There are four designs of Millennium Milepost and four artists, from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, were commissioned. All four designs can be found in all four countries. Though there may have been a degree of nationalist pride and local preference in their spread and location. Three Points of the Compass doesn’t deliberately search these striking mileposts out, though others do, especially cyclists. I show here just a handful from those I have seen on my walks.

Many of the Millennium Mileposts also have a disk on them that features symbols and text in code. I must confess that I have never paid much heed to these and only recently learnt of their purpose. There are 60 different designs of disc on the four designs of milepost and these form a Millennium Time Trail. This is, or was, a treasure hunt puzzle created by Sustrans to celebrate the year 2000 Millennium, though the puzzle trail itself probably dates from a couple of years earlier. Sustrans is a UK walking and cycling charity responsible for the creation of the NCN and the siting of the Millennium Mileposts.

The first design of milepost was commissioned from Brighton based Englishman John [Jon] Mills. ‘Fossil Tree‘ is usually brightly painted when found, each of the fossils frequently picked out with paint. Made by Taylors Foundry in Haverhill, Suffolk, the casting was almost certainly carried out at their foundry in Stoke on Trent.

The milepost design is based on an extinct spore bearing tree like plant Sigillaria whose fossilised remains are often found. Various other fossils are shown in relief on the ‘trunk’ of the milepost embedded in various sedimentary layers depicting the passage of time “from early primitive creatures to the ultimate demise of fossil fuel driven technology”.

If you were not aware of these mileposts, it would be easy to stumble across one and think it simply a piece of local art rather than a loosely coordinated UK wide project.

The second design of milepost commissioned was ‘The Cockerel‘ by Scottish sculptor Iain McColl. For some reason I haven’t noticed many of this attractive design on my travels. I can only surmise that a high proportion of this design found their way to Scotland and I tend to walk footpaths rather than cycle paths in Scotland.The one I show here was passed when I walked the West Highland Way in 2013 and again in 2018.

The design of ‘The Cockerel’ is based on Miro’s ‘The Fork’ and Brancusi’s ‘The Cock‘. I rather like this design and wish I encountered it more frequently.

32% of the cycle routes are entirely traffic free and the network connects with all of the UKs National Parks, sixty of the UKs Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Scottish National Scenic Areas in the UK, also 18 of the UK’s 20 World Heritage Sites. One stated aim of the Sustrans project was to create safe and accessible traffic-free network that can be used by a sensible 12-year-old travelling alone.

In 1998 Welshman Andrew Rowe designed the third milepost commissioned. A native of Swansea, a place with a long nautical and industrial heritage, he combined elements of that history in to his artwork. There is nothing subtle about this design. The large links point squarely at what is being commemorated.

These ‘Rowe type’ mileposts differ from the other three designs in that up to five directional ‘fingers’ could be included if required. The example I have included here has three pointers and was passed on the Tarka Trail in 2018. In common with many wide and quiet cycle paths, this path utilises an abandoned railway track for much of its straight course through the countryside.

The rear of the ‘Rowe’ design is nothing to behold. With an all round aspect to these multi-directional posts, this was a fault in the design brief and a lost opportunity.

“DOWN A WANDERING PATH

I HAVE TRAVELLED,

WHERE THE SETTING SUN

LIES UPON THE GROUND.

THE TRACKS ARE HARD AND DRY

SMOOTHENED WITH

THE WEATHER’S WEAR,

MY MIND DID MOVE

WITH THEM THAT HAD

BEFORE ME BEEN,

TRODDING DOWN THE GROUND

A TRACK FOR ME TO FOLLOW,

LEAVING MARKS FOR OTHERS

A SIGN FOR THEM TO FOLLOW.”

David Dudgeon, 1999

Since the posts were first commissioned and sited, there has been infrequent relocation and replacement. Further information and locations on the Sustrans NCN and Millennium Mileposts can be found here.

These Millennium Mileposts are obviously not the only signage on the cycle network. The primary signage is of a white bicycle (sometimes including a walking symbol) on a blue background. An inset number includes the route number.

Cyclists and pedestrians are sometimes segregated by lines on the paths, but frequently both share a common track. Cyclists have to contend with hikers walking abreast while those walking have the demented racer to put up with. And don’t get me started on dog walkers. Courtesy in both camps goes a long way.

There are six sets of discs. To make it a little easier for people to complete the puzzle, the UK was divided into nine regions. Each region has at least two of each disc from T1-T5. So it is possible to visit an entire set within a single region.

Each disc carries an image related to the theme of the set in which it is. The five sets comprise-

• T1. Four discs- The Seasons
• T2. Six discs- The Continents
• T3. Eight discs- The Ages of Man
• T4. Twelve discs- The Signs of the Zodiac
• T5. Twenty discs- The Centuries

plus-

• T6. Ten discs- The ‘rare’ discs

Each T1-T5 disc carries part of a poem, the whole poem appearing across the 50 discs. The words MILLENNIUM POEM result.