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60 years ago, an extraordinary man called Clive Briercliffe | 0:00:02 | 0:00:05 | |
wrote a string of books about his great passion, cycling. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:10 | |
Now largely forgotten, | 0:00:10 | 0:00:12 | |
these overlooked gems were the culmination of a lifelong journey. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:15 | |
His destination? The whole of Britain on two wheels. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:19 | |
Over half a century later, | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
armed with one of his cycling touring guides and riding | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
his very own bicycle, a hand-built door supergalaxy, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
I will be retracing his tracks | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
to find the glorious landscape he loved. | 0:00:32 | 0:00:35 | |
I'm going in search of Britain by Bike. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
This is the stirring landscape of the Welsh Borders. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
Mile after mile of quiet cycling. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
Fabulous fertile farmland and peaceful valleys. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:10 | |
I'm in west Shropshire at the start of my 28-mile journey | 0:01:10 | 0:01:14 | |
through Border country and into Wales. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
Cycling author Harold Briercliffe described this area as being for the more discriminating cyclist. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:23 | |
He says the appeal is nearly all scenic, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
but it does come with a warning, because look at those hills. | 0:01:26 | 0:01:30 | |
Stunning, but not easy to ride up. Looking forward to the challenge. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:35 | |
Down the centuries, this landscape has shaped people's lives in dramatic ways. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
There are stories of hill farmers who worked the land. | 0:01:42 | 0:01:44 | |
Wealthy aristocrats who owned it, or lost it. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
And writers and poets who were inspired to great things by it. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
I will be encountering them all on my journey. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
My route follows just part of Harold Briercliffe's 309-mile tour | 0:01:55 | 0:02:00 | |
of the Welsh Borders, beginning in Shropshire, | 0:02:00 | 0:02:03 | |
travelling through some memorable country I'll be following | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
the course of the River Clun, heading west. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:09 | |
Then on towards the the Border, crossing Offar's Dyke and heading into Newtown, central Wales. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:15 | |
And we start here in Aston on Clun, where the villagers | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
have a very ancient and rather quaint celebration. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
In fact it's the only place in the whole country where this happens. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
Rochdale-born cyclist Harold Briercliffe wrote about it when he cycled through here in 1947. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:33 | |
At the centre of the tradition - a tree and a bride. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:38 | |
'Go westwards, climbing the short hill to Aston on Clun, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:44 | |
'where the bride's tree is decorated afresh every May 29th | 0:02:44 | 0:02:48 | |
'to commemorate a lady who gave a bequest to the poor at the village.' | 0:02:48 | 0:02:52 | |
Rosy Evans is Secretary of the Arbour Tree Committee. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
Hey, Rosie. Nice to meet you. So this is the famous tree? | 0:02:56 | 0:03:01 | |
Yes, this is the famous tree, here in Aston on Clun. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
Every year this black poplar is dressed in a ceremony dating back to pagan times - | 0:03:06 | 0:03:11 | |
the rites signifying a deep connection between people and the land. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:16 | |
How did the ceremony develop? | 0:03:16 | 0:03:19 | |
Ancient people worshipped Bridget, ancient goddess of fertility. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:23 | |
They prayed for... | 0:03:23 | 0:03:25 | |
large families and fertility for the land - good crops. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:28 | |
They would use what they called prayer strips, | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
or if they were very poor, | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
they might just use a bit of wool pulled off a sheep | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
and pray for their families and the land. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
A healthy family and a good crop have always been important, and for hundreds of years | 0:03:41 | 0:03:45 | |
informal tree-dressing festivals were celebrated throughout Britain. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
By the late 18th century the old customs were dying out, | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
but Arbour Day in Aston on Clun was given a new lease of life | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
when the son of a local landowner was married | 0:03:57 | 0:04:00 | |
on the same day as the festival. | 0:04:00 | 0:04:02 | |
In 1786 a local squire was married just down the road, | 0:04:02 | 0:04:08 | |
and on their way back from their wedding, | 0:04:08 | 0:04:11 | |
the tree was all festooned with flags and people were having lots of fun | 0:04:11 | 0:04:15 | |
and they were so taken within this, | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
