It wasn't even the nice part of town - it was the bit apparently named after a middle eastern war zone.

I went to West Bank to pick up the transpennine trail, which also runs through Warrington - I don't know the exact route but you can pick it up by the Ferry Tavern in Penketh.

In Widnes you have to go to the part of town under the bridge, called West Bank, and it does bear some relation to the Israeli occupied territory of the same name.

How can you describe it?

Imagine if you got a poor part of Warrington, say Westy.

Then restrict it to one escape route, err, sorry, road, in and out.

Put the most robbed convenience store in the world on the main street.

And sprinkle groups of half drunk lads on every corner.

Add a pinch of alcohol, with four pubs within throwing distance of a pint glass.

An finally some armed rage - it was the scene of the first armed siege I have ever covered.

But get out there a bike on a sunny day like I did, and it was beautiful.

The grass of Spike Island was greener than ever, and it wasn't just the phosphorous and lime under the soil.

The sun was setting over the Mersey and it bathed Runcorn, hardly somewhere painters would queue to immortalise, in a magnificent light.

There was a faint mist up the mersey that played with your vision - Monet himself could not have wanted more to work with.

And the trail itself proved lush and pleasant, if better suited to a mountain bike than a road-style bike like mine.

Rabbits ran across the path and seeds blew in the wind.

Heart warmingly, a pair of loved up teenagers kissed amid the rocks on the banks of the river.

This is the beauty of a bike.

It gives you freedom to explore at a decent pace, without all the unnatural experience of travelling a short distance in a car.

Warrington has far more nooks and crannys to explore than Widnes.

And if West Bank can look nice from a bike, I'm damn sure there's a lot of Warrington that can too!