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CYCLE TOURING,
OBSERVING
| WATERWAYS |
RAILWAYS |
TRAMWAYS |
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Cycled, observed and written by Terje Melheim.
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Part 1: Towards Llandudno and its
tramway
(If
you click on the framed photos you will get a larger picture.)
It
is nice
being a pensioner. You can make cycle tours when you feel like it, and
you don’t
have to go out cycling in the general holiday time when so
many
people are around. In April 2010 I decided to make a cycle tour in
England
and
Wales. I wrapped my bicycle in tarpaulin and made one piece of luggage
where
the frame was kept and one unit of luggage containing wheels,
mudguards
and luggage carrier. With one pannier bag I had altogether
three
pieces of luggage the weight of which did not exceed 20 kg, and I did
not have
to pay extra for my bicycle on the plane. Unfortunately the air lines
have
changed these luggage conditions, so I am afraid next year it will not
be so convenient
for a cyclist who travel light to reach the destination for his cycle
tour by
air.
At
the
airport of Manchester my friend Stewart met me. We have been pen
friends since
1963. We write each other letters and we see each other regularly, but
not so
frequently. My luggage and I were brought to Stewart’s home in a suburb
of
Manchester. Stewart, his wife Pam and I had a lot to chat about. Last
time we
had seen each other was in Norway in 2001. Next morning it was time to
unwrap my
bicycle
and assemble it. This operation takes about one hour. To go on a
cycle tour
is a lonely matter. It was more social to make a walk together with
Stewart and
Pam on this Sunday when they were both off work. Just behind
their house lies Peak Forest canal, a memorial from the first period of
industrialization in
England. On
the old tow path we could easily walk along. In fact it was very
pleasant. I
have of course been in England before, but I have never seen these
interesting
scenes of the old waterways. The canals have been cleaned up and
renovated during
the last decades. The canal we followed soon left the built up
area of
old factory buildings of red bricks, and we came to more
rural
surroundings. All the time we could stay on the old tow path.
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Sometimes typical long,
narrow
barges came gliding along on the canal. They did not carry goods as
they did in
old days, but they carried people who sailed along in their leisure
time. The
waterway wound its way under trees and over aqueducts. Even through
tunnels it
found its way. By means of locks it could go uphill and downhill.
I
soon realized that the tow path along the waterway was excellent to
cycle on. I
could
not go fast, but it was so quiet with no traffic and the scenery along
the
canal brought much variation. Best of all was that I could make my
route along
this canal in order to reach the goal of my next day – Chester. Next
morning I
could be seen cycling on the tow path, and I knew my way, for this was
exactly
the same tow path as I had walked together with Pam and Stewart
the previous
day.
I could
stay on the tow path almost to Marple, and from there I took the track
of a disused
railway that had now been converted into a cycle way. As I was cycling
along here
and heading for Macclesfield, I met two other cycle tourers. They said
they
stayed in a tent, but it is strictly forbidden in England to do wild
camping, so
this morning a man had turned up at their tent and said he would call
the
police, but the two cyclists said they did not stay overnight; they
were just
resting for a while. The cycle way and former railway led me to
Macclesfield. Fortunately,
Stewart had lent me a general survey map. By means of it I could
find my way
on secondary roads towards the west and to Chester. Alas, I
had to
admit that the traffic on English roads is much heavier than it was as
I
remember it from the 1960's. When I reached Middlewich I had also
reached the
edge of Stewart’s map. The only map I could use on my way farther to
the west
was a road map I had bought at a petrol station in 1968 for 1 Shilling
6 Pence.
The old map was almost of no use and I ended up taking the main road
towards
Chester. Suddenly I noticed a road sign to the left; Cotebrook. That
place was
on my map, and my old 1’6 map even showed small secondary or
tertiary
roads from
Cotebrook to Chester. Well, the map
still had its weaknesses, but I could ask people which way to go.
Along
these quiet roads I observed many daffodils. It was very nice and
pleasant
to see such a yellow floral abundance by the roads. In Norway
such
flowers are restricted to gardens and parks.
