this tri... The bridge. Oh, oh. I know! I've just worked out what these things are. They're so that you can get off a horse.... Another ploughing tractor. Beacon Hill. I've come the wrong way and found a rather good picture of some fish. A stream in Maldon. Maldon. It'll be tricky to get that out now. Maldon. Maldon's police station. My dad's wife in her garden. She's not deliberately hiding. I just thought this was the best picture... My dad. Sunset. Some scenery from a sligthly murky morning in Essex. Rayleigh. Southend Boys' School. Approaching Southend. Southend United's ground, Roots Hall. The first game here was in 1955, making Southend the last team... A window cleaner. The roofs of some of the Roots Hall stands. Roots Hall. That's where it's most tangible. 62. Southend United... A hole. Right, let's go. There's a pretty good cycle lane along the A127 all the way from Southend into Greater London. For s... I believe the most distant horizon is Kent. The Thames estuary is in one of the valleys. The towers of the QE2 Bridge at Dartford.