THE 5,000 mile National Cycle Network was opened on Wednesday with 260 simultaneous bike rides all around the country.

Up to 500,000 people took part in the longest ride on the longest day of the year - the biggest co-ordinated cycling event in history.

And many of them were riding Somerset's stretch of the network, including over Exmoor from Taunton to Barnstaple via Dulverton.

A team from Sustrans, the charity developing the network, made a brief 'fuel stop' at the Copper Kettle, in Dulverton, before pedalling on to complete the opening.

Pictured during their break are, from the left, Oliver Courtenay, Michael Dunford, Ian Hole, Ivan Godfrey and Tony Stedham.

Other celebrations included a two-day cycling holiday on Exmoor for a group of disadvantaged and disabled children from London, organised by new Devon cycle company Biketrail, Exmoor Tourist Association and the Variety Club.

And the WI went by bike or foot as they passed a banner from one institute to another in an on-going link-up between 22 groups starting in May.

The National Cycle Network is a Millennium Commission project supported by £43.5 million of National Lottery funds and is the second largest millennium project after the Dome.

The network will not only be open to cyclists but also to walkers and wheelchair users and it passes within two miles, or a ten minute bike ride, of 20 million people.

By 2005, there will be 10,000 miles of safe, high quality routes and some of this week's events covered sections of the network still under completion.

Photo: Steve Guscott.