Great Western Coffee Shop

The Hawes - Garsdale thread put me in mind of all those towns just a few miles from mainline stations and served by branches. Even in the 1960s, it wouldn't have taken a great leap of inspiration for a general principle to be established that the infrastructure should be  repurposed for active travel routes to the stations.

Local to the coffeeshop we have Kemble to Cirencester (~4 miles), Kemble to Tetbury (~7 miles). Then, there's Clevedon to Yatton, a complete no-brainer. Yes the M5 is in the way but that's what bridges are for.

E-bikes now strengthen the potential greatly, and would eat, say, Bridport to Maiden Newton which is only around ten miles (though held back by Maiden Newton not exactly being a great metropolis, no offence intended). Cirencester to Kemble or Bath - Midsomer Norton would meet a real need though, Cirencester's population being ~20,000 and MSN and area has a population of is it 40,000, ~10 miles from Bath via a now somewhat disrupted S&D trackbed and an e-bikeable  ~ 14 miles from Bristol.

It was presumably down to transport planners' (lack of) perceptions of cycling as a travel mode + the need to positively intervene, and at the time the penny didn't drop.

An interesting test for the future might be Thornbury, because when the extractive quarrying comes to a close and the branch loses its frieght, the line will offer the basis for a cycle route to the station at Yate.

Key to predictable travel times - surface quality & route continuity. Also, minimising the need to cross road on the flat. Much of the branch line rail infrastructure offered precisely that and for distances under a dozen miles, the chance should have been grasped with both hands, in which case even in low population rural south Dorset, the sight of an ordinary person on an e-bike sailing rather effortlessly home from the shops and heading up the likes of Loders bank... would be an unremarkable sight, as would a steady procession of people cycling to Yatton Station from Clevedon, in the process crossing the as yet unbuilt M5 bridge.

Mark

The Loders bank may not happen in the near future. A group of invested householders who now live by the line in a recent development have objected to proposals to use the trackbed between New Street Lane and the C68.
Currently, Sustrans own a short stretch from New St Lane to the end of Highacres. The rest is a permissive path which is effectively open as a bridleway by the Mappercombe Estate. This allows access to Powerstock Common, owned by the Dorset Wildlife Trust. From there, at Barrowlands Bridge, a new path takes you to Toller Porcorum. The old trackbed from there to the A356 is a private farm track. There is a short path from the Chilfrome Road to the Station.
West of Loders, it is likely that the trackbed will be used from Boarsbarrow Farm into Bradpole, although there is no timescale for this. From the level crossing at Bradpole, which has restored gates, you can walk to the station site, now the Coop.
Sea Road North and South are on the West Bay extension as far as the Crown Roundabout. The trail continues a few yards uo the road right into West Bay station, now the Station Kitchen.