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ailbheToday we decided to go for a leisure ride. There are lots of them around Reading; we have a lovely map entitled "Cycling in Reading" which shows many of them. Today we decided to go first to the Farmer's Market and from there to join the National Cycle Network Route 4, going west.
So from the Farmer's Market we popped into town, bought a picnic, and joined the cycle route opposite the Oracle Shopping Centre, on Fobney Street. It went through a modern development of Very Desirable Waterfront Residences In A Quiet Area Near The Town Centre local to the buses and handy for the shops etc. From there we found a cyclepath, as marked on the map in red, with signposts, along the north side of the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was lovely for the first few hundred yards, which was why we chose it - the official route (as marked on the map in gren) is along dual carriageways and roundabouts and bus lanes and things; this parallel cyclepath looked much nicer. Then it got narrow.
The trike is 86cm wide at its widest point, which is the hubs of the front wheels. A cyclepath is usually 100cm wide, though the ones painted on roads are often only 100cm wide if you include the bit of gutter right next to the footpath full of broken glass and potholes. This path... wasn't. In fact, it's a very narrow path in places, with a rough sand and gravel type surface, many lumps and bumps, and a steep bank to the river along far too much of its length. None of this bothered Rob, who was cycling a bicycle and could sit happily at the far edge of the track, avoiding the nettles and the precarious slopes, but the trike barely fit and I did have to swing my leg across the frame to get it away from nettles more than once. Luckily we have high sides on the passenger box so the toddler didn't get hurt.
Near Waterloo Meadows, so about 5/8 of a mile from the start of Forbney Street, there was a pothole taking out half of the track - the half nearest the river. My left front wheel went down, the right front wheel went up, and I sat all my seven-months-pregnant weight heavily on the right to get us over it safely. Then I stopped for a minute and made Rob go back and look, because it was bloody terrifying. Trouble was, the track was, so far, too narrow to turn the trike around on. So it was walk it backwards all the way home (half a mile seems much longer with a trike to push backwards), or keep going and hope it improved.
So we pressed on, as they say. The path got a bit wider and a little further from the water's edge, and as we approached the bridge at Rose Kiln Lane (another half mile) it even got pretty; there were flowering thistles, and huge daisies, and possibly furze or something, and it smelled lovely - no, we don't have hayfever. Also, under the bridge we were able to stop for shade, and rehydrate the toddler, and placate her with chocolate. From there, we cycled a beautifully made up cyclepath actually on National Route 4, wide enough in places to go two abreast, to the bridge where we went under the A33. From there on things went downhill again. the path got narrower and shoddier, and eventually (another half mile) we came up against a barrier, designed to prevent motorcyclists from tearing up the paths and endangering the local wildlife.
We figured it would be possible to lift the trike over the barrier, which we've done before elsewhere, and so Rob cycled a little ahead to see whether things improved. They didn't. The next barrier was almost impassable to Rob's piddly little racing bike, unless he partially lifted it (lucky he had no panniers, really), so we turned the trike around and headed back to town. At least we're sure it would have been no better had we had a tandem, or a trailer for the toddler; the second barrier was really very unforgiving. Total distance travelled on the marked cyclepaths: just under 1.75 miles. Total blood pressure damage done to unborn infant: roughly equivalent to three packets of crisps and a really big bar of chocolate. Total time elapsed: we forgot to take notes, but really, it took an astonishingly long time because of the condition of the track. We think it was well over half an hour but we're guessing. It coudl have been weeks. We may still be out there, somewhere, pedalling gingerly across potholes and sharp river-bound turns.
So we headed back, pausing at intervals to ply the overheated, sweaty toddler with sunscreen, water, and raisins, and opted for the National Cycle Route after Rose Kiln Lane, alongside the traffic and the tarmac and the dust. A brief, much speedier mile-and-a-bit later we also failed to get through the barrier into Waterloo Meadows, so we gave up, locked the cycles outside the gate, and had a little picnic there. There were trees and shade, and there was a playground with swings and slides and climbing frames, and the fractious toddler calmed down and cooled down and cheered up an awful lot.
Then we decided to go the tried and tested route 4 heading east, through the Oracle and down to Newtown, according to the map, where we crossed a bridge (fairly easy as long as the passengers get out and walk) and went off to Tescos. That's about two miles, and it took a pleasant and leisurely half hour, with lots of duck-watching, swan-spotting, waving at canal boats, failing to find squirrels, and so on. I did that route much faster yesterday, when I actually had somewhere to go, but today we were dawdling and looking around.
So we did only about four miles, according to the bit of map, before heading home (another three miles along by Cow Lane, but it doesn't count because that's the way to Tescos and we do it all the time), and learned that a cyclepath isn't always actually passable even if no-one has erected a signpost in the middle of it or parked a bus on it. That's a shame.