they thought, "We must pay for the upkeep of this tree and the flags." | 0:04:18 | 0:04:23 | |
So they did. And they did it through their lifetime and they left a trust. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:27 | |
The generous couple belonged to the Marston family, the largest landowners in the area. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:33 | |
Tree-dressing fell out of favour elsewhere, | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
but thanks to the Marston bequest, it continued here and is still celebrated today, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:42 | |
with a very special song. | 0:04:42 | 0:04:44 | |
This is our recording machine. So when I wind this handle... | 0:04:44 | 0:04:47 | |
..you'll hear the song, with a bit of luck! | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
And you wrote this song? | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
-Yes. -Is this you singing it? | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
This is three of me singing it and all of the music parts. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
# Come see our famous black poplar | 0:04:58 | 0:05:01 | |
# With flags flying high in the sun | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
# Join in our Arbour Tree Festival | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
# In the village of Aston on Clun. # | 0:05:10 | 0:05:13 | |
When Harold cycled through the village in 1947, it was part of the Marstons' vast Oaker Estate. | 0:05:18 | 0:05:24 | |
They owned everything, including the local pub and almost every house in the village. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:28 | |
Sadly, just a few years later, the last heir to the Marstons' lands died suddenly and tragically. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:34 | |
The estate was broken up and sold at auction. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
For the first time, many of the villagers were able to take ownership of their own homes. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:42 | |
A land-owning dynasty was at an end | 0:05:42 | 0:05:44 | |
and the daily life of people in Aston on Clun was changed forever. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:50 | |
But the Arbour Tree Pageant, led by a bride and groom, continues, | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
so even though the great estate is no more, the Marston name | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
is remembered in the ceremony they helped to keep alive. | 0:05:57 | 0:06:01 | |
I can see why this area of the country appealed to Harold, and actually he says, | 0:06:02 | 0:06:07 | |
"This part of west Shropshire is remarkably unsophisticated, despite its many attractions." | 0:06:07 | 0:06:13 | |
That would have appealed to him. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:15 | |
He loves the simplicity of an area, if it's not too commercial. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
AE Houseman, the poet, | 0:06:20 | 0:06:22 | |
actually wrote about this area as the land of lost content. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:27 | |
He quotes Houseman actually in the guide. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
Referring more to the quietness and the solitude of the area, | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
"Clunton and Clunbury, | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
"Clunenford and Clun are the quietest places under the sun." | 0:06:36 | 0:06:41 | |
As I continue my journey towards Clunton, | 0:06:43 | 0:06:46 | |
the sense of calm conjured by the rhyme seems appropriate. | 0:06:46 | 0:06:50 | |
Although I'm not sure about Harold's route through peaceful Purslow. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:55 | |
Much has changed since Houseman wrote a Shropshire Lad, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
but it turns out that his feeling for the stillness | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
and sadness of this landscape was entirely instinctive. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
Many of the poems were written before he had even been here. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:12 | |
But one modern writer who did come here found plenty of inspiration. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:17 | |
Harold referred to this landscape as wild and stirring upland | 0:07:17 | 0:07:21 | |
and that vast track of charcoal forestry over there. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
That's called Black Hill and you'll find it in the title | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
of Bruce Chatwin's deepest and darkest novel - On The Black Hill. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
That is the house he stayed in when he started the book and that is the view that inspired him. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
Combining the philosophy of a nomad with the skills of a poet, | 0:07:38 | 0:07:41 | |
Bruce Chatwin was a much loved writer | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
who died young of an AIDS-related illness, | 0:07:44 | 0:07:47 | |
which he once claimed he contracted from a bat bite. | 0:07:47 | 0:07:51 | |
Back in 1979, Chatwin stayed in the coach house here at Coombe Hall, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:56 | |
working on a novel set in the Welsh Borders. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
On the Black Hill vividly evokes the lives of twin brothers struggling | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
to survive in the unforgiving environment of an upland farm. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:07 | |
Nicholas Murray is Bruce Chatwin's biographer and an expert on the influences that shaped his work. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:14 | |
So this is the landscape of the Welsh Borders, of course that was the backdrop to On The Black Hill | 0:08:14 | 0:08:19 | |
