A Ride on the Railway

This weekend I escaped the bustle (and the bodice and corset and other forms of Victorian underwear) of London to spend some time back in the calm of Bristol.

I was lucky enough to have almost the perfect commute when I lived there. As opposed to my mission through the streets and traffic, with stop-starts and judging the gaps between cars and lorries, and whether you’ll be across the traffic lights before the amber changes to red, or across the zebra crossing before people step out, I had a quiet cruise along a purpose build track.

My route for the last period of my time in Bristol included a large stretch of the Bristol-to-Bath Cycle Path, one of the first and flagship Sustrans-developed cycle routes in the country. It meant a smooth run either way along a track that runs behind houses, through scrubland and into the city-centre on a disused railway track, which was faster and more pleasant, although less exciting, than my current commute.

It wasn’t entirely without problems all the time. The surface was often broken in places as roots pushed through the tarmac, although I never encountered anything as big as the huge potholes following London’s Big Freeze, and there were areas where you probably didn’t want to hang around too much after dark. The ride also offered the slightly subterranean thrill of long tunnels, where the lights occasionally failed. There’s something quite exciting about riding aiming for the light at the end and hoping you’re not about to hit anything on the road. It was, however, an entirely straightforward ride, unimpeded by traffic lights, or cars, and the only way you were going to fall off was after 5 pints and not paying attention.

Something similar is what I would hope the new London Cycle Superhighways will be like when they are eventually produced. Unfortunately it looks more likely that they’ll be a blue battleground between roads and the cycle paths. Even so, I guess anything that gives you a little extra protection is a bonus.

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