I’m sorry to sound curmudgeonly. But in the last few weeks I have had occasion to travel far and wide in my car. Sounds like fun, but of course, it wasn’t. My journeyings to East Sussex, Kent, bits of the M25 (that were open), North West Lancashire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and County Durham have, without exception, been blighted by heavy traffic, road repairs/utility workings, and of course the ubiquitous pot-holes. The latter appearing more frequently and getting larger and more dangerous by the day, despite the Government’s fantasy pothole repair fund. Journeys that should take 4 hours that take 6 plus. One 30 mile journey I undertook in the South of England took 3 hours. No, I am not practising to be an Amazon driver, God forbid.
John Betjeman’s statue at Euston station - an avowed lover of trains
I have written before about my love of train travel. But after the infamous Beeching rail cuts in the 1960s, smaller, out of the way destinations, became no longer accessible by rail. Miles of fantastic tracks, so beloved by poet John Betjeman, severed links to rural towns and bucolic villages across the country. If they had remained they would have provided low cost, accessible travel opportunities, and more importantly, obviated the necessity to drive. I live in the Yorkshire Dales but the mass of cars, camper vans (I have another name for those beastly contraptions which I will not share with you, save to say it begins with a ‘W’) block our narrow lanes and pollute the very air which country visitors venture out to savour.
The Tour de France came to Yorkshire in July 2014, closely followed by the Tour de Yorkshire in 2015. This latter annual event lasted until 2022 until financial and safety concerns shut it down. At the time we had to put up with blocked-off roads, helicopters and thousands of excitable fans. Today, the residue of these cycling extravaganzas lingers on. The original routes are still closely followed by pelotons of cyclists and we have become plagued by the Lycra lads and lassies whirring along the country roads and through quaint villages, frightening pedestrians and slowing the traffic to pedalling speed. And since the new cycle road laws have been introduced there is marked arrogance from this brigade about ‘who owns the road.’ And woe betide any implied criticism of their presence, a sounded horn will result in a tastefully worded invective shouted at you from under a helmet.
Of course cyclists are just as entitled to enjoy the open road, it is a healthy and fun pursuit, which should not be denied, but patience and tolerance is required from vehicle users and cyclists alike.
The Government and local councils’ efforts to get us to cycle more is a laudable ambition. However, the haphazard nature of cycle ways which spring up and then suddenly end is a joke. The strategy never seems to be joined up. Much of the UK has hills, it is not like Holland or Denmark, which are as flat as a pancake. In these countries cycling is a successful form of transport in towns and cities, the cycle ways are clearly delineated and wide enough to be safe. People of all ages use bikes as an alternative mode of transport and you will rarely see Lycra, but rather, normal everyday wear is de-rigueur.
Cycle park in Amsterdam, somewhere they have got the hang of cycling, big time
I was talking to an ex owner of cycle shops, who much to my surprise, said that cycle sales had fallen through the floor post Covid. According to recent market research sales in 2023 were down 11% and 42% down from 2020. However, electric bike sales are continuing to grow. New bicycle costs has become a big factor in the decline and the lack of safe space in our towns and cities must also be another reason. I think we would all love to see our kids cycle to school safely, and avoid the inevitable traffic jams outside the school gates and the beginning and end of the school day.
When I was young there was a mode of rural and in-town transport called a bus service. Seeing one of these in the countryside is as rare as seeing a wild flower meadow. The only alternative is to drive a car, hence the volume of very old folk doddering about the roads endangering themselves and other road users. They have no alternative.
Rural buses - seen one of these recently?
Our traffic woes are set to continue as the slowness to improve England’s rail network and introduce more trams into our cities remains as elusive as catching cotton wool. HS2 has been pared down to useless, who wants to get to from London to Birmingham faster? The promised improvements to the greatly needed Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds-Hull (Trans Pennine) rail route still seems as far off as a train strike being called off.
I would like to suggest to my readers ‘to get on your bike’ but that offer seems as hollow as an on-time train or the likelihood of locating a bus.
I feel your pain with the traffic situation. We use the A1 a lot and it’s dug up near Newcastle at the moment, compounded by roadworks on the Tyne Bridge. My husband cycles to work in Gateshead but I suspect he takes his life in his hands. He wisely doesn’t tell me.