and this is the place where he spent some time writing the actual book. | 0:08:19 | 0:08:24 | |
He'd travelled and seen so much of the world. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
What do you think it was about this place that kept him rooted, | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
albeit for quite a short time, but actually held his focus? | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
It is important to think of this area as border country. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
It's at the edge of things, which for someone like him, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
who was a very divided and complex and edgy character... | 0:08:41 | 0:08:47 | |
..that probably attracted him. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:50 | |
He was a nomad, he moved from one place to the next. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:55 | |
And On The Black Hill you might say, "Look, this is a book | 0:08:55 | 0:08:58 | |
"about two Welsh hill farmers who never went out." | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
But that is the whole point. Because he was putting | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
his microscopic focus on two people | 0:09:04 | 0:09:06 | |
in this very traditional, rural landscape, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:10 | |
and looking at what happened to them when they were rooted in one place. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:14 | |
And the other thing that comes out very clearly is the harshness of landscape. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:19 | |
Yes, there was a sense of absolute unchanging life | 0:09:20 | 0:09:24 | |
and a very elemental life. The things that we take for granted, | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
flowing water and sewage and so on, | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
it was a tough existence there. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
I mean, when you look around at these beautiful Welsh hills, there is a soft rolling quality to them. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:40 | |
But in winter, it's a different story. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
And in terms of the farmhouse he writes about...? | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
Well, one feature which one might think is almost too good to be true is that one window | 0:09:48 | 0:09:54 | |
looks out on to England and one window look out on to Wales. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:58 | |
And that's very characteristic feature of the Welsh Borders - | 0:09:58 | 0:10:02 | |
that people are always crossing in the course of one day to do some shopping, | 0:10:02 | 0:10:06 | |
they will be going from England to Wales and back to England again. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:10 | |
And this sense of being between two cultures. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:12 | |
What is fascinating about the book is that it is a book written by if you like an English outsider, | 0:10:12 | 0:10:19 | |
about Welsh Border life, and you might expect the local population | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
would be a bit sniffy, but they loved it. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:27 | |
Even though if you read it carefully, it's not exactly flattering. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
There is a lot of greed and Cupidity and aggressiveness, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
as well as the beauty of the landscape. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
I think it is impossible almost to think of this area without | 0:10:38 | 0:10:44 | |
On The Black Hill coming in as some sort of point of reference. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
Chatwin's works were as vivid as his life. | 0:10:52 | 0:10:54 | |
And his early death robbed the world of a rare literary talent. | 0:10:54 | 0:10:59 | |
A writer with exceptional insight into the land | 0:10:59 | 0:11:02 | |
and the people who make their living from it. | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
This area of Shropshire was remote, | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
not just in the '40s when Harold Briercliffe cycled through, | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
but also in the '70s when Bruce Chatwin came to write his novel. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:15 | |
Both men were attracted by the area's rural seclusion, but I'm sure | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
for the people who live here, such isolation can be a mixed blessing. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:24 | |
Still on a clear day - and when you don't have to farm them - | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
the land, those hills, look harmless. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:29 | |
Except when I have to cycle up them, of course! | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
I can feel a down hill bit coming. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
I can feel it! | 0:11:36 | 0:11:38 | |
Up above the trees now, got to come down. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:45 | |
Got to come down. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
From Coombe Hall the route takes me over the shoulder of the Black Hill | 0:11:48 | 0:11:53 | |
and back down towards the River Clun. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:56 | |
Clun is a small town, mainly situated on a hill to the north side of the River Clun. | 0:11:58 | 0:12:03 | |
The village is a natural centre for the wild and varied region known as Clun Forest. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:09 | |
Below the town is a grand old bridge, | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
narrow and with pointed recesses that serve as vantage points | 0:12:11 | 0:12:16 | |
for the local worthies as they look for trout. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
