DERRY BY BIKE

Northern Ireland's second city is changing, and the best way to see it is on a guided cycle tour of the past and present.

- Pól Ó Conghaile

"This is our destination - a double-decker bus," says guide Steven Casey. 

It's not what you might expect on a Foodie City Cycle, as my tour of Derry with local slow adventure specialist Far and Wild is billed. But there it is a grey and orange bus with the name 'Decky' on its display. It's parked by the river alongside a kitchen in a converted shipping container. Steven's smiling. "We'll get a tasty wee snack," he says.

We're at Pyke 'n' Pommes, a street food set-up by the River Foyle that has become a Derry institution - there's also a bricks-andmortar edition on Strand Road. Chalkboard menus run thick with burgers made from local Wagyu beef, but Steven knows what he wants. Dismounting from the bike, he makes a beeline to the counter and orders us a couple of deep-fried squid tacos. We take our seats on the upper deck of the bus, and lunch is delivered in brown paper bags. "Just get stuck into it," he says with a smile.

Visitors often associate Derry with two things - Northern Ireland's Troubles and the city's 400-year-old city walls (it's known as the Walled City). It's pulled off a successful stint as UK Capital of Culture in 2013, fostered an exciting new food and drink scene and grown a Halloween festival full of costumes, fireworks and carnival atmosphere into one of the largest in Europe. It's added boutique hotels like the Shipquay and Bishop's Gate, and its iconic Peace Bridge links previously divided nationalist and unionist communities across the River Foyle. But still, from a distance, it's hard to see past the stereotypes.

"We're sort of away in the corner here," as Steven puts it.