With the Tour de France happening this month, there’s a chance you might end up dusting off the bike and going for a cycle. Over 7 million people in the UK are now riding their bike at least once a week. Whether it’s to commute or for pure pleasure, the number of people cycling is at an all time high.

The rapid rise in the number of cyclists in the UK has been attributed in part to Team GB winning eight gold medals at the Beijing and London Olympics, and the fact that the starting line of the aforementioned Tour de France was previously in London. The 1999 Cycle to Work scheme has also helped with more underlying concerns over traffic congestion, health and fitness and pollution, and more people than ever have made the switch to a bike in most recent years.

One of the focuses of our Walled Garden Arts and Music Programme this year is sustainability, so today we are highlighting the positive impact that cycling can have on society.  Authors and keen cyclists Will Manners, Dr. Kate Rawles, Peter Walker and Andrew Marchant spoke to us about how the bicycle has helped push socio-geographical boundaries; how it can be a powerful form of campaigning; and how restructuring a city for cyclists can have a wider effect.

Regularly cycling between home, school and work from a young age, Will Manners completed his undergraduate studies in History from the University of York, specialising in late Victorian cycling. He now runs a blog and has published a book on the topic, Revolution: How the Bicycle Reinvented Modern Britain.

He spoke to us recently about the bicycle’s unknown effect on society, especially small towns and the significant impact it has had on human history: What is the most significant impact that cycling has had on human history? 

Will Manners – The invention of the bicycle in the 19th Century meant that, for the first time in history, an affordable and practical form of personalised transportation was within the reach of the many. This was especially significant for those living in isolated rural communities, as it greatly expanded the sphere in which they could regularly travel. Not only making it easier to find work, cycling also enabled them to meet, get to know and eventually start families with love interests who they would have never previously encountered.

The mixing of gene pools that followed these processes means, in the words of the biologist Steve Jones, there is little doubt that the most important event in recent human evolution was the invention of the bicycle.

Through her project Outdoor Philosophy, Dr. Kate Rawles focused on inspiring environmental action through big cycling adventures. Her first book, The Carbon Cycle, narrated her 4553-mile cycle across the ridge of the Rocky Mountains, from Texas to Alaska, to explore attitudes to climate change in the United States. Last year she embarked on a cycle from Cartagena, Colombia to Cape Horn, Southern Chile to bring attention to the neglected problem of biodiversity.

She recently spoke to us on how we can take action through cycling and beyond: How does cycling have a role in raising environmental awareness?

Kate Rawles – Cycling has huge potential in raising environmental awareness. I once read that a cyclist on a flat road with no headwind (if there is such a thing!) can do ten miles per peanut, i.e. it’s a very energy-efficient way of moving a human around. This means it has a low carbon footprint, though this does depend on what you eat – generally speaking, the more vegetarian your food the better. All cyclists are already eco-champions to a certain extent – travel by bike typically has a much lower environmental footprint overall than travel by car, train, bus or plane.

The trick is to talk about this of course; and to build on that to thinking about and acting on our environmental impacts, positive and negative, in other areas. Cycling adventures – big or small – can also be harnessed to raise awareness, e.g. by telling stories of the journey including the environmental challenges faced by the places you cycle through, the solutions that people have come up with, and how this relates to us, here. This is what I’ve been trying to do with The Life Cycle biodiversity bike ride. And the message is so coherent with the medium!

The flip side is when we take long-haul flights to go cycling or when cycling becomes part of an industry trying to sell us all lots of specialised and fashion-oriented clothes and kit – cycling-related consumerism can have as big a footprint as any other kind of consumerism.  

You most recently cycled the length of South America on a bamboo bike, to bring attention to biodiversity. What is biodiversity loss and what can we do as a society to avoid it?


Biodiversity loss is a major environmental issue with consequences for people and other species every bit as serious as climate change – but much less well publicised and understood. We have lost nearly 50% of our wild populations of animals since 1970 and are wiping out other species so fast it has been called ‘The Sixth Great Extinction’, caused by us.  

