Potholes and Pavements: A Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network

Author:   Laura Laker
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:  

9781399406468


Pages:   304
Publication Date:   09 May 2024
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Available To Order   Availability explained
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Potholes and Pavements: A Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network


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Full Product Details

Author:   Laura Laker
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Sport
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781399406468


ISBN 10:   1399406469
Pages:   304
Publication Date:   09 May 2024
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Flight 1. Falling out 2. Founding a network 3. Friendship and wayfinding on the Thames Path and Beyond 4. Back to the beginning on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path 5. Maps, a murderer and mud on the Kent and Sussex coasts 6. Millennium miles, moss and an omerta 7. Crime and accidental punishment on the Isle of Wight 8. Cycling across Cornwall with a shrub 9. Camel walk 10. Laker Close, and a reunion of sorts, in Somerset 11. Progress and flipping Boris the bird 12. Chris Boardman, Chester and the ‘least shit option’ 13. Gung-ho hand-cycling 14. The mystery of the Coalash Triangle 15. Thank goodness for Wales 16. Laker in the Lakes 17. Caledonian people power 18. The dream team 19. Ned Boulting on helmets and a helter-skelter of history 20. This path goes all the way to Liverpool 21. Going full circle 22. They take us because we need to go Coda Appendix: The founders of a network References Acknowledgements

Reviews

Just wonderful – two wheels good, Laura Laker brilliant. This book takes you on a trip to every corner of Britain, and you can feel every bump and groove on cycle lanes across the country. Inspiring ... part travel diary, part love poem to Britain’s cycle network. * Jeremy Vine * With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting * An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party * In a pedal-powered journey of discovery, Laura Laker tells the surprising story of how Britain got its bike paths: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Along the way she meets the early visionaries and today’s activists engaged in what’s become an unlikely new front in the culture wars. * Jack Thurston, author and host of The Bike Show podcast * Part travelogue, part history and part love story for cycling, Laura’s exploration of the National Cycle Network on her pink e-bike is an engaging tour of Britain’s erratic relationship with cycling. She beautifully illustrates why sustained funding and governmental leadership is urgently needed to transform these often-ignored routes into the national treasure we deserve. * Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner * A charming look at the literal highs and lows of Britain's occasionally ramshackle, occasionally incredible national cycling network. * Alexei Sayle, comedian and broadcaster * Potholes and Pavements is the story of the UK’s fitful, sometimes painful transformation from a car-dependent nation of villages, towns and cities into a connected, bikeable network of communities. Through the people, places and power struggles that produced today’s National Cycle Network, Laker reveals the social, health, environmental and economic possibilities that cycling offers a nation, and shows that the road ahead is actually a bike lane. * Janette Sadik-Khan, former New York transportation commissioner * An absorbing, and often surprising portrait of Britain’s cycleways, a call to arms for active travel – and a compelling history of the greatest national institution you’ve never heard of. * Emily Chappell *


Just wonderful – two wheels good, Laura Laker brilliant. This book takes you on a trip to every corner of Britain, and you can feel every bump and groove on cycle lanes across the country. Inspiring ... part travel diary, part love poem to Britain’s cycle network. * Jeremy Vine * With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting * An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party * In a pedal-powered journey of discovery, Laura Laker tells the surprising story of how Britain got its bike paths: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Along the way she meets the early visionaries and today’s activists engaged in what’s become an unlikely new front in the culture wars. * Jack Thurston, author and host of The Bike Show podcast * ...an awesome ride around the byways and backroads of the UK…a really thoughtful piece of writing…Laura is an amazing writer. * Mark Beaumont, long-distance cyclist, broadcaster and author * An absorbing, and often surprising portrait of Britain’s cycleways, a call to arms for active travel – and a compelling history of the greatest national institution you’ve never heard of. * Emily Chappell * Part travelogue, part history and part love story for cycling, Laura’s exploration of the National Cycle Network on her pink e-bike is an engaging tour of Britain’s erratic relationship with cycling. She beautifully illustrates why sustained funding and governmental leadership is urgently needed to transform these often-ignored routes into the national treasure we deserve. * Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner * Really eye-opening and instructive * Louise Haigh, Secretary of State for Transport * Entertaining and informative read that brings focus to some infrastructure that could be of even more benefit to society than it is – given the chance. -- Richard Peploe * Road.cc * A charming look at the literal highs and lows of Britain's occasionally ramshackle, occasionally incredible national cycling network. * Alexei Sayle, comedian and broadcaster * Potholes and Pavements is the story of the UK’s fitful, sometimes painful transformation from a car-dependent nation of villages, towns and cities into a connected, bikeable network of communities. Through the people, places and power struggles that produced today’s National Cycle Network, Laker reveals the social, health, environmental and economic possibilities that cycling offers a nation, and shows that the road ahead is actually a bike lane. * Janette Sadik-Khan, former New York transportation commissioner * The most important cycling book in the UK ... Laker manages to eloquently, and accurately, paint a warts-and-all picture of the National Cycle Network ... essential reading for every cyclist in the UK, and especially essential reading for all road engineers, and all politicians * Willcycle.com * … this book goes a long way to answering our cries of despair and delight – why the NCN is simultaneously so hopeless and so brilliant … Laker has had plenty of time and inspiration to pull informed thoughts and observation together * London Cyclist * The book explores the high and lows of the UK’s cycle infrastructure, from much-loved off-road links featuring sculptures, to bumpy rides that see [Laura] navigating the potholes and pavement of the title along with stretches of intimidating roads and muddy fields in the middle of nowhere * Cambridge Independent * A great book * Layla Moran MP * [one of] the urbanism books you should plan to read - Monocle.com