Amongst those local worthies, a strange sight. | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
Harold must have wondered if he had cycled into the wrong century. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:28 | |
The early 17th century costume worn by certain elderly men in the town | 0:12:28 | 0:12:33 | |
signifies that they are almsmen. | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
And this is where those strangely-attired men lived. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:39 | |
The alms houses of Trinity Hospital, a place that speaks volumes about | 0:12:39 | 0:12:43 | |
the hardships of working the land in this beautiful border region. | 0:12:43 | 0:12:48 | |
Many farm labourers would have lived in tied cottages on estates like the Marston estate in Aston on Clun. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:54 | |
So when they grew too old to work, they lost both their jobs and the roof over their heads. | 0:12:54 | 0:13:01 | |
Trinity Hospital provided them with a home and still does. | 0:13:01 | 0:13:04 | |
The warden is the Reverend Richard Shaw. | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
How much would this place have changed since Harold Briercliffe, who is the cyclist I'm following, | 0:13:07 | 0:13:13 | |
since he came through in the late 1940? | 0:13:13 | 0:13:17 | |
It will have done, because... | 0:13:17 | 0:13:19 | |
they opened it up to ladies in the '60s. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:24 | |
And the wearing of the old gown, that went out as well. | 0:13:27 | 0:13:31 | |
-So, yes, it loosened up quite bit. -What was the old gown? | 0:13:31 | 0:13:35 | |
They had a gown which they wore on Sundays and festivals, church festivals, | 0:13:35 | 0:13:41 | |
which had a badge on the pocket, | 0:13:41 | 0:13:44 | |
representing the Earl of Northampton, the founder. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
What do you think it is about this place that gives it its sense of calm and serenity? | 0:13:48 | 0:13:54 | |
It's not always been peaceful. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
And certainly when it was men only, there were nights when they went out | 0:13:56 | 0:14:00 | |
and drank rather more than they were expected to. | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
They were always given a pint of beer every day. | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
A pint of beer and a pint of milk. It's a funny mixture put together! | 0:14:07 | 0:14:11 | |
But I think it's probably the setting. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
It is a quiet community, quite remote, really. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
-Is working on the land here very hard? -It is quite hard. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:23 | |
When you get to the top end of the valley it is about 1,600 feet, | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
so it's quite cold. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:30 | |
The main crop really is sheep | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
and so the lambing period is always a trying period. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
Quite difficult. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
Depending on the weather, and it lasts probably for about three months | 0:14:40 | 0:14:45 | |
and at that time the farmers are on the go seven days, | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
24 hours every day. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
83% of Shropshire is given over to agriculture and for hundreds | 0:14:53 | 0:14:58 | |
of years the majority of people here relied on the land for their living. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:02 | |
That's why these alms houses were founded four centuries ago. | 0:15:02 | 0:15:05 | |
They are said to be the product of the Earl of Northampton's guilty conscience | 0:15:05 | 0:15:10 | |
after he was implicated in the murder of fellow aristocrat, Sir Thomas Overbury. | 0:15:10 | 0:15:16 | |
As an act of penance, the Earl set up Trinity Hospital to provide homes for "old men | 0:15:16 | 0:15:21 | |
of good character" who had worked all their lives on the land. | 0:15:21 | 0:15:24 | |
Nowadays, Trinity opens its doors to people from all backgrounds. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:29 | |
But retired farm worker Harold Francis is one resident who would still meet the Earl's approval. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:36 | |
How long have you been living here? | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
Well, I'm in my 13th year now | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
and there's only one person here been here longer than I have. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:45 | |
And it's very nice here. | 0:15:47 | 0:15:49 | |
I've always been more or less alone. I used to love to work, | 0:15:49 | 0:15:54 | |
when I was working, I used to love to work on my own. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
When I finished, I could see what I had done. | 0:15:57 | 0:16:00 | |
Well, I've enjoyed farming, I've had a lovely life. | 0:16:00 | 0:16:04 | |
So you like the manual side of farm work... | 0:16:04 | 0:16:07 | |
getting in there? | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
I went straight up the field. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:10 | |
You have seen the stripes up and down the field with arrows. | 0:16:10 | 0:16:14 | |
You've got to took pride in having them straight | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
and even turning hay with a hand rake. Those sort of jobs. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:22 | |
You got satisfaction out of it. I did anyhow. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:26 | |
So you're one of the only genuine residents, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
you're the person this was actually built for originally? | 0:16:30 | 0:16:34 | |
