North Country Boy

Stralford too.

What the hell is JO/leole supposed to be?

Excuse me, how do I get to Liverpool Street? Oh, just take the tube from LeverPol Street, change at Vetoria, then Liverpool Street is a few stops after Liverpool Street.

There's absolutely no way it would be reported like this if you removed the bike from the story. It's in there in the headline - "pushed cyclist" and not "pushed woman".

If 15 cans of Stella is a nervous breakdown.

Or - and bear with me here, because it's controversial - drivers could stop killing and injuring cyclists, and then we wouldn't need "all those cycle lanes". I know, it's a lot to ask.

Really good. I've been vaguely thinking about Newcastle to JOG for years. I'm too old and soft now to do it in as few days as possible so I thought maybe 2 or 3 weeks. Got me thinking about the whole way now though. Although suppose I'd have to get to LE first, which is 400 miles.

My family - about 15 people - were round at my grandparents place in Newcastle because they had the best TV. There's a photo of me, my brother & my cousin being held by our parents with what apparently is the moon landing on TV in the background (though to be honest, could be anything).

Did you pretend to be Harry Lime on the Reisenrad? I did, although the incredibly loud Italian teenagers taking selfies did ruin it a bit. They had no idea why I was muttering to my wife about cuckoo clocks.

It's close, but I think Vienna's public transport wins. It's spectacularly good. The Netherlands as a whole probably wins for ease of use - pretty much the whole country is integrated.

Apart from the reflex bigotry, has a boat from France ever landed in Great Yarmouth? I mean, it's got to be 100 miles from France.

Somebody I know has a Range Rover. Somebody put a sticker on it that said "Your car says a lot about you. This one says arsehole". He was hilariously furious.

The worst thing about Brits and Italian food? Bruschetta is not pronounced brushetta.

Also, the cows make an entertaining and ever-changing manure based slalom.

Because I live and mostly cycle in a big city & these, rather than the backs of the cars in front, are part of my route.

Although overtaking the bloke on his brand new £8000 carbon road bike on your 5 year old commuter with several weird squeaks is pretty satisfying. Even if you do take an hour to recover. Yes, I am very childish.

Lots of coffee?

No problem, hi-viz and paint will save us. I feel totally safe in the metre wide painted lane on the 40mph road near me if I'm wearing hi-viz, knowing the cars & trucks doing 50 can't cross that paint.

"said it was "a very dangerous road to be a cyclist on". Ooh, I know what they could do...

17 in the UK. Except mopeds (and maybe tractors?).

Yeah, if they pay him $29bn, it'll definitely make me want a Tesla.

I was somewhere a while back where the crossings detected pedestrians and changed in a few seconds (Vienna? Copenhagen? Maybe Berlin? Mind, I'm so cosmopolitan. Or I'm losing my memory). It was very noticeable compared with here.

Newcastle's premier outdoor urinal there.

You could try Forth Street, Westgate Road and the Dog Leap Stairs...

My pet theory is that it's because the coastal routes are photogenic. Councils like that, makes for good photos in the Chronicle. Also it's the pervading belief that cycling is a hobby, so 'nice' bike paths are more important than useful ones.

Definitely on the gaps. There are a fair few examples in Newcastle where you're suddenly dumped into bus lanes or busy roads. There's a new & admittedly good two way lane outside the RVI (main hospital) which ends suddenly with you on the wrong side of the road & facing traffic.

They're there for their lunch. There not their for they're lunch.

If you want to see a weird bit of English/Scottish border, look at the Ba' Green near Coldstream. One tiny bit south of the Tweed is Scottish.

And there was me thinking free at the point of use national healthcare was a good deal. We don't even get paid for the medicine we get. You lucky, lucky people.

Very short version, Saarland needs Alsace and Alsace needs Saarland. Neither want to change their nationality.