The Bishop of Chester, Mark Tanner swapped his mitre for his motorcycle helmet and took to the roads with a biking fraternity for ‘Biking the Bounds’, an annual summer road tour of parishes in the Diocese of Chester.
Starting from Bishop’s House the 90 mile round trip went to Whitewell via Shocklach, on to Audlem via Marbury, Alsager via Wybunbury and Whitegate via Elworth before returning back to Chester
Bishop Mark was joined by members of the biking group, The Sons of Jehu as well as clergy and church members.
Biking the Bounds is based on the ancient tradition of parish churches beating the bounds, literally taking a beat of the parish boundaries when maps were rare. Many rural parishes still organise beating the bounds events as a way of strengthening community spirit and embedding a sense of place.
Bishop Mark explains: “I thought it would be really fun to explore the Diocese on motorbikes, especially when I was new. It enables us to pray for the Diocese, but it also helped me, as a new Bishop four and a half years ago, to work out where the boundaries of the Diocese were!
“We cover a different group of parishes each year. Last year, we set a route out and we stopped in several places to pray and visit. Because we were doing it at school term time we managed to visit a school as well. Unfortunately, it got rained off halfway through the day when it was absolutely teeming it down. So, this year we did the second half of last year's ride and next year we will carry on.
“We do it every year and anyone is welcome to join us. Biking the Bounds is a really great way of doing things that really matter to me. It’s a great way of doing fellowship, a great way of sharing some Good News, a great way of encouraging local churches, a great way to pray and a great way to spend a day riding motorbikes with great people around great countryside!”
Watch Bishop Mark’s own compilation of footage and photos with his personal Biking the Bounds 2024 musical soundtrack.