Thursday 29 September 2016

King William the Fourth and Braziers Lane


I have to joy of volunteering at Brazier's Park in Oxfordshire every so often. I usually take the Friday off to enable me to set up for our group, just in case the weather or other circumstances make it a hard job. However, the majority of the time, I get a few hours around lunchtime for myself. So, the bike comes out and I ride into the hills.



This is located in the edge of the Thames valley, and is sited just below the Chiltern dipslopes near Goring. Thus it has a bit of climbing, and I choose the pleasure of old tracks for the up and down sections.

A short way into the journey up the first track, the King William the Fourth offers the perfect opportunity to stop and lunch. With awesome Brakspears straight out of the barrel and a good menu it's great. And then the view from outside makes it perfect. The hills and valleys toward the Goring Gap a spread out in front of you giving 10 miles of wooded and farmed landscape. And then, it just gets silly as Red Kites circle in front of you.

And here's the clip (music warning!) with a variety of start points which open YouTube in a separate window.
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:12 Turning Out of Braziers
0:33 Ipsden
1:09 King William the Fourth
3:18 Event Staff
4:03 Turning Out of Braziers
4:30 Great view from top of Braziers Lane


There was an odd thing going on at the farm (in *Homer*, I kid you not!), which meant I met with event staff at the top of the track.

Also note that I met horses on my way round. I start flicking my brakes gently a good 100 yards away. The horses pick up on it first and start turning their heads. I doing it gently and slowing, as braking does, from a long distance out to make sure the animals are aware and the riders do pick it up from a fair distance as well. This gives everyone plenty of time to react, move and take care of all involved.

Great fun for a mid day break from work!








* How to go HD.














King William the Fourth and Braziers Lane


I have to joy of volunteering at Brazier's Park in Oxfordshire every so often. I usually take the Friday off to enable me to set up for our group, just in case the weather or other circumstances make it a hard job. However, the majority of the time, I get a few hours around lunchtime for myself. So, the bike comes out and I ride into the hills.



This is located in the edge of the Thames valley, and is sited just below the Chiltern dipslopes near Goring. Thus it has a bit of climbing, and I choose the pleasure of old tracks for the up and down sections.

A short way into the journey up the first track, the King William the Fourth offers the perfect opportunity to stop and lunch. With awesome Brakspears straight out of the barrel and a good menu it's great. And then the view from outside makes it perfect. The hills and valleys toward the Goring Gap a spread out in front of you giving 10 miles of wooded and farmed landscape. And then, it just gets silly as Red Kites circle in front of you.

And here's the clip (music warning!) with a variety of start points which open YouTube in a separate window.
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:12 Turning Out of Braziers
0:33 Ipsden
1:09 King William the Fourth
3:18 Event Staff
4:03 Turning Out of Braziers
4:30 Great view from top of Braziers Lane


There was an odd thing going on at the farm (in *Homer*, I kid you not!), which meant I met with event staff at the top of the track.

Also note that I met horses on my way round. I start flicking my brakes gently a good 100 yards away. The horses pick up on it first and start turning their heads. I doing it gently and slowing, as braking does, from a long distance out to make sure the animals are aware and the riders do pick it up from a fair distance as well. This gives everyone plenty of time to react, move and take care of all involved.

Great fun for a mid day break from work!








* How to go HD.














Tuesday 20 September 2016

A10 M11 Junction Paths


So as part of my cycle to work day (well, week, as that's where I was), I've looked at the full journey there and some relative speeds on the way back. Some people noted that I used the rather poor cycle infra that crosses the M11 at the A10 junction and pointed out that there's a much nicer way. And they are right!

So, here's a map of the area, showing the alternative.



On this map, the orange line is the narrow path next to the A10 road, which you can see either heading south from here (until 2:41, music!), or heading north from here (only to the roundabout, music!). The blue line is the new path round, set up across farm land as a proper cyclepath (not just a permissive path according to cyclestreets) and gets away from traffic going over a farm bridge just along from the main road bridges.

And here's the clip (music warning!) with a variety of start points which open YouTube in a separate window.
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:08 Turning In
0:13 River Corner
1:04 Bridge Ramp (and stop spot)
1:24 Onto Separated Cyclepath (and Trumpington Meadows Park entrance on left)
1:38 Building Site Centre
2:02 Turning Out Across Road


So, which way's best? Well that depends on you!

