Great Western Coffee Shop

Cyclists allegedly warned to expect "raging locals" if they ride through Somerset village

The post on the Bristol Cyclists Facebook page warned that "raging locals" in the village of Pill in North Somerset are preparing to patrol the area, amid claims that cyclists are arriving in droves and "having picnics on the green" on a cycle route that stretches from the village to the city of Bristol.

The post above also refers to "2 miles from home exercise guidelines", which to our knowledge does not exist in the United Kingdom; the post has now been removed from the page, but was screenshotted and posted on Twitter.

And also:

We've also been alerted to a letter to the editor on the Bournemouth Echo website https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18380007.letter-editor-stop-cyclists-fine-rule-breakers/ (https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18380007.letter-editor-stop-cyclists-fine-rule-breakers/), in which the writer claims she has "never seen so many cyclists of all ages out on the roads", and recommends the police stop them and ask where their home address is; she also wrongly states that (sic) "its only pairs allowed out, not families of 4-8 people, half with no helmets and tiny kids wobbling all over the main road."​

The writer continues to guess that 80% are "well outside their boundaries and are going on family days out", and claims she saw (sic) "a group of four people cycling from Ringwood down the duel carriageway the other afternoon."

Cycling on a dual carriageway is legal in the UK.

And more

https://twitter.com/paultrollope/status/1250130683948871683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250130683948871683&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Flive-blog-15-april-2020-272761 (https://twitter.com/paultrollope/status/1250130683948871683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250130683948871683&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Flive-blog-15-april-2020-272761)

https://twitter.com/Terryreeves1980/status/1250067794961588224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250067794961588224&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Flive-blog-15-april-2020-272761 (https://twitter.com/Terryreeves1980/status/1250067794961588224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250067794961588224&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Flive-blog-15-april-2020-272761)

Happy days! It must be the sunshine

One hears of other anecdotes of people (mis)interpreting the guidance in their own ways and examples of "curtain-twitching": Neighbourhood Watch out and about in one village asking other people why they are out and about; car numbers being taken; and photos of apparent strangers being posted on local Facebook pages.

There have been calls for the Government to publish its exit strategy, but I believe that it would be premature for it to do so because it would confuse people, especially those who only bother with superficial media. And obviously the Government will be looking at what happens as other countries implement their exit plans and very likely will need to adjust its own.

If you close all the gyms, swimming pools, football and rugby grounds and training fields, bowling, angling venues, darts venues, boxing and wrestling halls (except for professionals in Florida), athletic tracks,  you tell people to work from home rather than get their exercise walking and from the station and the bus stop, you close down beauty spots where people play physical games (both day and night varieties) and dance clubs, swing clubs  and venues together with cinemas and theatres and halls that host judo practise, Zumba, belly and welly events ... and you tell people they can still exercise by cycling or walking, why is anyone going to be scratching their head and wondering why there are more cyclists and walkers about??     

Certainly where I live there should be space to exercise, to be able to exercise without driving a car or taking public transport to do so, and to maintain separation. But there will be pinch points, and there will be people who live at / around those pinch points who see their local environment where there was historically just thin use an natural distancing finding themselves now in a much busier place, and not liking it ...

I know Pill, where there are some who were against the cyclepath, because it would undoubtedly encourage people to visit from the Outside. Wait until the station starts to be built.

Cor blimey.  The cyclists are actually using the cycle path. Around these parts, despite many dedicated cycle paths installed at great expense, they still cycle on the parallel road......

I'll get my tin hat out of the cupboard..... :P ;D :D

Don't do that! Just get on a bike, and you'll see that very often what looks like a very usable cycle path from your car window is anything but..!

Last week I was shouted at by a pedestrian - 'there is no traffic on the road!' - for cycling on a clearly marked shared footway / cycleway near Exminster. Sometimes you just can't win.  ???

I'm getting mental images of the Royston Vasey "Local Shop" now.

In another part of the cyberverse, it's been theorised that the etymology of the word 'pillock' is from a visit to Pill by David Ike.

Who will watch the Neighbourhood Watchers?

It's not really as friendly as that. I hope my friends who live there aren't reading this, although privately they wouldn't disagree.

Quis custodiet ipsos Vicinitas Custodes?  ???

Westminster Bridge fury as "idiots" ignore 2m rule during NHS Clap For Carers - with  police looking on (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/westminster-bridge-fury-idiots-ignore-21881637)

Latest police guidance:

Exercise - What is allowed:

Going for a run or cycle, practising yoga, walking in the countryside or in cities or attending an allotment

Driving to countryside and walking (where far more time is spent walking than driving)

Stopping to rest or to eat lunch while on a long walk

In some circumstances, exercising more than once per day


A friend texted to alert me to the second one and, knowing I do longish walks, commented that "the world is my oyster". My last walk lasted seven hours, so pedantically, I could drive to Devon, walk, and then drive back! And it's a volte face after all the coverage and criticism of visitors driving to the Lake District. So an end to roadside checks about whether one's journey is really necessary?

I can't see local people being pleased about a return of outsiders. It's a concession I shall use every seven or ten days, with the added benefit of giving the car a run, being very careful where I park my car (away from possible curtain-twitchers).

I'm not sure where this leaves dog-owners, who have been enjoined not to drive out to walk their dogs. (Yesterday a Great Dane appeared on a leash opposite my house, optimistically sniffing around the neighbour's van that was parked there.)

