Best & Worst Cycling towns in the UK

pbkclements

Just started some work up in the Eastleigh/Chandlers Ford area in hampshire & I wouldn't rate the area that highly in terms of cycle friendliness - yes I've looked at the local council's cycle maps & used a route down to the park & ride, but overall it doesn't feel terribly good to me with roads dominated by commuters in a hurry - I don't feel terribly safe.

I'm interested to know how your town fairs; I really liked the cycle routes around Exeter & Farnborough was also pretty cycle friendly; Bournemouth and Poole has some good routes & my home town Dorchester is ok as it's small & not too hard to cycle in.

Therefore, very interested to know what are the best & worst cycling towns in the UK & for the worst, how we can get them improved (as I could be working there next !). It seems to me there was a big push 10 years or so for councils to cover their ground with white lined dedicated cycle space but this was often ill thought out & was a result of dictat rather than really thinking about the issue - what are the the lobby groups trying to improve the cycling commuters lot ? I reckon there is a lot of work to do as if people don't feel safe to cycle, they mostly won't & rightly so.

Peter

Initialised

For my route through Newcastle and Gateshead I can use dedicated paths and cycle lanes pretty much everywhere apart from crossing the Tyne, only the Millenium Bridge and Pedestrian Tunnel have dedicated space for cyclists.

Despite that I prefer to ride the roads these days as I have had more crashes and near misses and reasons to slow down on shared use paths than on the road. I have maybe 3 - 5 irate drivers per year (TBH if I just ignored them it wouldn't have escalated) and have yet to have a serious accident involving another vehicle.

When I've been riding in Dorset and Hampshire (I have relatives in Christchurch) I've found that drivers there are much less tolerant than in the North east but I think it may be as simple as the width of the road and the volumes of traffic more than a North/South divide. Up here it's wide roads with little traffic once you're out in Durham or Northumberland roads are wide, straight (what have the Romans ever done for us) and empty but the roads around the New Forest are narrow, twisty and often full.

Mikey23

From a local perspective, Exeter brilliant, Plymouth rubbish. Not a commuter but that's what I observe and what people tell me...

kingofthetailwind

Belfast - pretty bad: http://nigreenways.wordpress.com/2013/0 ... tudy-tour/

markhewitt1978

Initialised wrote:

When I've been riding in Dorset and Hampshire (I have relatives in Christchurch) I've found that drivers there are much less tolerant than in the North east but I think it may be as simple as the width of the road and the volumes of traffic more than a North/South divide. Up here it's wide roads with little traffic once you're out in Durham or Northumberland roads are wide, straight (what have the Romans ever done for us) and empty but the roads around the New Forest are narrow, twisty and often full.

Have you noticed a difference in quality with Durham compared to Northumberland roads. It always seems when I cross the border into Northumberland I'm struck by the poor quality of the roads. Even last weekend 90% of my ride in County Durham and the roads were fine, then I cross the Northumberland border at Blanchland and I'm being shaken to bits by a terrible road surface. Turn around and cross back into County Durham and it's all fine again.

Tigger con carne

I've found cycling in Wakefield to be OK. Some of the roads are a bit potholed though the local council has resurfaced a few of the worst ones on my commuter route recently (one was so bad I put my suspension on when traversing that particular stretch, despite having it locked out most of the rest of the time). I've had a few cat calls from passing cars driven by "yoofs", but these occur mainly when we're between lunar cycles so they don't have the moon to throw rocks at to keep them amused, bless. There aren't any cycle lanes on my usual route but there are some around other parts of town.

ChuckWoking

Woking as a cycling town is sort of OK.

Ok if you're cycling where they want you to go, from somewhere they've considered you might be starting from; rubbish if you aren't doing both, which happens to be where I cycle most of the time.

The links to neighbouring Boroughs for example, are hopeless. I ride towards the A3 in the mornings which means leaving Woking, and lately have found myself on the footpath on one particular stretch; being overtaken on double white lines, on a blind corner by drivers (that I've just overtaken myself) doing the usual 40mph + 10mph and in the face of oncoming traffic, is just too unnerving.

There are other routes, which are even more heavily trafficked and longer, so I just have to put up with it and hope the Council might see that cycling starts beyond its fairly limited boundaries, and starting talking with other Surrey Boroughs about it (Guildford would be a good start!)

mpatts

Milton Keynes is excellent, and here is why

Excellent network of (mostly good surface) cycle paths, completed separated from traffic (I can get to the centre of MK, 6 miles away, and only have to cross a couple of roads). It's very family friendly - we often go for a spin to one of the lakes with our 7 year old for an ice cream.

All around it's basically countryside - there is excellent road riding.

Also, if this is your kind of thing, it's here as well:



As well as some pretty good singletrack.

