British Cycle Quest (BCQ)

When Karon and I took retirement together, on my 65th birthday, we decided to start collecting BCQ answers. For an explanation, see the page on the Cycling UK website. Logically, we started with the BCQs nearest our home, cycling from home to a few that were within range. We collect all the BCQs as a team, riding to them together, usually on our Hase Pino tandem, but have also ridden solos, though Karon is limited to much shorter distances and easy terrain when not on a tandem.

One of our early rides, in Windsor, near a BCQ

For the rest of Hampshire we went on a mini-tour with camping gear, cycling down the county on the west – Winchester side, collecting BCQs as we went. We took the ferry to the Isle of Wight and spent four days camped there and collected all the BCQs then made our way back home up the eastern side of the county to complete Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Base camp on the Isle of Wight at Nineham Country Holidays campsite

Over the next few years or so, we collected virtually all the answers in the south of England, making car-assisted day trips or stopping overnight in an area. For some of the inner London ones, we took our Brompton’s on the train and used them around the City.

February 2018 – the tricky ride to get the BCQ near Combe Gibbet

If we are on the Pino, we can ride further and sometimes collect more than one BCQ in a single ride with some careful route planning. Distances primarily depend on time, terrain, and the weather.

When a family get-together was planned to meet in Edinburgh, we went up early and spent some time collecting some of the BCQs around the west coast of Scotland before making our way to Edinburgh.

Another cold one – on Arran in April. A week or so later we were due to attend a family get-together

4th April 2026 – our most recent BCQ, collected on a ride at the Tandem Club Easter Rally. We have more ‘BCQ trips’ planned for 2026 to tie up Devon (5 remaining) and Somerset (3 remaining). And in June we will be tacking the BCQs in the Orkneys and the Shetlands.

Planning and admin

Whenever we take the bike(s) to a new area, I check in advance to see if there’s a BCQ we can collect, even if that’s not the main purpose of the trip. A couple of Army reunions in Hull have resulted in extra days in the area to collect a few. Whenever we attend a Tandem Club Rally in the UK, we’ll modify the routes to take in any nearby BCQs if we can.

When we’ve cycled from home to Harwich, for the ferry to the Netherlands and a cycle tour on the continent, I’ve varied the outward and return routes to take in some BCQs.

For planning and navigation I use ‘Memory Map’ (OS 1:50k) and RideWithGPS (RWGPS). In Memory Map I can plot individual BCQs and make a note of the question. I could plan a route too but prefer the features of RWGPS. This allows me to receive turn-by-turn route instructions straight from my phone into my hearing aids via Bluetooth.

Left is a screenshot from my Memory Map app on my phone, with the location of a BCQ. If I click on the blue marker I can see the coordinates and the question, and can fill in the answer.

On the right is a screenshot from my RideWithGPS app, showing a route planned from somewhere to park, to the BCQ. This is an ‘out and back’ but other times it could be a circuit.

The same route on my desktop screen, with a marker showing the question at the BCQ.

The Tandem Club also has a BCQ table and map on their website, which members can see once they are signed in. This has the advantage, like the Cycling UK map, of being online, so if you can get a reasonable signal, wherever you are, to can see any nearby BCQs. As you check off BCQs in the matrix (not shown), the map updates automatically.