It was built for shepherds, retired shepherds and farmers. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
Of course if that rule persisted now, I should be the only one living here! | 0:16:39 | 0:16:43 | |
In Harold Briercliffe's day, Trinity Hospital was men only. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:49 | |
One of the many areas of discrimination | 0:16:49 | 0:16:52 | |
even during the modernising world of post-war Britain. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:55 | |
By contrast, cycling clubs were refreshingly inclusive. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
Take the Hitchen Nomads, Harold's cycling club. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
Renee Stacey, now 92 years old, is the oldest surviving founder member. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:07 | |
She recalls the enthusiasm of their early days. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:11 | |
We started with quite a good number. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:13 | |
Within the first 12 months we went up to about 80. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
Very, very popular. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:19 | |
This was the pre-war meeting place of the Hitchen Nomads. | 0:17:19 | 0:17:24 | |
That tank was the First World War tank. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
That was our meeting place and we loved it. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
One night we had an all-night run. | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
And in the middle of the night, we found a great big sand pit | 0:17:35 | 0:17:40 | |
and we all sat around in this sand pit and had our sandwiches. | 0:17:40 | 0:17:45 | |
There was more sand than bread, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
but at least you enjoyed every bit of it, and the company was always so good. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:52 | |
Once you'd made a cycling friend, you've made them for life. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:57 | |
The next stage of Harold's journey takes me into the heart | 0:18:00 | 0:18:04 | |
of this beautiful landscape and to an impressive reminder of a centuries' old divide. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:09 | |
A line climbing steeply southwards from lower Spode, | 0:18:10 | 0:18:14 | |
a little east of Newcastle, has one of the best-preserved and accessible parts of Offa's Dyke for company. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:21 | |
Harold's route actually takes us through Shropshire and into Wales. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:26 | |
And this - | 0:18:27 | 0:18:29 | |
huffing and puffing up the hill! - | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
and this bit's actually worth coming off the road for. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
Because you get to see up here... | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
Offa's Dyke. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
Harold actually recommends in the book | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
that you take a closer look. That is exactly what I'm going to do. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
Offa's Dyke really is incredible. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
Everyone's heard of Hadrian's Wall, but that's like a garden fence compared to this. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:54 | |
Built in the 8th century by Offa, the King of Mercia, | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
the dyke is actually created from the land. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:01 | |
An imposing symbol of Offa's political power. | 0:19:01 | 0:19:04 | |
This huge bank of soil separated the fertile lands of Mercia, | 0:19:04 | 0:19:08 | |
from the poorer hill country in the Welsh kingdom of Powys. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:12 | |
Even today, 1,200 years after its original construction, | 0:19:12 | 0:19:16 | |
it's a permanent reminder of that division. | 0:19:16 | 0:19:19 | |
It is pretty big, you know, | 0:19:19 | 0:19:21 | |
and the most impressive thing is the length of it. | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
It is 176 miles long. So it was a pretty major statement by old Offa. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:29 | |
Legend has it that if you were an Englishman | 0:19:29 | 0:19:32 | |
and you got discovered by Welsh on their side, you got hung. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:37 | |
And if you were a Welshman and you got discovered on the English side, you got your ears chopped off. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:42 | |
Which either way isn't particularly pleasant. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:45 | |
So you go this way, ears chopped off. Hung ears - chopped off. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:49 | |
Hung - ears chopped off. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
Grow up, Clare! | 0:19:52 | 0:19:53 | |
I've just done my knee in. Serves me right. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
It is now time to go into Wales, and I don't think I'm in too much danger of being hung these days. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:03 | |
Harold reckoned it was better to start outside and have that sense of transition. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:09 | |
So you notice the change in temperature if you like. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:15 | |
I mean that broadly speaking. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:17 | |
There are many miles of hill roads and paths that will enthrall | 0:20:21 | 0:20:25 | |
the adventurous wheelman when he first makes their acquaintance. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:30 | |
The road undulates amidst forestry land and then turns a corner to the | 0:20:30 | 0:20:33 | |
