Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.10, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # Ian Dent ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://dent.org.uk/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [Latest News](https://dent.org.uk/latest-news/) - [Cycle Active City 2021](https://dent.org.uk/uncategorized/cycle-active-city-2021/) - I attended the recent one day Cycle Active City online conference on behalf of the Derwent Valley Trust. An interesting event with various sources of information which I've tried to summarise. Recordings of the sessions can be found on Youtube There was an attendance of about 230 people with half of those being Local Authority ## Pages - [Ian Dent](https://dent.org.uk/) - Cycling in Derby. Academic information. Sustrans. GIS mapping. Old maps - [Useful links for cycling in Derby](https://dent.org.uk/useful-links-for-cycling-in-derby/) - If there are links that you think should be listed please let me know. No guarantees on inclusion! Updated August 2025 Report problems Infrastructure Guides Campaign Groups Shops Rides Clubs To Report Local Problems Cycling UK offer the “FillthatHole” service that works out the appropriate local authority and sends on the report. This service is - [Crosswords](https://dent.org.uk/crosswords/) - Mike's Birthday Puzzle (some football knowledge needed) Family crossword for Janet Colette Birthday crossword Andy crossword Lisa and Andy crossword Sanger birthday insults crossword - [National Cycle Network inconsistences](https://dent.org.uk/sustrans/sustrans-ncn-inconsistences/) - Note that in 2025, Sustrans was rebranded as the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust. The National Cycle Network can be seen on Ordnance Survey maps (OS) using data supplied by the Walk Wheel Cycle Trust. It can also be seen on OpenCycleMap using data provided by volunteers. The NCN shown on the two maps [OS map - [Pennine Cycleway Experiences](https://dent.org.uk/cycling/pennine-cycleway/) - A personal view of my trip from Berwick-on-Tweed to Derby along the length of the Pennine Cycleway (National Cycle Network route 68) in May 2019. Hopefully some comments will help others attempting the ride. UPDATE 2025: Since writing this trip report, the years have passed and a number of the links in the following pages - [Day 8](https://dent.org.uk/day-8/) - Whaley Bridge to Derby Last day of the holiday and a slightly longer day planned as I knew I'd be travelling over well known roads and would be back in my own bed at night. Another excellent day with fine weather. As seemed to be common throughout the week, the first 5 miles of the - [Day 7](https://dent.org.uk/day-7/) - Slaithwaite to Whaley Bridge After a good breakfast (vegetarian) at the AirBnB and a chat with the hosts, I started off with a diversion to visit the Standedge Tunnel which is the longest, deepest and highest tunnel on the British canal network. This meant an initial ride along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal where I got - [Day 6](https://dent.org.uk/day-6/) - Barnoldswick to Slaithwaite There seems to be a general disbelief that mobile phones really work in Yorkshire and Lancashire - how else to explain the fact that everyone using one in the street talks at maximum volume. This was particularly the case early in the morning outside my bedroom. So, I got up, spent some - [Day 5](https://dent.org.uk/day-5/) - Dent to Barnoldswick After a good breakfast at the Sun Inn (only 3 guests and two of them missed breakfast to cycle to the train station), I started on the gradual climb from Dent up Deepdale. A nice, really quiet road but one that continues to get steeper and steeper with gradients of 15-17% near - [Day 4](https://dent.org.uk/day-4/) - Alston to Dent Prior to the ride, this was the day that I was most apprehensive about. As my name is Dent, staying at Dent one night was a must for the tour but the remoteness meant that it was hard to plan a balanced set of similar length days. The result was that Day - [Day 3](https://dent.org.uk/day-3/) - Bellingham to Alston Left the Brown Rigg Guest Lodges and backtracked on the route into Bellingham centre for breakfast. A few choices for take away food and cafes. I selected Rocky Road (opens at 8:30) which was well frequented by locals and offered a good full breakfast. As seemed to be a common occurrence on - [Day 2](https://dent.org.uk/day-2/) - Wooler to Bellingham Excited to start the first full day of my tour, I was up early (for me) and checking that my bike was