Birmingham – York : the route
So, in an hour or two’s time I’ll set off on a 200+ mile journey to cycle from Birmingham to York.
Birmingham to York, via a slightly lumpy bit
This project has its roots in the Duddeston Viaduct stretch of railway-line-that-never-quite-was, and so my route to York has been designed to incorporate several disused railway lines…
(click through to go to the images’ sources on Flickr)
Day 0
As part of the launch event, I invited people to accompany my on a ride to Longbridge.
Bournville College’s new campus is on the site of the old Rover car factory. I’ll possibly be part of a programme of artist residencies taking place in the area later in the year, and as part of our initial discussions I heard about the railway line that used to service the plant.
Day 1
On my first day I’ll be cycling up the Harborne Walkway, the remnants of the Harborne Railway.
Day 2
On Tuesday I’ll be joined by Kim Wall and we’ll cycle up the Tissington Trail to Buxton in the Peak District.
Day 3
Wednesday: The High Peak Trail. Fortunately in the downward direction!
Later in the day we’ll also ride along the Silverhill Trail. [some images here]
Days 4 & 5
Here our route goes along the Trans Pennine Trail in places, including the rather marvellous sounding scale model of the solar system.
Effort
We’ll mostly be camping en route, so this is the sort of load I’ll be carrying:
I’m not sure how much it weighs, but suffice to say I can’t lift the back wheel when my bike’s loaded up like this! I’m hoping I don’t encounter too many awkward gates along the trails…
Connection:
As I cycle, I’ll be transmitting data connected to the effort I’m making to the sculpture that’s currently on display at Bournville College. 30 minutes behind me, the sculpture will react to my speed, bearing, altitude, time spent journeying and total distance travelled. There’s also an indicator for the accuracy of the GPS signal the data is derived from. Spend some time with the sculpture and see what connections you make…
