TV: "Britain by bike", 20 July 2010!

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TV: "Britain by bike", 20 July 2010!

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1GirlFromIpanema
Jul 19, 2010, 4:58 am

Just found this via my online TV recorder:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t4lqf
Tomorrow, Tue, 20 July, 20.30 h (GMT) on BBC4

"Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to re-discover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle.

In a six-part series, Clare follows the wheeltracks of compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guide books of the late 1940s lovingly describe by-passed Britain - a world of unspoiled villages, cycle touring clubs and sunny B roads.

Carrying a set of Harold's Cycling Touring Guides for company and riding his very own bicycle, Clare embarks on six iconic cycle rides to try and find the world he described - if it's still there."


If you're outside the UK (like me), your chance to see this is something like the Online TV Recorder:
http://www.onlinetvrecorder.com/ (change language to English in top right corner). Works perfectly for me.

You need to join before the time of the broadcast though: Only shows broadcast within the timeframe of your membership *and* programmed for recording by you may be downloaded (to keep the service legal).

2reading_fox
Jul 19, 2010, 5:28 am

Thanks. looks fun.

I'd never heard of the Harold's Cycling, and it doesn't look like anyone on LT has either.

3thorold
Jul 20, 2010, 5:03 am

Interesting - there must be someone at the BBC who is haunting the secondhand bookshops looking for programme ideas: they've done shows based on Baedeker and Bradshaw recently, and I think there were a few others as well.

That's a very retro touring bike in the photo: toeclips, caliper brakes, friction(?) shifters on the downtube. Makes a change from pink-and-yellow Windcheetahs...

4thorold
Jul 22, 2010, 4:21 am

I managed to record and watch the show. Quite nice, but not a huge amount of cycling. Mostly just shots of her arriving or departing at interesting spots where she can interview someone, but there are a few clips of her pedalling along empty roads in blazing sunshine. The "unspoiled villages" in the first episode were Lynmouth, Combe Martin and Ilfracombe. Hmmm. Briercliffe's own bicycle from the 1940s was shown in one old photograph - unlike Clare's, it very obviously had a three-speed hub. Much more interesting to cycle in Devon with, I should think...

They seem to be trying to market Briercliffe as a cycling Wainright (complete with actor reading excerpts from the books in a BBC-generic-northern accent). As Briercliffe's books are all out of print, he obviously never quite had the same cult status as Wainright - I certainly hadn't heard of him before, and Google only returns items related to the TV show or a recently published Briercliffe tribute book (also called Britain by bike) by Jane Eastoe.

There are a few more cycling-related shows on BBC4 next Tuesday evening (27 July).

5reading_fox
Jul 22, 2010, 4:34 am

I know that part of the world,, and I certainly wouldn't want to cycle around there on a three speed! Although none of the hills are very high, they can be very steep, and there are an awful lot of them. They are hardly villages either!

6andyl
Jul 22, 2010, 7:02 am

I think Clare Balding was using an old Galaxy though. Maybe a 2x5 or 2x4 although I don't know what range of gear ratios those old setups tended to have. Apparently in an interview for Woman's Hour on Radio 4 she said the hills were hard with just 4 gears.

7GirlFromIpanema
Jul 22, 2010, 7:03 am

I downloaded and decoded the recording last night but apart from a few glimpses while cutting begin and end, haven't seen it. The landscape looks lovely, though.