The first step we can take in solving the issue is to know and to care: It is about doing everything possible to redesign our lives so we can live well alongside other species (we depend on them after all!) rather than wiping them out. This means everything from planting wildflower seeds and creating insect habitats (even a window box makes a difference); to supporting local, biodiversity friendly farming; to consuming less and better overall; to campaigning against damaging forms of mining and for the need to transition to a steady state, circular, waste-free economy.

Peter Walker is a political correspondent for The Guardian and curator of The Guardian’s award-winning Bike Blog, which focuses on all things cycling both in the UK and abroad.  He is also the author of Bike Nation: How Cycling Can Save The World, which explains how the rebuilding of cities and towns focused towards cycling would create a healthier and more equal society focused on humans instead of cars.

We talked to Peter about what positive changes can be done with cycling on an infrastructural level for our society:

What are the benefits for society to become freer from cars, and more cycling based? 

Peter Walker – There are many. To begin with, the streets where people live and work suddenly become quieter, less polluted, safer, and also more welcoming and friendly, built around travel at a human scale, not the needs of anonymous, speeding metal boxes, often carrying a single person a laughably short distance.

There are other, less immediately obvious benefits. More people cycling means more people getting daily physical activity. It is hard to overstate the public health disaster currently caused by sedentary living, the effects of which kill about 85,000 people a year in England alone, and will soon bankrupt the NHS. Also, cycling is enormously cheap, and often accessible to people who cannot drive, especially with adapted cycles and e-bikes. And people just like having fewer motor vehicles around. No one ever came back from Copenhagen or Amsterdam and said: Nice city, shame there were not more cars.

What can major cities do to contribute towards this?

The best way to do this is for cities to make cycling not just safe but obviously safe, and also accessible to everyday cyclists, not only hobbyists in Lycra. In practical terms, this means physically separating cyclists from motor traffic on busy roads, with all the necessary bike-safe junctions and traffic lights. Infrastructure is not the most exciting word, but it is key to getting a mass of people on bikes. To take one example, Seville in southern Spain built 50 miles of separated bikes lanes and saw an 11-fold increase in cycle use in a couple of years.  

Peter also explained how there not only needs to be a focus towards more bicycles but especially fewer vehicles used for short trips.

1. –This involves lowered speed limits, redesigned road layouts, and making junctions useable only by bikes, stopping rat runs. Some Dutch streets residential have signs on them saying: Cars are guests. This should be the aim.

Andrew Marchant, a keen cyclist with insider knowledge of the routes in the Scottish Borders, recently spoke to us about why the region is the perfect area for enthusiasts:

Why are the Scottish Borders such an attractive place for cycling? 

The Borders region offers a good range of opportunities to enjoy many types of cycling. Leisure cyclists can find quiet roads, good views and nice cafes.  Once away from main routes, road cyclists can stretch out and carve through this once-disputed borderland to enjoy miles of homely and wild country with a few good hills!  Mountain bikers can enjoy world-class trails at the Seven Stanes centres at Glentress and Innerleithen, or explore an abundance of natural trails.

The Borders is really embracing cycling, with a developing cycle culture and infrastructure.  The cycle path between Innerleithen and Peebles is an example of the improvements in infrastructure that support all cyclists.

To enjoy a cycle and a talk with Peter, Kate, Andrew and Will, join us at Beyond Borders International Festival at Traquair House on Saturday 25th August and Sunday 26th August.

Our Walled Garden Arts and Music Programme also features best-selling female artist Barbara Dickson and world-renowned composer Nigel Osborne, who will be exploring the power of music as a tool for healing. We will also be displaying The New York Times award-winning Hard Truths exhibition. 

Join us for all this as well as foraging walks, yoga, storytelling, film, art exhibitions, and more! Described by Dr. Oscar Guardiola-Rivera as “the only festival which combines literature and thought with human rights”, there’s something for everyone in this year’s programme.