Summer 2009 bike rides

In May 2009, Liam rode his bike without stabilisers for the first time - see the footage of this definitive rite of passage here - and throughout the summer of 2009, he and Daddy went off for long bike rides around Durham, finding parts of Newton Hall and Nevilles Cross that you just can't reach by car...

In these two pictures, we are somewhere down by the railway track toward Newcastle, having crossed a footbridge between the Newton Hall housing estate and a load of fields behind Crook Hall.

As you can see from the top picture, we went 'off-road' a lot, cycling through woods and down footpaths. The path we were on curves left and slopes downward , giving both of us a real buzz.

In the other picture, Liam is heading down a path by Framwellgate High School.

These were fantastic times we spent together; a real father-son experience. Watching him bomb down paths, holding his arm as we negotiated to the other side of busy main roads, even pushing him up the hills...