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

by Laura Laker

'Just wonderful – two wheels good, Laura Laker brilliant. Part travel diary, part love poem to Britain's cycle network ... it's difficult not to be inspired by this fabulous book.' 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

A unique journey around the UK's National Cycle Network and one journalist's quest to investigate the state of our country's cycling.

What if we were less reliant on our cars? What if there were safe cycling paths to take us places instead? What if those paths led to the next town, the next village and the countryside beyond?

This was the dream of a group of Bristolian idealists in the 1970s when they founded Britain's National Cycle Network, which now runs to nearly 13,000 miles across the country. Journalist Laura Laker sets off on an odyssey around the UK to see where the NCN began, and where it is now.

What has gone right – and wrong – with this piece of national infrastructure? Why is it run by a charity whose CEO once admitted 'we've had enough of it being crap, we need to fix it'? Laura lifts the lid on this maddening, patchy, and at times dangerous network, and the similarly precarious politics and financing that make it what it is.

She discovers beauty, friendship and adventure along the way, from the Cairngorms to Cornwall, from the Pennines to the South Wales coast. On her mission to pin down what the NCN is and what it means to those who use it, she also meets up with high-profile travelling companions, including Chris Boardman and Ned Boulting.

In a country where 71% of trips are less than five miles, two thirds of Britons say they want to cycle more and doing so could help our climate, health and wellbeing. Laura is on a mission to see if we can make that dream a reality.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cycling, Urbanism, Travel, Urban Planning, Bicycles

303 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2024

Reviews

[Isaac Wade · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me just not a page turner. Very niche, written about in an ok way. Some great tidbits in there but not cover to cover full of a rich history of the NCN or interesting anecdotes

[Andy Lopata · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book, and I’ve not even been on a bike since 1996!

It’s a mixture of travelogue, reportage and campaign document and all beautifully written. There are some very interesting insights, engaging interviews and, throughout, an increasing sense of frustration and the short-sightedness and incoherence of Britain’s approach to cycling.

My one complaint is the lack of photos. Laker references taking pictures several times and she paints pictures with words so well. It would be nice to see images of some of the scenery she describes and the people she introduces us to.

This book has given me a different perspective into the challenges facing cyclists around the countries and, as a keen walker, more of a willingness to share paths with them rather than see them as a nuisance.

Maybe one day I’ll even get on a bike again!

[Martin Gilliy · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful !

[Anthony Frobisher]

Pedalling for Good

Laura Laker has written and ridden an extensive treatise of the state of the UK cycling and active travel infrastructure.
Well researched, enjoyable and insightful, Potholes and Pavements exposes the reality of the NCN - the national cycling network. It champions the pioneers who got the NCN underway through sheer bloody-mindedness and determination, ingenuity and don't give up attitude. It focuses on the best examples of cycling infrastructure across the country and the vast benefits this has on communities, physical and mental health, as well as economic growth. It shines a light on the continual underfunding, the haphazard awarding of budgets for projects and the frustrations faced when lack of good infrastructure deters people from being active.
A brilliant book that mixes travel with factual analysis. Laura Lakers shows what our active transport landscape is like currently and how and why it can be improved.
An important book and very enjoyable. Read this. Pedal on Laura. Chapeau!

[RunHikeBikeExplore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened as an audiobook
A very informative, interesting, and insightful book about the cycleways of the UK. The struggles and fights to install a much needed new way to travel around our villages, towns, and generally A-B. Up against landowners, drivers, local councils, national highways, etc. Unfortunately, I'm not the people who need to read (or listen to) this book in order for such things to happen, and those that do need to read it, to be enlightened, won't.

[Gary Harty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful tour of UK’s National Cycling Network

This is a remarkable journey and a labor of love. The NCN exists as bits and pieces, some of it very good, and some of it in horrible shape. But none of it would exist without the dedication of numerous volunteers and advocates pouring their hearts and souls into creating an opportunity to travel actively. Met these people in this memorable journey.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

An affectionate portrait of the national Cycle Network. Telling stories of the deep pleasures of cycling on the network and in the UK, the frustrations of inadequate infrastructure unsupported by political will, and the champions who have built ways and enabled communities to ride on them.
Laura’s commitment and personality shine through. Sometimes we see a haste in writing under the pressure of freelance life.

[David James · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent potted history of Britain's National Cycle Network, focusing on the human stories that got the network built. Potentially a dry topic, which Laker makes very interesting. An essential for all interested in walking, wheeling and cycling.

Listened via audiobooks and would definately reccomend this.

[Michael Hillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laker is passionate about the National Cycle Network (NCN). Passionate about what it is, what it could be, what it should be but isn't. Partly "political" polemic, partly a history of the NCN, and partly a travel account of her cycling around the UK (though she apologises for not getting to Northern Ireland) meeting people associated with the NCN.

[Gill]

Came across a great article by Laker about the Strawberry Line (https://www.theguardian.com/environme...), with a footnote about her book.

[P Balfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book

Never really read cycling books, i am an avid cyclist, but find them a bit boring sonetimes but this book was brilliant, well thought out, impeccably reaserched with a fine tooth comb and taught me a few things about the NCN

[Nathalie Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be decided if it's a 3 or 4 later on (3.5).
In some ways an excellent account that never got boring, in other ways a decent book that was never exciting. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if non-cyclists would get much from it.

[Rauno Villberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely motivational - here's hoping that local politicians the world over give it a read.

[Tom Bower · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equal parts depressing and optimistic about the state of cycling in the UK and how far we still have to go.

[Arran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and insightful examination of a woefully underfunded and misunderstood infrastructure God send. All wrapped up with anecdotes and observations. Just brilliant.

[Harry Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about the history and revolution of the national cycle network. Thoroughly enjoyed this candid story of the network that felt a little autobiographical at times too.

[Stu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book! Honest, positive and inspiring.

[Felicity · Rating 2 out of 5]

With her repeated references to her pink electric bike, her preference for cycling in a dress, and her insistence on carrying a pot plant on a long-distance ride, the author of this survey seems keen to establish her credentials as a dedicated amateur. In challenging the urban myth that serious cyclists wear lycra, however, she is merely flogging a long-dead hobbyhorse. Unlike the nineteenth-century female founders of the Rational Dress Society, Laker enjoys the freedom to wear and to ride whatever she likes. Her breezy 'human interest' approach to the tortuous development of the NCN produces more anecdotes and impressionistic observation than substantiated evidence not already in the public domain. With the notable exception of her account of the obstacles encountered by the hand-cyclist Isabelle Clement, Laker's idiosyncratic book promises more than it delivers. Indeed, I received it with as little enthusiasm as her sister showed for the wilted pot plant.

[Paul Bevan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating history and reflection on one of the UKs most underrated assets

Although I’ve used bits of the National Cycle Network many times, I had no idea how varied and unstructured a history it had but this isn’t a pure history of the NCN. Instead, Laker looks at a wide variety of cycling views and experiences and pokes at questions around who is responsible for building cycle infrastructure and making cycling a success.

The book is written in a very accessible way, part travelogue and part light history. The author is clearly frustrated that the glimpses of high quality cycle paths on the NCN hasn’t spread and at times the whole network seems like a fragile hobby.

Well worth a read for anyone who wants to understand and explore cycling from a non-sporting perspective (I was surprised to see it was published by Bloomsbury Sport).