Urban Explorer

Blog Date - 28 April 2015

In my previous post I talked about exploring the local area (Local Adventurer). There's another kind of exploring that I like to do that most people seem to overlook and that's urban exploring. As a collective bikers naturally to gravitate towards the countryside in search of either speed or beauty. I too prefer the vast open expanses of the Scottish Highlands rather than the gritty urban grind of Manchester's suburbs. 

Unfortunately circumstances conspire such that I can't spend every day of my life in the Highlands. I'd love to explore the Alps and even the Himalayas but these places are something of a detour from my ride to work. A good portion of the miles I ride are done commuting, visiting friend's houses, going to social events and the general living of a life. I can explore at weekends but this just doesn't seem to be enough when I'm suffering from wanderlust. 

So how can I make the mundane everyday trips more interesting? What sort of exploring can be squeezed into a ride to my mother's house? Is there anything new to be found en route to the bike club? I know these routes and main roads so well I can swerve around the manhole covers and potholes with my eyes closed. However I can ask - have I ever been down that side road? What sort of estate is this on my right? I wonder if that street connects to the street behind the industrial unit? I heard there's a working man's club down there, what's it like? 

We all like to think we know our town and our area, but I'm certain there's roads within 5 miles of your house that you've never actually ridden down. In fact most folks haven't fully explored the estate they live on. Exploring these places means I'm never going to go down in history for being the man that unearthed a long lost tribe while venturing into the deepest depths of Bolton's back streets. I can't imagine many folks would read my new book entitled "The Secrets Of Salford's Domestic Parking Habits". Not every urban adventure is enlightening or even interesting. But it's better than trudging down the same roads day in day out. 

No, it's not all going to be beauty and splendour.

Occasionally, rarely, I will find curiosity and wonder. Perhaps it comes in the form of a classic American car on a driveway. Maybe a back street motorcycle shop I never knew of. The trampoline with a wobbly dog trying to get off it. Youths on skateboards and scoots trying to emulate their own heroes and falling over, a lot. All life is out there in the suburbs, the retail parks and the business sectors.

There are nice places too.

The best bits are the bits you're not supposed to see. I like to get behind the shopping centres and retail parks. You'll see staff sneaking out for a crafty cigarette, the mess behind the shiny showroom facades and the appalling amount of waste they create. I like to ride down the passageways between terraced houses. You can learn a lot about the occupants and sometimes the surfaces are so poor it's better than off-roading. I like to ride around the estates of the upwardly mobile. Curtains twitch and faces scowl as they worry about the Hell's Angel on his 125cc 'sickle wearing a fluorescent jacket who is bringing down the house prices and wreaking havoc by doing a U-Turn on yet another polished dead end street.

If you like a little tension in your life there's bits of every town where you can be made to feel out of place and even unwelcome. I've been spat at and threatened with sticks by children when I passed what was signposted as a "Caravan Park". There's places where I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable passing through at night. There are good things too. Finding a route over a bridge that you've passed under for years, shortcuts that you never knew about, architecture that makes me wonder why this building is not being lauded and delightfully individual or unusual homes and offices. Between the homogeneous world of franchise fast food restaurants, chain stores, strictly controlled planning and building regulations and the drab similarity of the UK's towns there are still some quirky gems if you look hard enough.

Neither beautiful nor ugly, but certainly curious street furniture in Manchester.

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