On the Ruffstuff

by J.Brian Beadle

Published 1 January 1995
"Cycling For Everyone" would have been a good title for this book, which is in simple terms what the author has tried to achieve. "On the Ruffstuff" offers 80 cycle routes with a varying degree of off-road content. Some traverse high and bleak moors of North Yorkshire and Northumberland, others use disused railway tracks so prevalent in County Durham and Derbyshire. There are tracks around reservoirs in the Peak District and through the beautiful parkland of the Dukeries in Nottinghamshire with their lakes and picturesque estate houses. There are routes over the fells of Cumbria and some tough cycling in the Yorkshire Dales. A chapter is devoted to the coast to coast Trans-Pennine Trail, an ambitious project linking Liverpool with Hull. Many routes are on disused railways converted to cycle tracks to provide links into the cities or used simply for social riding. Canal towpaths feature as cycle tracks in many areas, and the two in this book in Lancashire and Cheshire are particularly interesting.