So, I've favoured going along the narrow path next to the road. Essentially, it's just that bit shorter to make it worthwhile. It's 20% less distance, although it's not quite as much timewise as there's no need to wait whilst crossing M11 sliproads. Again, this is a short distance and it's not much time, but it's still more towards my feeling whilst I'm lugging a reasonable weight around along a 7/8 mile commute.

Yes, I'm crossing sliproads, which isn't too bad but does involve awkward observation and interaction with quick traffic. Also, I'm next to a noisy busy road all the way. And the grass significantly narrows the path (although interaction with other users seems to go fine). Finally, the layby is quikc awkward and I've experienced drivers putting their vehicles into the very narrow path. So there's a number of negatives.

So the quiet path round is, precisely that: quiet and around. It is quiet lovely down by the river, albeit quite a short section. Then it's very much up through rural scenery. Not beautiful, but quiet and pleasant. As you approach the M11 the route joins a farm track and has a stopping spot (an extension of Trumpington Meadows park?).

The farm track over the bridge is steep, and I'm always aware that farm traffic may be around. Coming off the bridge the route goes onto a separate track, something that may well indicate a level of farm and building site traffic nearby. There is the entrance to Trumpington Meadows park on the left, although it's not particularly inviting at this end.

So, to me, the quiet path is further, involves going more up and down, has a steep bridge, and could have some other traffic around on the same infra. It is generally quieter and potentially more pleasant, it's just not that much better to convert me.

I know people put some effort into getting this path and I get why some will like it, it's just not for me right now.

Now, there is something more to consider: where are people cycling to from here? Locally we have the hospital, the railway station (and rail corridor area), and the city centre are the three areas that spring to mind.

Looking at the map, the green routes show how to continue on separated infra to both the hospital and rail corridor area. There's a few poor links here. Having to go round the roundabout at the park and ride will put some off, although I find that traffic is slow here and it feels like crossing a road more than using one. Addenbrookes Road always seems like putting the cycle infra in last, the long way round, and not giving it any priority. However, it does get all the way, as long as you're happy to do a full loop round after the railway bridge.

Onto the city centre? Well, following the railway corridor route does get you going roughly in the right direction, but it's quite a long way round. The best current route (in red) sadly involves a too much sharing with busy traffic. There is a good separated route just north of Trumpington centre, just no way through to get to it (block in red).

However, there may be a longer term strategy in play here. The entrance to Trumpington Meadows park is the clue. This has cycle routes that continue on to the Grantchester Road. The meadows do continue on up to the city centre, with lots of space given over to open (permissive!) access land. There is the potential to use more farm tracks up the east side of the river (currently not in use) and connect into current cycle infra in the Latham Road area. However, there's some pretty obvious big places that might not like that. Hmm, what to do?














* How to go HD.



























Wednesday 14 September 2016

Cycle to Work Day


Okay, sorry to those looking for a essay on the issues of this day, I'm just going to enjoy it. I do get that there does need to be a lot more than a day a year where this is done!

Going Out

So my way out provided some excellent views, especially in quite glorious light. The autumn yellows, oranges, and golds are starting to kick in and my route takes me along some beautiful scenery. Bizarrely, for some of it, I'm right next to a road. I'm not sure if I'd appreciate the views as much if I was driving.

The first section is in lower light, but has the fantabulous sight of seeing many people commuting into Cambridge as we go out along the Guided Busway. I'm a little suprised, there were more people riding and walking yesterday, I just must have hit a slightly different spot.

Then the slightly dull section from Trumpington Park and Ride to Harston, via the M11 roundabout. I'm aware there's a separate path, it's just a lot further round so simply doesn't appeal on a commute.

After that, Harston has a slightly small shared-use path. Lots of avoiding being near blind driveways, but still a good route away from most of the traffic.

Finally, the route on to Foxton (railway crossing). The light here is just great.

And here's the clip (music warning!) with a variety of start points which open YouTube in a separate window.
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:17 Guided Busway
1:41 Trumpington Park and Ride
3:13 Harston
4:03 Route to Foxton



Some Stills














Traffic on Return

On the way back at lunchtime, there's the fun of the roadworks. Yes, I mean fun! I measure my progress against a well known beer companies van (other beers are available).

And, yes, I know the roadworks favoured me greatly. However, Harston regularly suffers from slow traffic going into Cambridge in the morning commute. And from the end of this video clip onwards traffic peak speeds drop a lot. It's now quicker by bike.

And some of the route back (music warning!).
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:58 Harston
1:24 Queueing Traffic
1:45 Back to van
2:02 Roadworks
2:56 Back to van








* How to go HD.