still where I left it in the "secure" (but public!) biking area. All was fine so I set off forgoing the £15 breakfast at the Black Bull and thinking that - [Day 1](https://dent.org.uk/day-1/) - Berwick-on-Tweed to Wooler Start from home in Derby around 10am for travel to Derby station. After 200 yards had the nearest to a crash for the whole week away! Travelling through the park on wet grass I braked without allowing for the weight of the panniers on the rear wheel and nearly went down. Wouldn’t - [Technology](https://dent.org.uk/technology/) - Route planning Prior to the ride all the ride planning was done using Komoot. Each day's ride is stored as a separate route. The Komoot application is recommended for planning. It allows one to click on the start and finish points of the ride, specify the kind of ride that it will be (e.g. bike - [NCN suggestions](https://dent.org.uk/ncn-suggestions/) - Proposals made to improve the National Cycle Network in the Derby area Connecting NCN672 back into the NCN With RCN66 being removed from the NCN in 2024, NCN672 is now disconnected from the network. Suggestions for how it could be reconnected are explored here. This has been suggested to Sustrans during 2024. In addition linking - [Bicycle Theft in Derby - 2024 analysis](https://dent.org.uk/bicycle-theft-in-derby-2024-analysis/) - UPDATED March 2024 to include 2018-2023 data. The police provide data on crime across the country and this information has been analysed to explore Bicycle Theft within Derby City. The data is reliant on individuals reporting incidents to the police, on the police actually recording the incidents (Manchester police have been criticised for not recording - [Belper Tube Map](https://dent.org.uk/cycling/belper-tube-map/) - A Cycle Quality map in the style of the London Underground has been created. The map is not intended to be for navigational purposes but, instead, provides a schematic view of the current status of cycling provisions in the Belper area. Feedback on the ratings is welcomed. The actual routes used (rather than the schematic - [Derby Cycle network missing links](https://dent.org.uk/missing-links-in-derby-cycle-routes/) - Various projects have been completed, are in progress, or are planned to build new, or improve existing, cycle routes in the Derby area. It is my contention that a lot of investment in existing routes is spoiled in that they are not safely connected to other existing routes. Thus, people's perception of the danger of - [Derby Cycling Map](https://dent.org.uk/derby-cycling-map/) - Long time cyclists will remember the Derby Cycling Map - a very popular, fold out printed map of the area showing the various cycle routes. This was originally designed by Derby Cycling Group and was then taken on by Derby City Council (Cycle Derby) who made the map freely available from various locations across the - [How to waste money on cycling infrastructure](https://dent.org.uk/infrastructure-waste/) - Friargate Kingsway Little Eaton Hospital Findern Raynesway Bishops Drive We can all find examples of where cycling infrastructure is particularly bad. I've tried to identify the places around Derby that I find the worst, where there has been an attempt to spend money on improving things, and where the money has been completely wasted. At - [Other Information Sources](https://dent.org.uk/information/) - Some of the other sites that I found useful when planning my ride (or subsequently). No guarantees from me that the information is useful to you or, indeed, accurate! Sustrans website for Route 68 and the chance to buy their maps. Cycle.Travel website - a good site for routing as an alternative to Komoot and - [Derby City's plans for cycling](https://dent.org.uk/derby-citys-plans-for-cycling/) - Derby City Council have been awarded 2 pots of money to implement cycling infrastructure: Active Travel Fund - a pot to produce cycling and walking facilities to address the increased demand arising from the COVID pandemic. Tranche 1 (£227,923) was awarded in 2020 for quick, temporary projects and these have now all been implemented in - [Mackworth Park](https://dent.org.uk/mackworth-park/) - The information provided by the Council is very limited and consists of: "The proposal is to make improvements to the existing Sustrans National Cycle Network Route 54/68 path that also links to nearby residential areas. The scheme proposes that identified paths are widened and resurfaced, and new street lighting be installed. Planning Permission will be - [Academic](https://dent.org.uk/academic/) - ResearchGate