A DORSET woman who travelled 100,000 miles on a tandem without ever learning to ride a bike has published a book featuring her favourite journeys.

Jackie Winter, from Winterborne Zelston, has spent much of the last 35 years riding tandem with husband Allan.

She has now self-published the book, Life in Tandem: tales of cycling travels, which charts some of their favourite trips together to places such as Lulworth, Cerne Abbas and Milton Abbas.

The pair spent a long time riding with the Wessex Road Club in the 1980s and it also features tales from those days.

Jackie, who worked with the Dorset County Libraries service for more than 20 years, has been a keen writer for many years – penning a number of short stories – and decided to write the book after retiring.

She said: “When I retired I thought this was the time to write a book.

“Writing about cycling and tandem seemed the obvious topic to choose because it’s been such a big part of our lives.”

Jackie added: “The strange thing about it is that, although I’ve done all these trips on the tandem and covered 100,000 miles, I’ve never learned to ride a bike.

“Without Allan I would never have ridden.”

The book features top tips and advice at the end of each chapter for tandem riders about getting the best use out of the tandem and how to avoid arguments between couples.

Jackie said that, with the ever increasing popularity of cycling, she hoped the book might make more people look at tandems as a way of spending time together as couples and getting out and about.

She said: “Cycling has got such a high profile at the moment and I think tandems are a good thing for couples.”

Jackie said she and Allan are lucky to live in such a beautiful county as Dorset, where they can enjoy the countryside at every opportunity.

The book is now available online from Amazon in Kindle or paperback form.