cycling
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Reliability
Bracken unfurls skywards, sun salutations, as bluebells fade. White speckles, firework sparkles of blooming cow parsley. Box cut hedgerow all splintered angles and jagged shadows. A spaceman stands beside a silver space pod… oh hang on, a beekeeper next to a battered Ford. Shepherds HillFive ChimneysLimekiln ForestBrinkers Surfing ridges, seeing backwards and forwards, where I’ve…
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Chasse Aux Châteaux d’Eau
The tide must have dragged the ferry across the Channel as we’re kicked off earlier than usual, 4am. Another hours sleep would have been nice but stars speckle the sky indicating promising weather for the day ahead. A gentle climb twists out of Dieppe over the cliffs. A sweeping pulsing cone of light in the…
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Equinox
Pevensey Levels, reeds yield to the wind. Shingle scattered road by Cooden Beach huts. Turn under the railway bridge, north to Whydown Road and Straight Lane. Unfamiliar roads until I pop out in Hooe. Horsewalk back across the Levels. Herstmonceux Castle and Windmill Hill. The South Downs rise beyond the flat lands I’ll visit shortly.…
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Meet Me By The Water Tower (again)
Anyone who has followed this blog for a while will know that for over a decade I’ve ridden along the coast from Brighton where I live to Newhaven to hop on the ferry to Dieppe and cycle on quiet roads and eat good pastries. Water towers are a recurring motif across the northern France landscape…
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Ride ‘zines
Recently I’ve made a handful of ‘zines based on bike rides over the years. The Picos and Nyhavn first appeared on this blog but I’ve edited or re-written the text extensively. All of them are A6 folded booklets that unfold to A3 with maps, photos and/or words on the reverse side. Full colour digital print…
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Glimpses
Solstice ride in Normandy. 243km, a Holga and a single roll of 120 film. Playing with ideas for a set of screenprints or maybe another book.
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The shortest straightest line rarely beckons
There’s a stream that runs by the office where I work. The Winterbourne, its name a clue. It runs high and fast when the South Downs saturate and the chalk aquifers deep inside overflow. It’s an indicator of conditions on the Downs and it helps me decide my cycle commute. The office is in Lewes,…
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Passing Through
Some of the half-frame 35mm photographs from the French ‘Randonneur Round The Year’ rides will be included in a Brighton Photo Fringe exhibition between 16 and 20 October. The show is at Regency Town House in Hove, open between 11am and 5pm. Further details on the Photo Fringe website. Copies of the photo book 2704…
the man from icon 