Cambridge Guided Busway in the Countryside

Before rambling on about my cycling a quick comment on the mechanics of my Blogging. So far I have edited each post using an on-line Browser Editor, part of the Blogger offering. It is a simple editor that in the main works quite well. When it comes to adding a small number of pictures and adding text I generally upload the pictures and then write the post around them. The benefit is that it is simple the downside is not being able to produce posts off-line and I have found the picture handling very tedious, to say the least. You can only upload 5 pictures at a time and they always appear at the start of the post. They also appear in reverse order, so I either have to re-arrange them or upload them in reverse order in bunches of 5. I generally forget to do it and find that moving pictures around on-line is very slow. The editor also struggles (or I do!) to set the Font - I generally prefer Ariel to Times Roman. The final complaint was that the editing window was very small! So I have started experimenting with an off-line editor that handles the assembly of the post and along with whatever pictures have been included which then gets uploaded to my Picasa Account so that they display on the Blog.

The program I am using is Zoundry Raven. My first impressions are that the set up of the interface to my Blog/Picasa Accounts was very straightforward, but the picture handling is a little awkward. I have had to work out appropriate image widths and I got the location for storing pictures slightly wrong the first time I used it. The Editor also does not work in a "drag and drop" fashion as I expected. More to come after I have used it for a while. One real benefit of the program is that it has downloaded all of the posts so far which makes it easy to check what I have written previously.

After my trip on the Cambridge Guided Busway (GBW) I decided to cycle out around the route of the Busway to see what the construction was like. The trial run was along a relatively small section, although we did get to go along it twice. The weather here in the Fens has really become Spring-like and Saturday was no exception, the temperature was around 18C apparently. I put a thin windproof top on over my cycling "t-shirt" - fluorescent yellow of course - not that it stopped me getting knocked off my bike. The GBW follows an old railway track and passes through a Bird Reserve in Fen Drayton as I commented in my last post. Here is a picture of the track where it crosses a footpath in the Reserve. The track bed looks complete, but there appears to be signalling/communication piping still being laid - the purple piping. The cycle path/maintenance path will be sorted after the GBW is finished and running. There was a comment in the local paper that a new contractor would be responsible for that piece, apparently for cost reasons.

Here is the track looking "North" with the cycle path on the left. (It appears on the right in the picture above.)

This next picture shows how the GBW accommodates footpath and farm track crossings. Where the concrete track stops and starts it is replaced with metal guides, which are flared slightly to re-align the guide wheels that steer the bus on the track. Presumably the gap here is so short that the driver will not need to slow down much. I am not sure whether there will be traffic lights at this crossing either. I would have thought that the driver will need to remain alert and certainly not jink the steering wheel as the bus passes the gap. I did not notice it at the time but from the picture it looks as if the metal guides are only on one side of the gap which implies that buses are not expected to travel the wrong way down a track. The positions of the guides is consistent with driving on the left.

The next picture shows the view that passengers on the bus can expect looking out along one of the lakes within the reserve. It certainly beats getting stuck on the A14 in the morning/evening rush hour. I have seen some concern about possible flooding but I guess they'll cross that lake when they get to it!

On my way back through to Cambridge I crossed the GBW several times mostly at junctions but also over the GBW. Here is a picture of the track as it curves off to the left. The cycle way is again on the left - so this is heading "North". This is on the outskirts of Swavesey where the GBW crosses Station Road by a Church.

I would Imagine that there is going to be a stop here as the GBW stops well before the junction, presumably to allow buses to pull in and wait without delaying other following buses. Although this picture does not show it the metal guide-ins are much longer on these junctions. The lights will prioritise the buses.

On the road back to Cambridge there is a bridge over the GBW. It has clearly benefited from using the old rail track bed. From the look of it the GBW has also provided room for the cycle path along side as well. I think that the old railway line was double width, so they have squeezed in two "tracks" with room for a cycle/horse way. I would certainly give the cycle way a try. It would be quite pleasant to cycle out to Huntingdon via the GBW and back via the Sustrans 51 route.

Finally this picture was taken on the outskirts of Oakington. Where the track passes through fields of oilseed rape. The central part of the track has yet to have its "ballast" added. From reading the "blurb" I was given on Friday it seems I have missed the Longstanton P&R, one of the 14 stops of the GBW. The GBW looks like it will certainly be beneficial for commuters going into the Science Park and Cambridge Regional College.