right, where there is a splendid view across the Severn valley. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:37 | |
Down hill bit. Definitely now. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
This is fantastic! And the view...is stupendous. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:45 | |
This is the Kerry Ridgeway. Just look at that. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
Hee hee! | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
The later stages of my route have taken me from Offa's Dyke | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
over the border at Anchor, past Kerry and on to the closing stretch of the journey, towards Newtown. | 0:20:58 | 0:21:05 | |
The sun is beginning to dip in the sky, getting towards the end. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:09 | |
But my finishing point is Newtown down there and Harold mentions | 0:21:09 | 0:21:13 | |
in his guide that factories and warehouses played a big part in the town. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:18 | |
In fact, that factory there was one of the biggest manufacturers of bicycles in the UK | 0:21:18 | 0:21:25 | |
and I'm going to head down there to meet a former cycling superstar to find out more about all of that | 0:21:25 | 0:21:32 | |
and also I hope a bit more about Harold Briercliffe. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
Until recently, Barry Holborn was Britain's most successful Tour de France cyclist, | 0:21:36 | 0:21:42 | |
chalking up eight stage wins between 1965 and 1978. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:47 | |
His career spanned three decades | 0:21:47 | 0:21:49 | |
and now aged 69, he is still a keen cyclist. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
You can't be a cyclist without passion. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
And you do have this passion. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:58 | |
You can do all the right training. You can do all the dietary work. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:03 | |
You can do everything under the sun and you might not just make it, | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
and you wonder why, because there's a little something. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:10 | |
That little speck you have got to have. | 0:22:10 | 0:22:13 | |
After his professional career, Barry became involved | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
in bicycle manufacturing with the Coventry Eagle brand. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
A cycling celebrity, | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
he often crossed paths with author and journalist, Harold Briercliffe. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:26 | |
So you knew Harold, you met him. What was he like? | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
I knew Harold very well. I came back to this country after a professional career on the continent. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:34 | |
I came back in '81. At that time I became involved | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
with the British Eagle cycle factory, the other side of town here | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
and Harold was one of these folkloric journalists who were always around at certain functions and what have you. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:47 | |
Cycling journalists, they were few and far between and everyone knew who they all were. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:52 | |
I can see him today with his sort of gnarled expression. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:57 | |
Not only was Harold an experienced trade journalist, | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
he was also fascinated by the design and construction of bicycles. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:05 | |
The back pages of his touring guides are dominated by adverts for famous British brands - Raleigh, Eagle, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:11 | |
Royal Enfield, BSA, Phillips, | 0:23:11 | 0:23:15 | |
so he would certainly have been interested in the Phillips factory | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
here in Newtown, although it had a hidden history. | 0:23:19 | 0:23:22 | |
In the late 1930s, the Government started | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
a rearmament programme and set up shadow factories across the nation. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:31 | |
These top secret plants appeared to outsiders to be innocently making everyday components, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:36 | |
but were fact building munitions and parts vital to the war machine. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:41 | |
Bicycle manufacture was the perfect cover and the line works at Newtown | 0:23:43 | 0:23:47 | |
was built as a shadow factory allegedly making cycle tubing. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
The end of the war coincided with a new appetite for cycling. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
So the work force at Newtown dropped the pretence of building bicycles in favour of the real thing. | 0:23:56 | 0:24:02 | |
Here is the most modern cycle works in Europe and backed by the world's largest production resources, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:11 | |
Phillips bicycles are produced from tempered steel. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
There would have been factories within factories. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
There would have been sections with foundries, producing the steel chain sets. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:22 | |
There would have been sections building the frames and then | 0:24:22 | 0:24:26 | |
they would have been produced the bicycles on an assembly line. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
A good design produced to the highest standard | 0:24:29 | 0:24:33 | |