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My road took me
to
Waverton and
Shropshire Union Canal, and from there I followed the tow path right
into the
centre of Chester. After a
good night’s sleep at an hotel in Chester I seeked the beautiful
traditional houses which Chester is known for.
Out of the town
I
took the
road A 548 with nerve shaking traffic. At Queensferry I noticed a sign
pointing
to a
cycle way. If I had known better I could have followed that cycle
way
along
the river Dee all the way from Chester. After a couple of miles the
nice cycle
way ended, and I was again on the A 548, but here with much less
traffic.
Along the
north coast of Wales I was exposed to a cold and nasty northerly wind.
I
felt
the cold although I was moving physically along on my bicycle. It was
however quite early in April. This morning I had very optimistically
put on
short
trousers. Now I had to pull long trousers over them. An advantage with
the
northerly
winds was the clear sky and the good weather I could enjoy for almost
three
weeks in UK. At that time in April 2010 those northerly winds also
brought
ash clouds from Iceland. More about that later.
When I had
come to Prestatyn, I was so to speak on safe ground. I could dispose of
my 1’6 map
and I could take one of the excellent cycling maps from
Bartholomew,
half-inch Great Britain from my luggage. Those maps covered a larger
area and were
simultaneously sufficiently detailed. The Bartholomew-maps
are not made any
more,
and the map I used was again a nostalgic one from 1968. Modern new
roads were
of course not shown, and unfortunately, especially signposted cycle
ways
were not on
my map either.
From
the road high up above the coast I cycled down to Bae Colwyn. On the
promenade along the beach a cycle way had been painted on the asphalt.
From Bae Colwyn I had a short ride into Llandudno, which was my aim of
that day.
Do you believe I had cycled to Llandudno because of the attractive
resort position of that town? Not at all, my main objective for
cycling to that town was the Great Orme Tramway. Well, it is a tramway,
as it
runs on tram rails through the street but it is more like a funicular
railway,
like the ones we know from the Alps where two carriages are moved by
means of a
cable. The Great Orme tramway has its cable obscured in a split between
the
rails. On normal funicular railways the carriages have double flanges
on the
wheels on one side whereas the wheels on the other side have no
flanges. The
purpose of this construction is to navigate the carriages at the loop
where the
two carriages meet. The Great Orme Tramways has ordinary flanges. I was
wondering how the carriages can manage the navigation at half way
where
they have to run on separate tracks. A closer study showed a
simple point
that could be shifted to each side. The carriage going down left the
point in
right position so that the same carriage, when it was pulled uphill,
would find
the same track as on its way down. Another technical question
concerning the
running of Great Orme Tramway was: How was the cable placed above the
loop? On
other funicular cableways the cable is attached to each carriage a bit
to the
side of each other. In this way one length of cable will not rub the
other
length of cable. On the Great Orme Railway the cable is attached to the
carriages right in middle because below the loop the cable has to
fit into the gap between the rails, and therefore the two carriages
can not share the same track above the
loop. What I saw, was that above the loop the two carriages had been
moved to the side of one another. They do not share the same track.
They could
however
share a rail. In fact they did not quite share the rail either, what
they
shared was the narrow gap between two rails where the flanges of the
wheels
fitted in. Well, you see, not only traditional tourist attractions like
cathedrals and castles can be the objects to look at by cycle touring.
The Great Orme Tramway does not have such a long cable that it can haul
the passengers all the way up to Great Ormes Head. At halfway the
passengers have to change to another cable-hauled funicular railway,
but it was the lower cable way with street running that attracted my
attention.
At
Llandudno I stayed at a nice hotel run by a family from India. My room
was very
tiny but en suite. In the morning I was served a traditional English
breakfast.
How I love those English breakfasts with egg, bacon, sausages and may
be beans. Such a breakfast can keep a cyclists going for many miles.
Part
2: Towards Porthmadog and its railways
Part 3: Towards Llangollen and its
waterway
Part 4: Towards Crich and
Manchester and their tramways
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