Spring Awakening: The Journey Resumes on Two Wheels

1 man, 3,000 miles, 100 choirs, 50 days, 2 wheels…

During the ‘Winter pause’ in my Cycling Pilgrimage, the question I’ve found myself answering most often is whether I was waiting for better weather. I was initially a bit annoyed by the presumption in the frequent questions that I am a fair-weather cyclist.

How dare they?! I’m proudly a year-round rider and don’t mind a cold morning or a deluge (for many of the first 32 days of this challenge have, I think, proven that). However, after such a wet winter, I can’t deny that I was quite happy when the forecast improved considerably in early March and I prepared to set off again.

The hiatus between October-February is worth an explainer, though, with the main factor being hours of daylight available. Sunrise at 8am and sunset at 4pm doesn’t allow for much time for 7-8 hours in the saddle and making it to Evensong. Add that to Advent/Christmas season and the not insignificant dual commitments of running a charity and juggling family commitments (including a wife who has to travel regularly for work) and you end up with the need for a pause over the winter months.

But it’s great to be back on the road!

The last couple of weeks have taken me from Canterbury, through central London and up to Oxford and then a 90-degree turn, heading Eastwards to St Albans and Chelmsford.

Over those six days of cycling I have visited 26 cathedrals, churches, abbeys and chapels – a mind-boggling number of places and people that has quickly become a bit of a blur. (Thank goodness for videos and photos to help my befuddled brain!)

The overriding sense I get from these days back on the bike is of a cathedral music sector that, in musical terms, is remarkably healthy. Brilliant singing, enthusiastic choral leaders and astonishingly talented musicians in so many places. That’s not to diminish the many financial challenges that beset choral foundations and those who work so hard to make music – that need is the impetus for the fundraising aspect of my ride, after all.

But there has been a great joy in encountering so much brilliant musicians in places both ancient and modern. That ‘new meets old’ feeling was particularly pronounced as I travelled from St George’s Chapel Windsor, perhaps the heart of the UK’s liturgical choral tradition, up to Oxford which of course has its own ancient roots, but full of incredible young musicians and thriving music-making. I landed at Christ Church Cathedral just in time for the incredible weekend that was our National Gathering. During that weekend we had a brilliant talk from Robert Quinney about the liturgical and written history of Choral Evensong, presenting expertly about the expressiveness of music within a relatively strict liturgical structure of how that structure might be seen as constraint, but in fact allowed for wonderful freedom in new types of music –  helping people to understand their beliefs and their religious practice over the centuries.

That this music has endured and developed for 500 years is a miracle and it’s a miracle I’m fortunate enough to encounter every day on the road. I can’t say enough how brilliant that is!

So it’s onwards from Chelmsford across the East of England next and somehow I’ve only got around 14 days of riding left. The days on the bike are beginning to feel a bit of a blur and I’m already starting to feel a little bit nostalgic about not being on the road visiting all of these incredible places and people.

 There are, however, still many miles to go before the end in Durham and lots of fundraising to do. Your support would make a meaningful difference, if you have the capacity to give, please consider making a donation via our Just Giving page, scan the QR code or follow the link below.

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