increasing number of stone circles dating from Neolithic to Bronze Age times . I had originally thought these numbered no more than 20 or 25 , but the reality was closer to 50 , with more than 30 of these being suf�iciently intact to merit inclusion in my route . The realisation began to dawn that I was now contemplating a walk of at least two weeks if I was to do all the circles justice . And so I thought of doing it on my mountain bike , a rather long-in-the-tooth Specialized Rockhopper of 1980s vintage , from the days when I was publishing how-to books about the new cycle craze from California .
And then I remembered Norwegian Wood and decided to explore making the journey on an electric bike . It feels an age ago , but some may remember that �itnessrelated shops were permitted to carry on trading during lockdown . Indeed , a friend with a cycle shop in Carlisle had done a brisk trade throughout the COVID months , selling cycles just as fast as he could get them in through the door and assembled for sale . Strong demand was further aggravated by supply chain issues and there was no guarantee I ’ d be able to get the kind of bike I wanted . My friend only had a couple of electric machines in stock when I visited and I ’ d need to make a decision pretty much then and
The more I cycled the more my confidence in the machine grew
there if I wanted one . I rode the �irst machine round the back streets of Carlisle and it was pleasant enough , but my pal had forgotten all about the mean black machine lurking at the back of his shop . It proved to be love at �irst turn of the pedals , as I felt the extra power from the motor adding a real kick . The machine was a Chinese-made Giant hybrid : �ine on the road but with decent off-road capability too . It might be days or weeks before my friend got another one : we agreed a price and soon I was a four-�igure sum lighter in the wallet but the proud owner of an 18-speed machine I quickly dubbed The Beast . I sorted my circles , ring cairns and henges into a route that would take me around the Lake District in a kind of star�ish shape and began to practise on the many cycleways on County Durham ’ s one-time railway network . The more I cycled the more my con�idence in the machine grew : I ordered paniers and a handlebar bag with a see-through panel for my meticulously copied map fragments . I elected to make the journey across six days of no more than 50 miles cycling per day , about half of it off-road to a greater or lesser extent , and found accommodation for the �irst �ive nights after the end of lockdown in May of last year .
May 2021 began with unseasonably cold and wet weather and on my very �irst day my
outdoor focus / summer 2022 15