As a cyclist in Cambridge I am a member of an organisation called the Cambridge Cycling Campaign (CCyC). It is currently staffed by volunteers, although there is discussion about hiring a person. I am a silent member at the moment, but am very impressed with the knowledge and professionalism of the people involved in the organisation. Despite many people Cambridge the cycling "capital" of the UK I feel that there is an endemic misunderstanding, within our local government, of the role cycling plays in the local economy. You only have to look at Holland and the role cycling plays there to realise how sub-standard things are. (Given that many of the submissions I heard and the Cambridge Transport Commission hearing highlighted the concern about how dangerous it is to cycle in the Cambridgeshire area - it suggests and entrenched car-centric view). Given how flat it is around here we should see many more cyclists out and about, but cyclists are treated as second class citizens and many of the facilities built "for cyclists" are a waste of taxpayers money. The CCyC attempts to redress this balance, for the benefit of all.
One of the areas in Cambridge that has probably had quite a lot of money spent on "Traffic calming" is the road through Cherry Hinton on the outskirts of Cambridge. The cycle path hops on and off the road weaving in and out of bollards. I find in challenging during the day, at night it is terrible. Here the cycle path has been diverted onto the path which has been built out to narrow the road - to calm all those mad motorists. The trouble is you then get a chicane of posts to navigate through. The one on the left does not even have any reflective material. This is a clear message to motorists that they have the "right of way" and that cyclists should get pushed off the road.
A little later on the road surface is raised along the length of the High Street. Parking is provided on each side and helpfully a cycle lane right alongside the parked cars. This is where the Highway Code rule 239 comes into play
- 239 - you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door. Check for cyclists or other traffic
It almost seems as if this were a deliberate attempt to bring the two groups into conflict.
I have borrowed the picture used on the on-line version of the Highway code showing a cyclist avoiding being hit - perhaps people who read it think that should be hitting cyclists and do not, or can't read the text! (Waiting and Parking)
Talking about inconsiderate drivers - here we have a Lorry driver who clearly does not give two hoots about parking in a cycle lane, what's worse is that bad behaviour encourages even more bad behaviour and then a car parked by the lorry. The roads seem to be descending into a free for all of selfishness. No doubt the lorry driver feels that he has no choice and can't justify the extra distance if he had parked properly.
There is one rather nice stretch of cycle path between the Newmarket Road Park and Ride site and Cambridge centre. At the P&R end it bypasses the busy road, you rarely get many walkers here and it is a pleasure to cycle past fields. Unfortunately it is not a long path - but the thought counts. Some people drive to the park and ride site, and then cycle the last couple of miles into Cambridge - so getting some exercise and by-passing the Cambridge congestion. Parking is free and only those catching the bus have to pay. Unfortunately there is talk about charging the Park and Cyclists to park - seems crazy to me.
Along this path is a place where old cycles go to die.
While I am on a roll - here is another of the ways in which cyclists are firmly put in their place as second class citizens. This is a gated farm track along the Sustrans 51 route between Quy and Bottisham. Make the cyclist responsible for problems - at least they could have made it a three-way give way.
I am off to explore pastures new over the next couple of days, I am going to cycle from Hull down to Cambridge on Sustrans Route 1 and then switching to Route 51 for the last bit from King's Lynn. Hopefully the weather will be pleasant, although this is going to be credit-card touring - I am catching the train up and then cycling back. I have loaded the maps using www.bikeroutetoaster.com onto my GPS, packed a limited change of clothes, some jelly babies and will break my trip in Boston. According to the route planning it should be around 100miles/160Km per each of the two days. So far it has been quite straightforward using the Web to plan routes/trains/times let's hope the physical bit will be just as straightforward.
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