Back in the early 80's we had a bit of a left field cycle club....it wasn't too organised, though we did have a weekly Sunday meet at the Town Hall, then someone would pick a pub and a route and we'd head out. After a while you get a collection of pubs and routes and can decide which are better than others.
In 83 Arkells brought out the Arkell's passport, whereby you could get a stamp for visiting their pubs, then when you'd collected the lot you got free beer. We had a summer where we spent the evenings pedalling to out in the sticks Arkells houses.
It kind of developed and spiralled off in different directions....a couple of fellas decided to cycle round the world. We'd do holiday runs and weekends...and annual long routes, where we tried to get others people interested...the Wiltshire Cycleway becoming a favourite.
Good way of meeting birds as well....there's something about birds sweating on bikes. Victoria Pendleton