One can now move to a friend's address for several days to allow a "cooling-off" following arguments at home, but one cannot meet in public to socialise (though presumably I can exchange a few words at two-metres' distance if I encounter a friend).

You could try, I suppose.  ;D

The Pill path, which runs from Bristol to Pill, runs beside the river Avon under the Suspension Bridge, and is far away from any parallel road, so the SandTEngineers of this world would never know it existed, as they wouldn't see it from their cars. It is one of the longest established cyclepaths in the country, having existed now for about 40 years, and has always been popular. However, it has a rough surface and is very narrow, so social distancing along it would be impossible when passing other people, and being isolated from any roads, can feel insecure for anyone who feels vulnerable.

At the Pill end of the path used to be Ham Green Hospital, which in this century has been turned into a modern and fairly exclusive housing estate. I suspect it will be mainly these residents who are doing the complaining rather than those in the village itself, who will be used to large numbers of cyclists on their greens.

Incidentally, from Pill it links into the cyclepath which runs beside the M5 over Avonmouth Bridge and then to the cyclepath that runs beside the Portway (A4) back into Bristol.

The view I posted was based upon my regular walking use of both shared roadside and dedicated walkway/cycle paths.  The point I was trying to make is that they are installed at great expense but never used (value for money and all that thing), cyclists preferring to stick to the road. ::)

Having read the Facebook thread and road.cc posts, it seems clear to me that they're talking about the area around the Duke and the Star (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9rZdEXRqt8), possibly extending to Marine Parade. Ham Green is a different place with a different atmosphere.


I'm not sure about 'at great expense'. For tens of thousands of pounds, good cycle paths can deliver the kind of capacity that rail would need hundreds of millions to match.

I would certainly agree that roadside cycle paths can make good footpaths. The trouble starts when you try cycling along them, and find that they are often slower and more dangerous than the road. Here are some examples: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jonstone/22-london-cycle-lanes-that-hate-cyclists

If cycle paths are quick, safe and convenient then cyclists will use them. If they aren't, they won't.

I doubt if the Pill path cost much. It's basically a riverside path with occasional bollards dating from the 19th century when ships used to moor there. I expect bollards is not the correct technical term. It is, during normal times, quite popular with cyclists, walkers and runners. I haven't ventured that far under social-distancing regime so can't say how busy it is now.

To hark back to the thread we had about tunnels, bridges and subways in Purley and featuring the Roebuck Hotel, it was proposed not so long ago to turn the towing-path from there to Caversham Bridge into a route for cyclists. It would mean hauling bikes up and down the Roebuck footbridge and the existing path seems a bit narrow for dual use in places.

From Scours Lane into Reading it's already used "informally" by cyclists, and as a walker I tend to avoid it during the travel-to and travel-from-work periods. I don't mind standing aside for oncoming riders but get startled by those coming from behind and whizzing past with inches to spare.

It didn't cost much, but its maintenance costs a lot more. About 20 years ago now it was closed for a while when a large boulder slid down the hillside and completely blocked it, and others threatened to do the same.

I would hope that if the Portishead rail line is opened for passengers, any works that take place to enable that will also allow for widening of the path and improving its surface, though both jobs would be expensive (though as Red Squirrel notes, nothing like the cost of widening a road).

Must be catching: https://road.cc/content/news/village-signs-tell-cyclists-stay-your-local-area-272855 (https://road.cc/content/news/village-signs-tell-cyclists-stay-your-local-area-272855)
Is the sale of net curtains increasing?
More clarification (?) from CPS https://road.cc/content/news/exercising-more-once-day-reasonable-says-cps-272833 (https://road.cc/content/news/exercising-more-once-day-reasonable-says-cps-272833).
Do you cause problems if you go from short, sharp and to the point, by continually trying to clarify it. Example in supermarket yesterday, one person per household allowed in, but young couple seemed unable to understand that.

Sorry about the three-day delay in responding to this, but I have been trying to find an old website which gives examples of crap cycle lanes and I've now found it.

As a former car driver and cyclist (I can't do either now because of my eyesight) I am well aware that what might look to a non-cycling driver from behind the driving wheel as a "perfectly good cycle lane," often fails to live up to that description when you actually use the bloody thing. Leaving to one side potholes, stupidly-placed bollards and the like, some of the pitfalls that "perfectly good cycle lanes" suffer from include:

* A "cyclists dismount" and a "give way" sign at each and every minor road crossing
* Cycle lanes that abruptly stop where you really need them (eg hazardous points)
* Short cycle lane that lead nowhere (see the link below which includes an example of a cycle lane that is shorter than a cycle...)

Enjoy - click the double arrows at the top to go back through the "Cycle Facility of the Month" graphics.

http://wcc.crankfoot.xyz/facility-of-the-month/March2019.htm

Thanks for that Robin. This one is a particular gem; only the most churlish of cyclists would turn their nose up at it: http://wcc.crankfoot.xyz/facility-of-the-month/May2017.htm

As someone who last cycled regularly over 40 years ago, and who sometimes does get disgruntled about cyclists in the carriageway when there is a cycle way alongside, some of these examples do make me sympathize with my two-wheeled co-forum members.

However, as someone who (indirectly) has had to deal with the requirements of highway authorities and their impact on my clients, I am surprised at how poor the authorities seem to be at designing cycle facilities, in contrast to their often unbending adherence to design rules when it comes to vehicular and pedestrian facilities. Are there any highway engineers lurking behind forum names (none have "come out" in our recent self identification thread!) who can explain?

Not even barrack-room in my case.