DRAFT — awaiting Kevin's confirm-notes below before publish. Thin on photos so far, honestly.

England · Lancashire & Greater Manchester

The earliest riding on the whole site — Wigan, Rivington and the canal towpath, more than a decade before home turf moved to Scotland.

Before Bargen, before Scotland, the earliest logged rides on Gravel Health come from here — Wigan, Rivington and the villages around Chorley, ridden in 2012–2013, with a windy motorhome return trip in 2016 and a run of lockdown-era canal rides along the Leeds–Liverpool in 2020. Sixteen rides geo-match to the immediate area, spread across three genuinely different eras of Kevin's cycling.

British Isles British Isles hub UK Home Turf Bicester & Woodstock Argyll & the Kyles Switzerland & the Alps Preston to Saltaire July 2013: the big rides Every UK ride
Route data (from Strava): 16 rides, 2012–2020. The longest, an "Ecclestone Ride" on 13 July 2013, ran 101.6km with 1,089m of climbing.

2012–2013: the early climbing days

The first rides logged anywhere on Gravel Health. Named simply — "Wiggins Run" and "Wigan Training" in August 2012, the year Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France — then a run of longer days out in 2013 toward Rivington, Southport, Clitheroe and as far as Kirkby Lonsdale. Not every day went well: Clitheroe is logged simply as "Boring trip due to weather and getting lost." One ride on 16 July 2013 is marked "Last ride with Garmin 705" — "Very nice day. My last ride with the Garmin 705," the device finally retired after that.

Real GPS route map showing the Ecclestone Ride from the Wigan area, 2013
The Ecclestone Ride, 13 July 2013 — the longest day logged in this area, plotted from Kevin's own Strava GPX/FIT data.
A foliage-covered path near Rivington, Lancashire
Near Rivington, from the same April 2013 week as several of these rides.

2016: the motorhome trip

A one-off return years later — "Preston to Saltaire," ridden while touring the area by motorhome. Not a happy day on the bike: "Probably the worst day I could have chosen to take my motorhome into Preston. Wind really bad and totally against me for the whole of the journey."

2020: the lockdown canal rides

A short run of rides along the Leeds–Liverpool canal towpath in spring 2020, including Kevin's first outing on a mountain bike: "A trip out to my sisters place and back. First ride on the MTB." A fortnight later, the proper canal loop: "Straight ride out along the Leeds to Liverpool canal and back. A tad busy with walkers and cyclists as you would expect, but very nice. A perfect day."

An ivy-covered archway beside the Leeds-Liverpool canal
Along the canal towpath, May 2020.
A hedge-lined path beside the canal
The same stretch, a different day that same month.

📝 Kevin — needs your input

  • This is honestly thin on photos — anything from the 2012–2013 era or the 2020 lockdown rides worth digging out specifically?
  • Worth its own page split (early years vs. lockdown canal rides), or fine as one page given how little material there is?
  • Which sister's place was the 2020 MTB ride to — worth naming, or leave as is?

Source: Kevin's Strava export, 16 rides geo-matched to this area (2012–2020), real GPS track for the longest day, plus 3 real photos from the Google Photos archive.