page Google Scholar profile dblp page Public ORCID information During 2010 to 2014, I undertook a PhD at the University of Nottingham school of Computer Science supervised by Professor Uwe Aickelin and Professor Tom Rodden. I was part of the Intelligent Modelling and Analysis Group and associated with the Mixed Reality Lab and the - [Bicycle Theft in Derby data analysis](https://dent.org.uk/bicycle-theft-in-derby-data-analysis/) - UPDATED April 2022 to include 2021 data. The police provide data on crime across the country and this information has been analysed to explore Bicycle Theft within Derby City. The data is reliant on individuals reporting incidents to the police, on the police actually recording the incidents (Manchester police have been criticised for not recording - [Nottingham Road](https://dent.org.uk/nottingham-road/) - This generally looks like a good scheme to create a two way cycle route separated from the roadway and pedestrians and allowing cyclists to safely access the shops and other facilities in the centre of Chaddesden. This would be one of the first two way cycle routes in Derby (particularly on a radial route - - [Morledge](https://dent.org.uk/morledge/) - For this scheme a plan of paving styles is provided but it is hard to understand the cycle route improvements that are proposed. The plan suggests that the existing cycle and foot path on the west side of Traffic Street will be retained and widened. The planned cycle / pedestrian route will link with the - [Duffield Road](https://dent.org.uk/duffield-road/) - The plans state "The proposal is to introduce mandatory cycle lanes and add light segregation to provide greater protection for cyclists. The cycle lanes will be 1.5m wide with an approx. 400mm buffer between cycle and other traffic." Whilst improvements to cycling infrastructure are to be welcomed it is important that the improvements are of - [Derby Tube Map](https://dent.org.uk/derby-tube-map/) - The Derby Cycle Network Quality map gives a rating of quality of the current cycle links in Derby. It shows locations that people need to cycle between and rates the links on a 5 point scale (red=bad, blue=good) based on the current cycling provisions. In the style of the London Tube Map, it shows schematically - [#trips](https://dent.org.uk/trips/) - [Equipment](https://dent.org.uk/equipment/) - Bike My bike is a Sonder Camino Al gravel bike purchased from Alpkit back in June 2017 and well used since. I've been very pleased with the bike and the only changes I've made to the original specification are to change the saddle to a Spa Cycles leather one (copy of a Brooks saddle) and - [Materials for recreating tube map](https://dent.org.uk/materials-for-recreating-tube-map/) - The following files are available for others to copy and modify for producing tube maps for other areas. The originals were produced by Ian Dent and any usage in other projects should be acknowledged. Usage for commercial gain is prohibited. The instruction guide details the approach taken for the Derby map and works through the - [Introduction](https://dent.org.uk/introduction/) - After many years of considering riding the Pennine Cycleway, I decided that 2019 was the year that it was going to happen. I'd bought the Sustrans maps about 10 years earlier and had never actually allocated time to plan and do the ride but I'm not getting any younger so grasped the nettle and booked - [Sustrans](https://dent.org.uk/sustrans/) - Information relating to the Derby volunteer Sustrans rangers group Local route map - [Privacy](https://dent.org.uk/privacy/) - My website may contain adverts, sponsored and affiliate links on some pages. These are typically served through our advertising partners; Google Adsense who have high standards of user privacy and security. However I do not control the actual adverts seen / displayed by our advertising partners. Our ad partners may collect data and use cookies - [Cycling](https://dent.org.uk/cycling/) - Information on various cycling related topics: A personal description of my cycle ride along the Pennine Cycleway Details on the Belper Cycling Tube Map - [Final Thoughts](https://dent.org.uk/final-thoughts/) - Best parts of the ride As I enjoyed almost all of the ride, it is hard to pick out a single highlight but some of the things that have stuck with me are: Some of the long downhills where the gradient isn't so steep that you spend the whole time braking. One of the best ## Categories - [Uncategorized](https://dent.org.uk/category/uncategorized/)