Wednesday 7 September 2016

A Short Wenhaston Circuit


I've written about the back route from Wenhaston to the nearby town of Halesworth, with it's new (ish) cycleroute cutting out the unpleasant big roads. This is a short circuit taking in a lot of the above route, but allowing for a bit more back lanes on a pleasant sunny day.

Here's the map, with the circular route in blue with my clip below going clockwise from the start in Wenhaston.




And here's the clip (music warning!) with a variety of start points which open YouTube in a separate window.
Go HD see * at bottom

At the start
0:20 Rough road
0:25 Back of Blackheath
1:12 Bramfield
1:26 Railway bridge
2:26 Holly Tree Farm turn
2:53 Edge of Walpole
3:37 Mells Lane
3:41 Route to Halesworth on left
4:0 Letting car through
4:18 A lot of slippy sand
4:32 Heath Road
4:47 Back Road


Bramfield Road, which loops west round the back of Wenhaston and Blackheath from the centre, gets pretty rough near the farm entrance. A look across at the amount of very large vehicles parked up at the farm gives some indication why this is.

At the next junction, we join Regional Cycle Network route 42 which has come from Dunwich (see other videos and blogs) and Snape before that. Then the Low Road through to the back end of Bramfield is full of wildlife and sometimes pretty farm buildings. This continues on the back loop around Bramfield to the Warpole Road.

The Walpole Road is probably the most likely place to experience poor driving as it's a bit wider than the other lanes. However, it's few and far between. Remember, always ride wide of the hedgerow, as per DfT BikeAbility instructions, you are better seen. The two short slopes go up to Holly Tree Farm where the turn north towards Halesworth appears. Now on National Cycle Network route 1.

This is a lovely route with some nice views, and drops down at the end. Take care as the road is littered with sand and gravel that makes it hard to stop by the main road at the end. There's a quick nip and back on the main road up to the corner before getting back onto a small lane.

Again, more pretty little nooks and corners until the main A road into Halesworth. A short distance to the other side is the turn onto the quiet cycleroute to Halesworth, a welcome relief from the A road. This is where we leave National Cycle Network route 1.

Then, the remains of the journey along Mells Lane into the back of Wenhaston. Note I see a lot more cars here, but none are scary or do silly things. At one point I get a car behind me and decide to find a place to pull over and let them through. I've no desire to have them wobbling around behind me, I'd rather the peace and quiet! Note that this is as I'm heading up hill, if I was in a going downhill at speed I'd keep going. Mainly as I'm going as fast as any driver at that point.







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Tuesday 6 September 2016

Cambridge to Cambourne Cycle Route




Contents
Intro

Recently I've done a couple of sessions work in Cambourne. Sadly, it's been a car journey as it's just felt a little too far for riding for me. However, I did want to look at the green lane route between the two town centres so decided to do a little exploring.

Map

I've been this way before but never quite made it to Cambourne itself. This time I was determined and had a good look at Google maps prior to trip. Luckily I also looked at Cyclestreets as I'm aware that Cambourne is changing rapidly. Cyclestreets was a lot more up to date, thanks to lots of local volunteers keeping OpenStreetMap updated. Ordnance Survey are good on bridleways in the country, but useless in developing areas, they are just too slow.



The green lane route is not quite the shortest, that's following the A1303 and St Neots Road just to the north. It's 8.8 miles long, which is around 15% less than the green lane. However, the off-road cycle path gives up less than halfway to the destination, depositing riders on a horrible national speed limit wide road. Although the majority of traffic uses the dual carriageway, the remaining drivers often exceed the speed limit and the normal cycle road position are covered in debris and rubbish thrown there by many a passing vehicle. It's just a horrible place to ride.


Let's avoid the unpleasant St.Neots Road by Adrian Cable

Instead, the green lane to the south offers peace and quiet with glorious views across the local valleys and plenty of wildlife. Also, you're far enough out of the city for pleasantries between passing lane users. Give me that over the hurly-burly of the main road any day.