Also, it's a skyride town, if that's your bag!

Big_Paul

KingOfTheTailwind wrote:

Belfast - pretty bad: http://nigreenways.wordpress.com/2013/0 ... tudy-tour/

Another vote for Belfast, psychopathic taxi drivers, myopic bus drivers, lack of ANY enforcement of parking in cycle lanes, cycle lanes strewn with glass and debris or just going nowhere, a complete shambles, feck knows how they'll run the Giro here, the roads are in such a crap state.

Initialised

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Initialised wrote:

When I've been riding in Dorset and Hampshire (I have relatives in Christchurch) I've found that drivers there are much less tolerant than in the North east but I think it may be as simple as the width of the road and the volumes of traffic more than a North/South divide. Up here it's wide roads with little traffic once you're out in Durham or Northumberland roads are wide, straight (what have the Romans ever done for us) and empty but the roads around the New Forest are narrow, twisty and often full.

Have you noticed a difference in quality with Durham compared to Northumberland roads. It always seems when I cross the border into Northumberland I'm struck by the poor quality of the roads. Even last weekend 90% of my ride in County Durham and the roads were fine, then I cross the Northumberland border at Blanchland and I'm being shaken to bits by a terrible road surface. Turn around and cross back into County Durham and it's all fine again.

Not really, Blanchland to Hexham is pretty good until the descent into Hexham and around the Race Course, higher traffic density means faster wearing of the road surface I guess. Last time I rode Blanchland to Weardale (up Bale Hill and Meadows Edge) there were great square chunks of road missing, I guess they've been replaced and will be smooth and nice until the ice gets them.

Try riding across the Durham-Cumbria border after a heavy snow, Chances are the ploughing stops on the Durham side of the border. It could be the same principle, more regular maintenance or just that they've been done more recently.

sswiss

Cambridge.
Not as good as you think it should be, really depends where you are commuting from and and to, but from my Village just outside Cambridge to the West Cambridge site...it is sh*te, cycle lanes finishing abruptly as the road narrows ( just when you need them) .......then starting again, crossing across a side road to join a shared pathway, it's comical believe me, a cycle network route ( I cannot wait for it to freeze) with leaf and tree debris, the council do not clear...and they wonder why some cyclists choose stay on the road!!!!

Rant over! - not a good trip in today!

iand-83

sswiss wrote:

Cambridge.
Not as good as you think it should be, really depends where you are commuting from and and to, but from my Village just outside Cambridge to the West Cambridge site...it is sh*te, cycle lanes finishing abruptly as the road narrows ( just when you need them) .......then starting again, crossing across a side road to join a shared pathway, it's comical believe me, a cycle network route ( I cannot wait for it to freeze) with leaf and tree debris, the council do not clear...and they wonder why some cyclists choose stay on the road!!!!

Rant over! - not a good trip in today!

I commute from North Cambridge to Babraham Road, the roads aren't too bad but some of the cycle paths and cycle lanes on the roads are badly maintained and not very nice to ride on at times. It's always stupidly busy too specially when you get to any of the traffic lights around the center of town.

Cupras

Teesside seems a nice place to cycle even with the massive lack of cycle lanes.

jmcdyre

Loughborough isn't particularly good. There are cycle lanes that appear and disappear pretty randomly, and overall the road surfaces throughout and around the town are awful - one is so bad that the vibrations seem to losen anything attached to your bike, another is like a bmx track due to the awful quality of roadworks. The few dedicated cycle tracks running on the pavement are covered in bush cuttings and glass. Traffic lights just beyond roundabouts cause terrible congestion on all approaches. It is not very enjoyable

markhewitt1978

Initialised wrote:

Not really, Blanchland to Hexham is pretty good until the descent into Hexham and around the Race Course, higher traffic density means faster wearing of the road surface I guess. Last time I rode Blanchland to Weardale (up Bale Hill and Meadows Edge) there were great square chunks of road missing, I guess they've been replaced and will be smooth and nice until the ice gets them.

Yes; I saw that too on Meadows Edge, it was a week before the Hell of Hexham sportive; and as you did that ride you'll have noticed they were replaced. I rode up Meadows Edge last weekend and the road surface was good throughout. Small piles of road stone beside the road every half mile or so which I expect is from the works.

Northumberland's roads being worse may be my imagination, or confirmation bias.

Initialised

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Not really, Blanchland to Hexham is pretty good until the descent into Hexham and around the Race Course, higher traffic density means faster wearing of the road surface I guess. Last time I rode Blanchland to Weardale (up Bale Hill and Meadows Edge) there were great square chunks of road missing, I guess they've been replaced and will be smooth and nice until the ice gets them.

