A BLESSED RIDE THROUGH THE FOREST OF BOWLAND

Forgoing cloak, cassock and cross, Trevor Ward goes in search of the holy roads that helped make a Tour winner

- Trevor Ward

At the foot of a very steep hill in the middle of the Forest of Bowland is the church of St Michael's, where an archive of black-and-white photographs records the work of former parish priest Thomas Brangwin Reid. His name may not trip of the tongue like Sir Bradley Wiggins or Hugh Carthy but, like them, this country parson spent many hours cycling in this beautiful and lumpy patch of Lancashire.

Whereas Wiggins did his winter training here on the way to his historic victory in the 2012 Tour, and a teenage Carthy honed his climber's physique on the local hills before joining the professional peloton, the Reverend 'Tommy' often cycled up to 60 miles a week, battling winter weather and steep gradients on the way to the remote, rural dwellings and farms of his 370-strong flock of parishioners.

The photographs show him arriving in cloak and cassock, occasionally carrying with him the two-metre processional cross he had made from a hay rake. Though many of these visits were on foot, the vicar eventually bought a bike, reported the Clitheroe Advertiser. In the same report, vastly underestimating the calorific demands of the average cyclist, local landlord Brian Tidegate commented: "Most people are going to have a meal ready for the vicar. He's going to have a job coping with that."

THE GOING GETS TROUGH

Reid retired aged 70 in 1974 and it's a sign of the times that the current incumbent at St Michael's now uses a less humble form of transport - a notice outside the church says: 'Parking for Vicar only'.

After paying my respects to the cycling clergyman, I'm now saying a silent prayer of gratitude that the 14% incline opposite the church - which Reid had to tackle on his way back to his vicarage after every service - isn't on today's route. At this stage I'm blissfully unaware that I'll be paying an even greater penance for all my sins, cakes and beers on a series of much tougher tests.