Bradford cathedral this morning is full of bicycles. Well, not quite full, but there are lots of us, and there’s lots of bright lycra. There is also a Bishop, a Dean, and a Lord Mayor. (I asked a uniformed official if he was in charge of the Mayor. No, he said; he was in charge of the LORD Mayor.)
Bradford is this year’s UK City of Culture, and the CCR Relay has chosen to set off in style from here. It will go all round the country, on much the same route as I am taking, and finish back here in Bradford in six weeks’ time. CCR stands for Cathedral’s Cycling Route, and lots of people are now biking it, usually in manageable stages, and collecting their cathedral passport stamps.
There is to be a service of blessing. The notables will variously speak, and bless. And I am to play the cello.
But there isn’t time for me to listen to all the notables. I have to be in Wakefield asap, to perform the Meditation at lunchtime.
The Bishop, dressed in cycling gear, with his purple shirt underneath, is going to accompany the group; but like the Dean he makes plausible excuses for not coming the whole way.
I slip away, and set off. The Bishop warned me earlier about the big hill out of Bradford. But he perhaps hasn’t been to Cumbria, to know what a real hill is. And soon it’s merrily downhill, and back through Leeds, with its lovely canals.
At the back end of Leeds the cycle paths are slightly unfriendly to large bicycles. There are barriers, lots of them, designed presumably to keep out non-bicycle traffic. But they have been over engineered.
The barriers were almost a blessing in disguise. I found myself in Middleton, on Throstle Road. Throstle Lane, I realised, where my grandparents had lived in one of the post-WW1 “Homes for Heroes” for sixty years, must be just around one of these corners.
I remember the house, and my visits there sixty years ago, but I can’t locate it in the time available.
Wakefield is another beautiful city, with a prosperous history, and a joy to be in. There are cathedral staff waiting for me, and I find I didn’t have to be anxious about the turnaround time. Everything is straightforward, and the Precentor gives me a warm welcome in front of a select audience, and blesses me and my journey afterwards.
There’s hardly time to pack up before the twenty CCR Relay cyclists arrive, to be properly welcomed and blessed, and fed, by the Precentor, and I can fade into the background.
What a brilliant idea, the “CCR”, being in effect a cycling pilgrimage, to compliment those well known walking pilgrimages such as the “Camino de Santiago”, but with vagaries of the English weather to contend with.
I find it fascinating how you are rekindling these ancient routes that must have been travelled between the various cathedrals over numerous centuries, which is both a meditation and a pause for reflection in itself.
I’m sorry about the lack of welcome from the people of Wakefield for your lovely recital in front of a very select audience. It was the locals’ loss.
I was warmly welcomed in Wakefield! Everyone was lovely.
Was that coincidence or planned by you to be there for the start of the CCR Relay?
Those “over engineered” bike gates are hilarious. I suppose not so much when riding a unicorn.