No-one here seems to know or care about their twinnedness with England's Georgian City. In fact they spend most of their time wandering round the Corso shopping street in swimming gear with surfboards under their arms. But the shopping malls are surprisingly like Bath's. Indeed, the Corso, with its buskers, dreadlocked teenagers, honey-skinned young women in skimpy tops with classy tattoos, middle-aged tourists walking round with ice-creams, and groups of Japanese taking photographs of groups of Japanese, could easily be Stall Street or Southgate, except perhaps for the palm trees.

Otherwise it looks like Brighton.

And, for new listeners, the name 'Manly' comes from Capt Arthur Phillip, Bathonian and first Governer of New South Wales, who sailed out here and noticed Sydney harbour in 1788. Right here, a group of curious peaceful Aborigines swam out to greet Phillip's expedition boat. Phillip named the cove 'Manly' atfer their appearance, which he thought 'manly'. So however odd the name seems, just think what he COULD have called it, bearing in mind that the Aborigines wore nothing but grease and ash.

I cycled here as part of the RTA Big Ride, a cycle event organised by Bike New South Wales. This saw 1500 people cycling from Brisbane to Sydney between 25 March and 9 April, and went down the east coast through the 'real' Australia - backwater places such as Taree, Gloucester and Dungog. I'll be writing about the event for various newspapers and, of course, Cycling Plus later this year.

There were some real characters on the Big Ride, including this genuine Aussie postman, Wendell Rosewarne, doing the whole thing on his work bike - a single-speed standard issue clunker - carrying his dog Monty in the mailsack!
There was plenty of fun and games on the ride, with even the policemen joining in. Not only were they happy to play water pistols and get their own back on Joyce, below, but they also gleefully booked speeding and careless motorists. With 1500 witnesses there was no lack of evidence!