Potholes and Pavements

Just wonderful – two wheels good, Laura Laker brilliant. This book takes you on a trip to every corner of Britain, and you can feel every bump and groove on cycle lanes across the country. Inspiring ... part travel diary, part love poem to Britain’s cycle network. * Jeremy Vine *
With a passion for both cycling and words, there are few more qualified to paint a picture of the NCN's potential than Laura Laker. * Chris Boardman *
Laker lays a finger on the nation's cycling pulse, and finds, despite it all, there is a lot of life. A beautiful homage to a wonky network. * Ned Boulting *
An essential read for all cycling enthusiasts. I loved hearing about Laura's experiences … a wonderful reminder of how cycling both in cities and in the countryside can change our nation's health and happiness for the better ... Laura has a broad vision for the future of cycling in our country as well as practical suggestions of the steps we need to take to get there. * Councillor Emily Kerr, Green Party *
In a pedal-powered journey of discovery, Laura Laker tells the surprising story of how Britain got its bike paths: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Along the way she meets the early visionaries and today’s activists engaged in what’s become an unlikely new front in the culture wars. * Jack Thurston, author and host of The Bike Show podcast *
...an awesome ride around the byways and backroads of the UK…a really thoughtful piece of writing…Laura is an amazing writer. * Mark Beaumont, long-distance cyclist, broadcaster and author *
An absorbing, and often surprising portrait of Britain’s cycleways, a call to arms for active travel – and a compelling history of the greatest national institution you’ve never heard of. * Emily Chappell *
Part travelogue, part history and part love story for cycling, Laura’s exploration of the National Cycle Network on her pink e-bike is an engaging tour of Britain’s erratic relationship with cycling. She beautifully illustrates why sustained funding and governmental leadership is urgently needed to transform these often-ignored routes into the national treasure we deserve. * Will Norman, London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner *
Really eye-opening and instructive * Louise Haigh, Secretary of State for Transport *
Entertaining and informative read that brings focus to some infrastructure that could be of even more benefit to society than it is – given the chance. -- Richard Peploe * Road.cc *
A charming look at the literal highs and lows of Britain's occasionally ramshackle, occasionally incredible national cycling network. * Alexei Sayle, comedian and broadcaster *
Potholes and Pavements is the story of the UK’s fitful, sometimes painful transformation from a car-dependent nation of villages, towns and cities into a connected, bikeable network of communities. Through the people, places and power struggles that produced today’s National Cycle Network, Laker reveals the social, health, environmental and economic possibilities that cycling offers a nation, and shows that the road ahead is actually a bike lane. * Janette Sadik-Khan, former New York transportation commissioner *
The most important cycling book in the UK ... Laker manages to eloquently, and accurately, paint a warts-and-all picture of the National Cycle Network ... essential reading for every cyclist in the UK, and especially essential reading for all road engineers, and all politicians * Willcycle.com *
… this book goes a long way to answering our cries of despair and delight – why the NCN is simultaneously so hopeless and so brilliant … Laker has had plenty of time and inspiration to pull informed thoughts and observation together * London Cyclist *
The book explores the high and lows of the UK’s cycle infrastructure, from much-loved off-road links featuring sculptures, to bumpy rides that see [Laura] navigating the potholes and pavement of the title along with stretches of intimidating roads and muddy fields in the middle of nowhere * Cambridge Independent *
A great book * Layla Moran MP *
[one of] the urbanism books you should plan to read - Monocle.com