Yes; I saw that too on Meadows Edge, it was a week before the Hell of Hexham sportive; and as you did that ride you'll have noticed they were replaced. I rode up Meadows Edge last weekend and the road surface was good throughout. Small piles of road stone beside the road every half mile or so which I expect is from the works.

Northumberland's roads being worse may be my imagination, or confirmation bias.

Meadow's edge is possibly my favorite bit of road, must visit more often!

Maybe I'm less sensitive to poor road surfaces than other riders and just don't notice. One thing I notice when I ride with others is they tend to stay closer to the left than I would and swerve for potholes where I relax and lift out of my seat slightly, if it's bad I assume the MTB attack position. Of course the down side to this riding style is that I have at least four wheels that need truing but three of these have discs so it's not urgent.

@OP apologies for the thread hijack!

sporttourer

Pick any town in Cornwall and they are all rubbish for cycling, cycle paths are non existant in most places.
On the other hand - do the lands End 100 Sportive & cycle some great roads with stunning scenery.

daddy0

Croydon
Well, someone was killed by a bus there last week. In the center of town the roads are horribly congested - lots of buses, taxis and boy racers. And during rush hour the suburbs are regularly gridlocked too. Road condition: not good, pot holes, broken glass and tram lines (and of course the ever present threat of being mugged for your bike, spesh in West Croydon) make it particularly unpleasant. Riding through Croydon I sometimes fear for my life.

Bromley
Much better than Croydon. No tram lines, and much less risk of being shanked for ones bike. However, some bus drivers are homicidal maniacs, watch out for the 320s in particular. Some terrible cycle paths which are painted on the pavement but make little attempt at steering you away from the lampposts... There is a half decent cycle path network though, but its useless to someone like me who rides at a decent speed. Road condition isn't too bad, not too much broken glass and although there are some nasty potholes, there aren't too many of them. Riding through Bromley I don't fear for my life.

I sometimes ride up to London, and in rush hour you do take your life into your own hands. The roads are just too busy. Be quick or be dead!

chris_bass

Droitwich and bromsgrove are both terrible, the road surfaces are vergiung on dangerous in places and aside from the odd random 30 meters here and there no cycle paths to speak of!

Guanajuato

Kendal is bloody awful. My commute is barely 1.5 miles, and half of that is on a riverside path. Despite that I can guarantee at least 2 incidents of bloody stupid motorists and one of outright deliberate aggression. Its also quite common to be driven at and abused for daring to be on the pavement when walking on the pavement along one 100 yard section of road - No raised kerb, so the pavement is a legitimate parking area, isn't it? Despite the 100 feet of space dedicated to vehicles to the side of the 6ft for pedestrians. :-/
What cycle lanes there are have been devised by a myopic non-cyclist with a sadistic streak a mile wide. In the space of 200 yards, there's one section that crosses two or 3 lanes of a one-way system that is the main route through the town 3 times, and narrows to 18" wide, with several sign posts, just where it cuts round a 90° bend, where a zebra crossing comes across the road, then stops at a bit of common land that is used as a free-for-all car park, before crossing the 2 lanes of traffic again to go onto a shared use path (with the cycle section on the opposite side of the path from the road) for 30 feet. The one way system seems to have been designed to get drivers frustrated so they do stupid things. Its also set out so that traffic between any two parts of the (small!) town HAVE to go all the way round the one-way system at least once, creating double the amount of traffic on the roads than there needs to be.

But, by 'eck, the roads outside the town are great! with the possible exception of heading into the lake district (too many tourists admiring the view). Lyth Valley, Lune Valley, Shap Fells, Howgills and Cartmel Peninsula are all absolutely cracking places to ride - hardly any traffic and a huge variety of terrain. Pan-flat from Arnside to Grange, Undulating down the valleys, but nasty hills getting between valleys.

mabbo

Eastbourne has a crazy cycle scheme, starts at either end of a long promenade,(over 3 miles), but in the middle pushes you off into the main road, where cars are allowed to park either side, so the rest of the traffic squeezes down the middle. And this is classed as the cycle lane. Doesn't bother me as I have been cycling on roads for years, but it's not exactly an encouragement for beginers or weekenders out for some fresh air.

kevinharley

In my expereince, Leeds is mixed - some very good cycle paths, or different routes that are mostly traffic-free ... and some sections of the busy main roads have recently been overhauled to include very spacious cycle and bus lanes. But other places are too scary to drive on in the car, let alone the bike! Fortunately, there are quieter back street-options for most journeys.

I've a CX bike though; this allows me to mix up my routes a bit, and use some of the paths, tracks and bridleways, canal towpath etc running through the sections of 'green corridor' that are reasonably plentiful for a large city. Its not always the quickest or most direct route, but it is usually more fun (especially in spring & summer), more pleasant and more traffic-free.