The Tyne and Wear Commuter Thread

andy9964

Another update

If it's the same train ( virgin trains) every day, you can do a block booking at the travel centre..... cross country and trans pennine you don't need to book anything

Hope that helps

Initialised

Thanks for the info, I won the interview even though I thought I'd messed it up, I've been offered the job, just waiting on references etc...

Looking forward to a longer commute and a ll the chaos that comes with a new job, good to know I can block book on Virgin is I need to, it'd be a pain to have to write a bot to do it automatically.

xbnm

Don't know if any of you have seen this or are inters ted but thought it worth posting for reference some interesting as they seem to be examples of what the police seem to think are near misses.

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/see-near-misses-caught-camera-12703598

andy9964

“Modern technology means that motorists no longer need to be caught red-handed by the police at the scene of the crime to be prosecuted.

I've had far worse than that, a taxi driver brushed my elbow. I reported it, with video evidence, and was told, "there's not enough evidence to prosecute"
Hopefully there's been a change of attitude, and not just a jumping on the bandwagon thing, to make it look like they're doing something

dinyull

Saw Road.cc reporting that Northumbria Police have started a crackdown. Good to see them acknowledge the problem, but the cynic in me thinks they're only doing it for a bit of media attention.

dinyull

viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12573143&start=15160

I'm on the lookout for any brown/maroon truck/haulage companies in newcastle/north east? Horrific close pass in link and I didn't catch the company of the driver.

Any help appreciated, cheers.

Ped8

Hi all
Just found this thread on here & with me getting back to riding to work after a break of nearly 2 years i thought i would put up my thoughts, although it's been a while since anyone has posted anything!
Interesting to read the posts on the 1st few pages re Scotswood Road as my commute takes in this route & i too find it a great road /cycle path to ride along. My commute starts at Prudhoe, down through to Blaydon over Scotswood bridge along Scotswood road up past ST James' Park & the RVI through Exhibition park then up the Great North Road & since Killingworth road up from the 2 roundabouts at South Gosforth is closed i go up the residential street that runs parallel with Gosforth high street to come out by Regents centre then along Hollywood road then up the track past the golf course then onto either the A189 along salters lane or through to Quorum business park Westmoor then Killingworth.
Route back retraces a fair bit of the route in but cut through Exhibition park to come out near the dental hospital then up past Fenham Barracks to the west road then down to Scotswood road where i either go back up through Ryton or carry on NCN 72 to Wylam then up to Prudhoe!

Apologies for the long post!

andy9964

M Steel in Gosforth has announced that they have ceased trading
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/tynesi ... 894/022025

Long_Time_Lurker

Andy9964 wrote:

M Steel in Gosforth has announced that they have ceased trading
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/tynesi ... 894/022025

It's a shame, but I'm not surprised. (I haven't had a good customer experience the times that I have been in.)
I'm guessing that they can't compete with online and some of the larger retailers.

Edit: 1000 posts! :P

guitarsammy

I'm shortly to start commuting from the Tyne Valley (Ryton area) to the government buildings up at Benton Park View in Newcastle.

Anyone got any tips on a good route to use? I ride a cyclocross bike and prefer to use segregated cycle lanes or stay off-road on tracks as much as possible.

I currently commute to the area around the Central Station without really going on road much at all.

I've looked at various cycle maps but can't quite figure out a route to Benton that doesn't look either:
a) direct but mainly on-road;
b) largely off-road but very convoluted;
c) generally off-road and fairly direct but with large on-road sections in busy areas.

Any tips from someone who knows that route better than I do greatly appreciated!

jongooligan

Wow! It's gone really quiet in here. Haven't been here for ages.

Anyway, I've commuted to Longbenton from South of the river. Found the best route to be over the Millenium Bridge, along the quayside to Ouseburn then through Jesmond Dene. Then you could take the Coxlodge (I think) railway path over to BPV.

Tried various other routes, mostly on road but they weren't much fun at all. Lots of commuter traffic (obvs) and the road surfaces are pretty crappy too.

Hope you find a route that you're happy with.

sisleybarnes1

jomoj wrote:

So to kick off, I ride most days from Monkseaton to Newcastle via Battle Hill, Wallsend and then along the river, which is between 11 and 12 miles depending on which route I take.

Usually ride a cyclocross bike which is perfect for mixing up the roads, tracks and waggonways. I’ve been commuting by bike in Newcastle for the last 8 years or so, prior to that I lived in London and used to ride into and across central London regularly. Though it has it’s thrills, I know where I prefer!

Favourite things – being able to do most of the ride off road if I want, riding along the Tyne on a still day, not having to get the Metro.
Least favourite – broken Lambrini bottles on the bike path, dodging stag and hen dos on the Quayside, howling westerlies that funnel up the tyne valley

Oh, that's my point.

andy9964

Looks like the ped/cycle tunnel might actually be opening soon..... April, apparently

https://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/tyn ... KgUHEBXEqA

xbnm

Good news but i don't think i'm going to hold my breath waiting. Hopefully will make rides up the coast of Northumberland a bit easier from south of the Tyne this summer.

Long_Time_Lurker

Nope - never gonna happen! It's been said so many times now that I refuse to believe it.
(Although I'm quite enjoying the rides on the ferry when I do my run to Souter Lighthouse and back.)

andy9964

Aaaaaand finally https://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/pol ... tgBqAuDsmM

xbnm

Currently running at 6 out of 6 Dash-cam submissions to Northumbria police resulting in Fixed penalty notices being issued been quite impressed haven't submitted anything marginal yet mind. (interesting spelling suggestion for Northumbria Thumbprint ??)

Durham are a waste of space

Long_Time_Lurker

Nice work XBNM - keep up the fight.
I'm not commuting on roads anymore so no longer have to deal with traffic (new job, so cycling to town along Cycle Route 72 - no cars but frequent visits from the puncture fairies around Wallsend)

jefflad

As the mornings and I guess soon the evenings are getting darker I'm just wondering if anyone can advise a route from The Sage to Prudhoe. I do the route from here mainly along the riverbank... I have a Lezyne Mega Drive so no real issues for lighting up the track but I'm wondering if I'm being silly going that route and should look for a more lit up route in case of any mechanicals or the like. Am I being too soft and should get on with it?

This has all been brought about by having a near coming together with a dog walker and extendable lead the other morning as I didn't see them due to the dark (I had lights etc on)I just didn’t see either till almost having an off but it got me thinking what else could happen down there either malicious or other...

Long_Time_Lurker

It's a trade-off - more joggers/dog walkers or fight with rush-hour traffic.
I always use the river routes myself. A nicer route and keeps me off the roads.
I do come across dog walkers and joggers, but as it gets darker/colder, there are less of them about.
Just have to keep your wits about you and bear in mind that everyone else has right of way.
(My biggest issue are punctures as there are some areas where the local scrotes like to smash glass.
On the plus side I use MTB lights for my commute, so if I have a mechanical I can turn the brightness up to max and illuminate half of North Tyneside)