The Welsh Borders

Clare Balding sets out on a two-wheel odyssey to rediscover Britain from the saddle of a touring cycle. In a six-part series, she follows in the wheeltracks of compulsive cyclist and author Harold Briercliffe whose evocative guidebooks of the late 1940s lovingly describe bypassed Britain - a world of unspoiled villages, cycle touring clubs and sunny B roads.

Carrying a set of Harold's Cycling Touring Guides for company and riding his very own Dawes Super Galaxy bicycle, Clare goes in search of the world he described. Is it lost for ever? Or still there, waiting to be found?

Clare's journey into Wales is rich in literary connections to both Bruce Chatwin and AE Housman. She reveals how a cycle factory went to war and finds out about the Bride's Tree - a bizarre village ceremony with a dark secret.