With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting *


Just wonderful – two wheels good, Laura Laker brilliant. This book takes you on a trip to every corner of Britain, and you can feel every bump and groove on cycle lanes across the country. Inspiring ... part travel diary, part love poem to Britain’s cycle network. * Jeremy Vine * With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting * An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party * In a pedal-powered journey of discovery, Laura Laker tells the surprising story of how Britain got its bike paths: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Along the way she meets the early visionaries and today’s activists engaged in what’s become an unlikely new front in the culture wars. * Jack Thurston, author and host of The Bike Show podcast * An absorbing, and often surprising portrait of Britain’s cycleways, a call to arms for active travel – and a compelling history of the greatest national institution you’ve never heard of. * Emily Chappell * Part travelogue, part history and part love story for cycling, Laura’s exploration of the National Cycle Network on her pink e-bike is an engaging tour of Britain’s erratic relationship with cycling. She beautifully illustrates why sustained funding and governmental leadership is urgently needed to transform these often-ignored routes into the national treasure we deserve. * Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner * A charming look at the literal highs and lows of Britain's occasionally ramshackle, occasionally incredible national cycling network. * Alexei Sayle, comedian and broadcaster * Potholes and Pavements is the story of the UK’s fitful, sometimes painful transformation from a car-dependent nation of villages, towns and cities into a connected, bikeable network of communities. Through the people, places and power struggles that produced today’s National Cycle Network, Laker reveals the social, health, environmental and economic possibilities that cycling offers a nation, and shows that the road ahead is actually a bike lane. * Janette Sadik-Khan, former New York transportation commissioner *


With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman *


With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting * An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party * In a pedal-powered journey of discovery, Laura Laker tells the surprising story of how Britain got its bike paths: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Along the way she meets the early visionaries and today’s activists engaged in what’s become an unlikely new front in the culture wars. * Jack Thurston, author and host of The Bike Show podcast * Part travelogue, part history and part love story for cycling, Laura’s exploration of the National Cycle Network on her pink e-bike is an engaging tour of Britain’s erratic relationship with cycling. She beautifully illustrates why sustained funding and governmental leadership is urgently needed to transform these often-ignored routes into the national treasure we deserve. * Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner *


With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting * An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party *


With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman * Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting * An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party * In a pedal-powered journey of discovery, Laura Laker tells the surprising story of how Britain got its bike paths: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Along the way she meets the early visionaries and today’s activists engaged in what’s become an unlikely new front in the culture wars. * Jack Thurston, author and host of The Bike Show podcast *


Author Information

Laura Laker is one of the most respected cycling journalists in the UK, with decades of experience and unparalleled connections across politics and campaign organisations. She co-hosts the Streets Ahead podcast with Adam Tranter and Ned Boulting, is the co-founder of Active Travel Media Awards, and has written for the Guardian, Sunday Times, road.cc, Cyclist, Cycling Plus and many others. She contributes to the Guardian's popular bike blog. @laura_laker

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