Cambridge to Cambourne
Go HD see * at bottom

00:11 Leaving the Senate House
00:32 Garret Hostel Bridge
01:05 West Cambridge Cyclepath
01:22 Several Egresses to West Cambridge Campus
01:48 M11 Motorway Bridge
02:13 Coton Village Green
02:58 Whitwell Way Path, rough and opening up to stunning views
03:56 Permissive Track near Long Road
04:05 Bumpy climb up towards Hardwick
04:47 Shady wiggle round
05:37 Bottom end of Hardwick, onto more stunning views
06:30 Another southerly shady twist
07:03 Bottom end of Caldecote
07:43 Several gravel water traps across route
08:08 Direct route is half mile to the right here
08:33 Short section of road back north
09:00 Monkfield Drive, access to a pre-Cambourne house
09:29 Gravel paths wiggling through tall grass
09:53 First road in Cambourne, short section
10:05 Path ends next to road without slip onto it
10:12 Centre of Cambourne, it's a bit better than just Morrisons though!


So, overall clearly this is quite a rough route. Once off tarmac or any kind of solid track the path becomes a bumpy dried mud and roots surface. With constant tractor use (it is farmland!) and some horse use, a lot of the mud can be churned up then solidified. Also, with drying/cracking and grassy lumps, lots of factors making it bumpy.

Anyway, starting at Senate House and going over Garret Hostel bridge needs to be done slowly at times. I'm rarely going much faster than people walking here, just speeding up a little in between groups. I'm going at a speed such that I can always stop before I hit someone. Obviously this can be frustratingly slow at times, but needs must.


Cambridge University Library by Bob Kirkwood

After passing the university library on Burrells Walk, the joy of open empty Adams Road followed by the big joy of the West Cambridge cyclepath. The surface here is lovely and smooth and great for getting up to speed. Additionally, people walk on the kerbed pavement, because that's the natural place to do so.

Along the path and on towards the motorway, there are several places where people can in and out of the West Cambridge Campus. I'd think that the path may need to be expanded all the way along here if there's going to be an increase in people using it to get here with this development.

And then the motorway bridge. It's in dire need of repair. Luckily there are warning signs. It looks like the constant pounding of traffic along the motorway has caused the earth ramps either side to start collapsing.

Still on a nice tarmac path, albeit becoming a little worn, and Coton Village Green springs into view. Ah, a fete is in progress. An excellent way to get here by bike then rather than the frustrating wiggle around by car!

On through Coton and out of the other side onto the Whitwell Way path. No more tarmac, as we're on a farm track, and it's pretty rough going. However, it's also where the views are just splendid.


Coton Fields from Whitwell Way by Urthona

This is where a decent surface could start to make a difference. However, I can see difficulties arising on how that would work. There needs to be space for tractors and horses, and they don't like the nice smooth tarmac a good cyclepath requires. However, apart from a few parts, I'm pretty sure that this is all possible. There is no one single solution, each section needs to be taken on it's needs and considered. Once out into the open fields, where the views really open up, there is loads of space to do something specifially for riding.


Permissive Path by timbo

Crossing Long Road north of Comberton there's a permissive path which is claimed isn't usuable for cycling. It looks like it's being used by people cycling (albeit a bit awkward at the road link) and doesn't have "No Cycling" signs just a "Horse and Riders only" sign. Well, I'm a rider! I've been told that this path was added after a horse was killed by someone driving along the road here. Luckily the rider was only shaken, but it does show how dangerous this dead straight road is. A very sad event.

Turning away from the road and the path goes up the biggest climb on the route. Along with it's increased roughness, this is the tough bit of the journey. Again, there's space to do things here. At the top, there's great relief of a shady smoother section during a wiggle round the further easterly tracks.


Shady Section to Hardwick by Me

Finally the path end appears. This is the end of the longest section of off road and marks over halfway distance wise and around halfway timewise. Just clipping the southerly end of Hardwick, the wiggle to the south (again!) is very little distance by road before the next section of farm track. Again, stunning views abound as the vista for miles south is spread out to the left.

In Caldecote, I decide to go along this odd section of cyclepath. It's right up to the roundabout then turn back on myself. Essentially it's some high quality design cycle infra next to the road through a new development. Sadly it just stops at either end and clearly isn't used very much given the state of the overgrowth.


Bourn Path by John Sutton

And onto the final section of rough off-road heading towards Crow End, the top end of Bourn. It was great to hear children playing in a tree house here. There seemed to be quite a number having quite a laugh. And all ages and genders there, clearly enjoying being outdoors.

This path narrows in sections and in the dips there's the remainder of several gravel water traps. Clearly those who put these in simply didn't think people would cycle here. The first time I crossed them they offered a good chance of losing a front wheel into them. Luckily they have started grassing over and have become reasonable to cross.

Just before the concrete track appears, the route starts heading south west. This is just where the route really could go north west as the entrance to Cambourne at Monkfield Drive is just half a mile away in that direction. Instead, it's 1.5 miles round along this track and back up the Braodway from Crow End.