in one of most modern factories of the world. | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
There was an era when the bicycle was the mode of transport | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
for the majority of people in Britain. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
It was a means of getting from home to town, | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
home to school, home to work. | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
When Harold wrote his guide in 1948, there are more than 120 British companies making bicycle parts | 0:24:54 | 0:25:01 | |
and demand for bicycles outstripped supply. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:04 | |
Only a few years later, the relaxation of import restrictions | 0:25:04 | 0:25:08 | |
and the growing affordability of cars brought the British industry to its knees | 0:25:08 | 0:25:13 | |
and led to closure of the Newtown Phillips factory, | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
once the largest cycle store in Europe. | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
Harold rode past the factory and he mentions it in the tour guide. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:23 | |
What do you think he would make of it now? | 0:25:23 | 0:25:26 | |
I think he would have shed a tear. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
Because he would say, what used to be here and what is. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
But unfortunately it is the demise. You could reel off a whole list - | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
Phillips, Raleigh, BSA and these were all big, big manufacturing capacities of bicycles. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:42 | |
By the '60s, cycle sales had halved and the British Cycle Corporation had taken over the manufacture | 0:25:44 | 0:25:50 | |
of almost every British brand of bicycle. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:53 | |
One exception was Dawes, the company that made Harold's bike. | 0:25:53 | 0:25:57 | |
What about this bicycle? This was Harold's bike, | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
the last bike he ever had, actually. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
But that is classic of British cycling manufacture. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:07 | |
Because they produced top class touring bicycles. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
The gearing system would have been low enough | 0:26:10 | 0:26:14 | |
to enable people to ride hills, reasonably easy. Even handlebars. | 0:26:14 | 0:26:18 | |
That is what they call a randonnee handlebar, or a leisure handlebar. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:24 | |
It's much happier when it's going fast. | 0:26:24 | 0:26:26 | |
It's much happier when it is flat and fast. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:29 | |
That is not me saying it. It's the bike saying it. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
It's not nearly such a comfortable or smooth ride | 0:26:31 | 0:26:36 | |
when I'm having to change gears and make it work. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
Well, I mean... it's still a lightweight frame. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:44 | |
Lightweight for the era in which it was built. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:48 | |
In fact I raced on the same tubing, | 0:26:48 | 0:26:51 | |
but built into a racing designed bicycle. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
Exactly the same - Reynolds 531 tubing. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
What advice can you give me as I continue my journey in the footsteps of Harold? | 0:26:57 | 0:27:02 | |
There's only one thing you can always do is spend time riding a bicycle. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:07 | |
We all say just ride the bicycle, enjoy it. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
The more you ride, the more you will enjoy it. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
I shall take that advice to heart. Harold described this area | 0:27:14 | 0:27:17 | |
as having the appeal of countryside on the edge of wilderness | 0:27:17 | 0:27:21 | |
and following his route, I've discovered many stories that seem to echo that. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
An ancient tree ceremony connecting man and the land. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
A writer inspired by hill farming. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:31 | |
Offa's Dyke, a political statement built from the land. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
From farmers to cyclists, all have forged a lifelong relationship | 0:27:36 | 0:27:41 | |
with this countryside. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:43 | |
From meeting Barry in particular, I feel... | 0:27:43 | 0:27:47 | |
as if I understand more | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
certainly the racing cyclist's psyche, and also because he knew Harold | 0:27:50 | 0:27:55 | |
and talked about him and could tell me more about this bike, | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
I feel that bit more privileged to be on the Supergalaxy, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:03 | |
the last bike that Harold ever owned. | 0:28:03 | 0:28:06 | |
This is my companion and it was his as well. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
Many times in my cycling lifetime, I have been assured by well-meaning advisors that cycling is finished, | 0:28:12 | 0:28:19 | |
slain by the advances made in motor car and motorcycle ownership. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:24 | |
This is just not so. | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
Bicycles and bicyclists have survived. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
They will continue for a long time yet. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:53 | 0:28:56 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:28:56 | 0:29:00 |