Posts Tagged ‘ Newcastle ’

As Daughter and I were riding along the Coast Road cycle path last week, one of the many people who use it as their commuting route overtook us. I’d seen him coming up behind, and were were in single file on the left to let him pass. For some reason, he took the far...
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I’ve been away for a while. No - not “away” like Marty McFly’s uncle Joey - I mean just busy. Flat out full-on deadline-passing late and trying to catch up busy. Anyway, today I was riding in the rain through the excellent cycle facility that is Newcastle’s Percy Street, when I heard the loudest, strangest...
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From my bimble around Co Durham, Gateshead and Newcastle last Friday: I saw a cycle lane in Chester le Street… that you’re not allowed to use once it re-joins the road: I saw the latest in Gateshead Council’s continued efforts to build the world’s first nanometre scale cycle lane: (Surely this one is worthy of the Warrington...
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Recently I attended a day’s training hosted by Newcastle City Council, and presented by Alex Sully & Ken Spence from Transport Initiatives. Alex was one of the contributors to LTN 2/08, which is the UK’s cycle infrastructure design manual. The event was pitched at the road design techies from Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and North Tyneside,...
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Remember my favourite cycle path on the route into Newcastle? How could one possibly improve on this? It needs more chutzpah, more pizzazz. In an ideal world, we’d get out our blue paint, and make it look like a Proper Piece Of Cycle Infrastructure. But we didn’t have any blue paint with us last night. So...
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No - it’s not been stolen. This is just a little game for anyone around Tyneside. All you have to do is correctly identify these locations I visited yesterday. There’s a prize of course - you’ll get to feel smug about your local knowledge. We’ll start with an easy pair: Too easy for you? How about...
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Icy conditions can make it treacherous for those on two wheels. In Copenhagen when it snows, they know that clearing up for cyclists has to take top priority: In the Netherlands, even when it’s cold enough to freeze the canals & rivers, they make sure that their cycle routes are clear and safe: Meanwhile on this side of the...
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Cold weather this morning (about 3-4ºC before dawn), and an early breakfast meeting to attend. It was also set to be a bright sunny day - too good for spending in a car. So… moleskin suit & waistcoat to keep me toasty warm and dapper: … the sun did its stuff: … and the scenery was...
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I don’t normally hold with look-no-brakes fixed gear riding on public streets. But this, via The Foot Down (and on Twitter via a Splendid Chap In Darlington) is local, quite nicely shot, and just the right length to be interesting rather than tedious: In case you were wondering why I don’t hold with brakeless riding...
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I had a couple of meetings in the centre of Newcastle last Friday. I rode in on the Pashley, which now has a set of vast pannier bags fixed to the rear rack - for security, they’re cable-tied in place. Anyway, I chose the bike racks on the Central Station’s platform as a suitable place...
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