Broadway, Crow End by Me

The road from Crow End in Bourn is around 0.75 miles and is clearly the least pleasant section. I was passed by six drivers in total with one coming far too close without any reason to be further away, suggesting they had no idea what they were doing wrong. That's not a very good ratio.

At Monkfield Drive, a good sized track heads directly towards Cambourne. This is a track for a pre-Cambourne house that currently resides on the south east side of the town. Just before the house, a gravel path splits off to the right. It wiggles round a few trees and a lake.


Cambourne by Wildlife Trusts

There are several paths here with lots of "FOOTpath" and "No cycling exit" signs but none saying which way to go. Essentially riders here must know where to go or they get lost. This may be that I was navigating through long grass with little view of alternative paths, but it seemed like a minefield of "no cycling", where the map had said it'd be fine.

Finally the first road in Cambourne comes into view! Again, it's less clear as to where to go, but I'm going to use the road as it's quiet and short distances. I notice that the cycleroute does go off-road through the residential area, but on three road crossings and through driveways. So good for under-8s and avoided by everyone else. Not good cycle infra.

Then I picked up another off-road cycletrack. Again, this is good as it get's me where I want to go in a reasonable direction. However, on the way back it was just too small trying to share with someone walking.


End of Cycleroute by Me (actually it continues to the right)

Finally, that track ends and I can see the centre of the town where this path is taking me, but there's no drop kerb to get me back on the road. Then I spot it. Rather than going towards the town centre I should have turned away and got onto the road in the other direction. How bizarre. I looked at the map later and it showed there was an alternative route avoiding the road by going the other way, but no signpost. Again, you need to know the place to navigate it.

Cambourne

Cambourne is a very good development in many ways. Lots of open spaces and wildlife preserve. Lots of curvy roads automatically slows people driving down, without it being noticed. No straight roads is a great way to make sure people find it pleasant to move around town actively. And that it's got lots of cycle infra away from the roads is great.

However, two points really let the cycle network down. Signage is vital in this maze. It really didn't exist, which means stopping every minute or so to make sure the direction is correct.

Then the geometry and consistency of the shared-use paths make it difficult to use. Narrow paths cannot be shared with people walking, and they are too narrow regularly. Also, having the route wiggle around the road network is a massive weak spot. If it's made so difficult to use, people will make up their own desire lines. This is likely to either include using the road, which then reduces it's appeal, and/or cutting across places where cycling is not wanted.
  • "Build it [properly] and they will come."
There's a more in depth discussion, albeit slightly old, about the town and cycling here.

 

Cambourne to Cambridge
Go HD see * at bottom

0:11 Leaving Cambourne centre
0:19 Narrow!
0:40 Nice but a bit slippy on the gravel
1:22 Passing far too close
1:34 And onto the green lane
2:50 Back into Caldecote, kids still laughing in tree!
3:14 Good interaction with walkers, make yourself known!
4:00 Great views here
4:21 Wiggle in Hardwick
5:10 Fantastic views to Cambridge
5:30 Permissive Path
6:00 Whitwell Way, more great views over Cambridge
6:55 Coton centre
7:13 M11 Motorway bridge
7:51 Superb segregated smooth path
8:35 And slowing down a lot, so many people
9:07 Cambridge centre


The return journey is filled with similar experiences. A few notable exceptions are:
  • coming downhill on the gravel paths in Cambourne is a bit slippy
  • a really poor pass on Broadway in Crow End, Bourn
  • a nice tailwind and steady downhill makes it feel so much quicker
  • views towards Cambridge open up from quite a distance, spectacular!
  • a small slow down on Burrells Walk, followed by a much greater one on Garret Hostel Lane

Some Statistics

This route is 10.2 miles or 16.3km long. It took me almost exactly an hour to do the route out to Cambourne. Now that does entail 76m of climbing, starting at 14m above sea level and ends at 71m (so there is some downhill too). Note that it took me 53 minutes to come back into Cambridge. That did include having a goodish breeze behind me, but not too strong.

Summary

Interestingly, compare my cycling speeds to the 45 minutes I allow when I drive to Cambourne. Suddenly, my cycling speeds are not far off the driving speeds. I can imagine people simply not believing this. However, when driving I do need to factor in that I might get held being part of a traffic jam and I do need to find somewhere to park. Both these things do not come into cycle journey planning. And take note that if these tracks are well surfaced, they'd be a fair amount quicker.





















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