There may be annotated photographs later.
Edit: there are.
So from the Farmer's Market we popped into town, bought a picnic, and joined the cycle route opposite the Oracle Shopping Centre, on Fobney Street. It went through a modern development of Very Desirable Waterfront Residences In A Quiet Area Near The Town Centre local to the buses and handy for the shops etc. From there we found a cyclepath, as marked on the map in red, with signposts, along the north side of the Kennet and Avon Canal. It was lovely for the first few hundred yards, which was why we chose it - the official route (as marked on the map in gren) is along dual carriageways and roundabouts and bus lanes and things; this parallel cyclepath looked much nicer. Then it got narrow.
The trike is 86cm wide at its widest point, which is the hubs of the front wheels. A cyclepath is usually 100cm wide, though the ones painted on roads are often only 100cm wide if you include the bit of gutter right next to the footpath full of broken glass and potholes. This path... wasn't. In fact, it's a very narrow path in places, with a rough sand and gravel type surface, many lumps and bumps, and a steep bank to the river along far too much of its length. None of this bothered Rob, who was cycling a bicycle and could sit happily at the far edge of the track, avoiding the nettles and the precarious slopes, but the trike barely fit and I did have to swing my leg across the frame to get it away from nettles more than once. Luckily we have high sides on the passenger box so the toddler didn't get hurt.
Near Waterloo Meadows, so about 5/8 of a mile from the start of Forbney Street, there was a pothole taking out half of the track - the half nearest the river. My left front wheel went down, the right front wheel went up, and I sat all my seven-months-pregnant weight heavily on the right to get us over it safely. Then I stopped for a minute and made Rob go back and look, because it was bloody terrifying. Trouble was, the track was, so far, too narrow to turn the trike around on. So it was walk it backwards all the way home (half a mile seems much longer with a trike to push backwards), or keep going and hope it improved.
So we pressed on, as they say. The path got a bit wider and a little further from the water's edge, and as we approached the bridge at Rose Kiln Lane (another half mile) it even got pretty; there were flowering thistles, and huge daisies, and possibly furze or something, and it smelled lovely - no, we don't have hayfever. Also, under the bridge we were able to stop for shade, and rehydrate the toddler, and placate her with chocolate. From there, we cycled a beautifully made up cyclepath actually on National Route 4, wide enough in places to go two abreast, to the bridge where we went under the A33. From there on things went downhill again. the path got narrower and shoddier, and eventually (another half mile) we came up against a barrier, designed to prevent motorcyclists from tearing up the paths and endangering the local wildlife.
We figured it would be possible to lift the trike over the barrier, which we've done before elsewhere, and so Rob cycled a little ahead to see whether things improved. They didn't. The next barrier was almost impassable to Rob's piddly little racing bike, unless he partially lifted it (lucky he had no panniers, really), so we turned the trike around and headed back to town. At least we're sure it would have been no better had we had a tandem, or a trailer for the toddler; the second barrier was really very unforgiving. Total distance travelled on the marked cyclepaths: just under 1.75 miles. Total blood pressure damage done to unborn infant: roughly equivalent to three packets of crisps and a really big bar of chocolate. Total time elapsed: we forgot to take notes, but really, it took an astonishingly long time because of the condition of the track. We think it was well over half an hour but we're guessing. It coudl have been weeks. We may still be out there, somewhere, pedalling gingerly across potholes and sharp river-bound turns.
So we headed back, pausing at intervals to ply the overheated, sweaty toddler with sunscreen, water, and raisins, and opted for the National Cycle Route after Rose Kiln Lane, alongside the traffic and the tarmac and the dust. A brief, much speedier mile-and-a-bit later we also failed to get through the barrier into Waterloo Meadows, so we gave up, locked the cycles outside the gate, and had a little picnic there. There were trees and shade, and there was a playground with swings and slides and climbing frames, and the fractious toddler calmed down and cooled down and cheered up an awful lot.
Then we decided to go the tried and tested route 4 heading east, through the Oracle and down to Newtown, according to the map, where we crossed a bridge (fairly easy as long as the passengers get out and walk) and went off to Tescos. That's about two miles, and it took a pleasant and leisurely half hour, with lots of duck-watching, swan-spotting, waving at canal boats, failing to find squirrels, and so on. I did that route much faster yesterday, when I actually had somewhere to go, but today we were dawdling and looking around.
So we did only about four miles, according to the bit of map, before heading home (another three miles along by Cow Lane, but it doesn't count because that's the way to Tescos and we do it all the time), and learned that a cyclepath isn't always actually passable even if no-one has erected a signpost in the middle of it or parked a bus on it. That's a shame.
There may be annotated photographs later.
Edit: there are.