Edinburgh is getting ready for Scotland’s greatest celebration of bicycle culture. The city will host the fifth edition of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling from 8–18 June 2017.
As you may be aware there is an important event happening on the 8th of June 2017, Yes the start of the fifth annual Edinburgh Festival of Cycling!
As this year is also the Bicentenary of the first cycle ride (12th June), this is a special year for the festival and to celebrate we have a great line-up of events. From Bicycle Seismographs to tales of daring do, from a short pootle round some bookshops to epic rides, family events to virtual reality riding, from Pecha-Caka to wine tasting. With the chance to flex the mind with our literature competition, to the opportunity to win a cargo bike for a year as a Brand Ambassador for Urban Arrow. In this the Year of the Bike, the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling has something for everyone.
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first cycle we have Michael Hutchinson (also known as Dr. Hutch) talking about his new book Re:Cyclists – 200 Years on Two Wheels and Lena Wånggren talking about the importance of the bicycle in female emancipation.
For those wanting tales of adventure: Rebecca Lowe will be telling us about journey through the Middle East, as a woman alone and the reception she got there. Ed Shoote will be talking and showing photos from his ride across the the roof of the world in Tibet, and other places. Ness Knight will be taking us on a journey across the sands of the world’s oldest desert in Namibia and along the Skeleton Coast in a place the locals say was ‘the land God made in anger’. We will also be asking: What does ‘exploring by bike’ mean? And using Bicycle Seismographs to explore the rough and the smooth closer to home.
Two hundred years on from the first bike ride, we have Kajsa Tylen talking about breaking Billie Fleming’s distance record for most miles cycled by a woman in one year. For those inspired by this there are lots of opportunities to saddle up ride yourself. Whether it be an epic adventure ride, a Big Meander across the city, a short pootle visiting bookshops to celebrate cycle writing, or ride through the night we have it all. So there will be another chance to join the Original Edinburgh Night Ride, a magical misty tour through the mid summers night, as well as the Ride to the Sun.
There will family events, such as the Bike Curious Family workshop to help family find way to ride together. As well as All ability cycling events including a ride to the beach and a tale of a blind man’s ride from Edinburgh to London via Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff. In the bicentenary year of the bike it is no wonder that the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling, Britain’s most diverse cycling festival, it has been named as one of Europe’s Top Ten cycling festivals by Active Traveller Magazine!
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