Stay off the pavement Obey traffic signals Keep to the left unless turning right Use hand signals to indicate your intention How hard is that?
....and give pedestrians the same respect that you expect from drivers. That means not going past them at speed a foot away from them and nearly catching their elbows on their fe**in' handlebars. I speak from experience, and it isn't funny.
@Lyn - there are people who have no concept of the reality of living in rural areas like yours, or the Highlands, or parts of Wales, or the fact that they also have to get around to their work. I wonder how it would work if all food and medical supplies were delivered by bike.....
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
All our food is transported by pony and trap. Ambulances, fire engines and the like stop 5 miles away, on the nearest 2 lane road and then hike with a big rucksack, towing a bowser to our locations. None of us ever buys new clothes or furniture, it's all hand crafted by whittling and knitting in the evenings. And we build our buildings entirely by peasants who cut down trees in the local woods and cover the walls with mud and spit. Is that not how it works where you are then, FG?
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I live in a rural area at the end of the road too. Nowhere to go beyond my village without a boat or the new queen's guide to the sands. Lots of roads where you have to pull in to let other vehicles squeeze past. It's also a popular area for cycling with a lot riding in the evenings, weekends even during the day. It's a popular stop on some of the lands end to Joan o groats cycle route options. There really is less real conflict of delay than you get in metropolitan areas.
I've lived over half of my life in rural areas, some call backwaters but they still have a lot of stuff going on. I've lived at the end on roads from anywhere to nowhere most of those years. Places you would only go to if you lived there or knew someone there. My current village is at the end of two roads but its also on a branch train line. It gets tourists since its on an estuary which kind of makes it a seaside village in some ways.
None of that makes the roads in a battleground between cars and cyclists that Lynn seems to have in her area. Even so that doesn't mean that you should stop people being on the roads. There should be options. From my experience of Cornwall there's faster roads between towns but there's a load of very narrow roads like a rabbit Warren between these bigger, faster roads. I've made the mistake of taking these smaller roads to get to places. Ime it was often better to go the long way around than take these smaller back roads. But then I am not a local ask drove cautiously. Locals in such areas around the country I've seen drive like lunatics on roads like these. Makes for a faster route for them. You get stuck behind a bike I can totally see how you'd be annoyed, bit perhaps those delivery trucks and vans would be better taking the bigger roads. Leave the smaller ones to cyclists, tractors and local access. Of course your area in have no idea about so perhaps it's a different Cornwall roads and there's no bigger routes to make those trucks use.
BTW I know a cyclist and a local minibus driver where there's no bus routes. He's lived in Cornwall for years. Ridden and driven probably almost all of them. He doesn't describe the roads anything like as bad as Lynn does. 3 days a week he used to be the only way into town for people without cars in the rural areas he served with the community operated minibus. All as a volunteer. It is often painted a being worse than the real situation by people who are frankly anti cyclists. I suggest you read the daily mail as it's often a hangout of the most vehemently opposed to cyclists. Some of the arguments are straight out of the DM comments pages. Consistently debated but truth never dents their faith that they're right.
I think, as in a previous curmudgeons' corner iteration, the cycling topic is best being one that we agree to disagree as it's certainly topic where I feel it degrades into unpleasantness. We're not unpleasant people but this topic brings out the really negative aspects of us all. I bow out now.
Changing subject, what's your view on the alpaca who was put down under defra rules on foot and mouth I believe? Was it right or not? I tend to think it's right. Why should cattle farmers have to put their animals down in similar circumstances of F&M risk?
My wife ordered a cuddly pine cone for my boy's birthday and delivery has been put back several times due to supply problems. The parcel finally arrived today but was suspiciously larger than she was expecting. I joked that she'd read the size wrong but no, inside was about 20 double packs of cuddly clouds. They sell them for £19 each so I suspect they'll be keen to get them back.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Should lorries be going down those very narrow cornish roads with passing places? They legally can but from my visits to that county most are just rat runs that could be easily avoided.
So if you lived on those lanes you’re not expected to have a new kitchen, supermarket delivery, bathroom suite, furniture, extension built, livestock for your farm? You cannot have any idea how many people are in Cornwall this summer, loads of people come in those huge camper vans to camp on rural camp sites, most bring bikes on a back rack.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
In summer, the nearest resort to us goes from 3000 permanent population to more than double in July and 120,000 in August. That puts a huge strain on local roads, water supplies etc and they all have their holiday brain (or lack thereof) and wander about on foot, electric scooters, bicycles with children behind in trailers or on kiddy seats or even on their own wobbly bike. Some have dogs in tow too. No road sense, no pedestrian sense and no manners most of the time.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Posts
I speak from experience, and it isn't funny.
@Lyn - there are people who have no concept of the reality of living in rural areas like yours, or the Highlands, or parts of Wales, or the fact that they also have to get around to their work. I wonder how it would work if all food and medical supplies were delivered by bike.....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've lived over half of my life in rural areas, some call backwaters but they still have a lot of stuff going on. I've lived at the end on roads from anywhere to nowhere most of those years. Places you would only go to if you lived there or knew someone there. My current village is at the end of two roads but its also on a branch train line. It gets tourists since its on an estuary which kind of makes it a seaside village in some ways.
None of that makes the roads in a battleground between cars and cyclists that Lynn seems to have in her area. Even so that doesn't mean that you should stop people being on the roads. There should be options. From my experience of Cornwall there's faster roads between towns but there's a load of very narrow roads like a rabbit Warren between these bigger, faster roads. I've made the mistake of taking these smaller roads to get to places. Ime it was often better to go the long way around than take these smaller back roads. But then I am not a local ask drove cautiously. Locals in such areas around the country I've seen drive like lunatics on roads like these. Makes for a faster route for them. You get stuck behind a bike I can totally see how you'd be annoyed, bit perhaps those delivery trucks and vans would be better taking the bigger roads. Leave the smaller ones to cyclists, tractors and local access. Of course your area in have no idea about so perhaps it's a different Cornwall roads and there's no bigger routes to make those trucks use.
BTW I know a cyclist and a local minibus driver where there's no bus routes. He's lived in Cornwall for years. Ridden and driven probably almost all of them. He doesn't describe the roads anything like as bad as Lynn does. 3 days a week he used to be the only way into town for people without cars in the rural areas he served with the community operated minibus. All as a volunteer. It is often painted a being worse than the real situation by people who are frankly anti cyclists. I suggest you read the daily mail as it's often a hangout of the most vehemently opposed to cyclists. Some of the arguments are straight out of the DM comments pages. Consistently debated but truth never dents their faith that they're right.
I think, as in a previous curmudgeons' corner iteration, the cycling topic is best being one that we agree to disagree as it's certainly topic where I feel it degrades into unpleasantness. We're not unpleasant people but this topic brings out the really negative aspects of us all. I bow out now.
You cannot have any idea how many people are in Cornwall this summer, loads of people come in those huge camper vans to camp on rural camp sites, most bring bikes on a back rack.