Cambridge, cycling paradise? Rubbish!

Cambridge may be touted as England's so-called 'real cycling capital'.

But in fact its modal share of bike journeys is still low, as this photo proves. Despite the expensive riverside cycle path, only ONE person-journey is being made by bicycle, compared to TWO on a boat, FOUR in a narrowboat, and two cows occupying valuable space but carrying NO passengers.

Anyone trying to convince you that the town is some sort of 'cycling paradise' is clearly deluded.


And take this valuable Brompton, left outside the Co-op in Newnham.

It's not locked. Obviously the place is so full of thieves, bandits, brigands and cutpurses that locks are useless.

Instead, the owner has had to leave it with not one but TWO guard dogs, who viciously wagged their tails and tried to lick us when we approached.

Things are so bad there they've had to create a new website, Cycling Sorted, to cope with everyone's suggestions for improvements to the cycling infrastructure.

So, cyclists, avoid Cambridge at all costs. I'm grateful to be back in London, I can tell you.

More signs of Cambridge's cycling culture

A fine array of roadworks signs here. In amongst them you'll find a sign helpfully explaining that cyclists, unlike motorists, have through access as usual.

You have to be a voracious reader to fully appreciate the signs, but then this is Mill Road, in Cambridge, so perhaps drivers are more studious here.

Sadly my camera lens wasn't wide angle enough to include the other signs with the bibliography and footnotes.

Cambridge milky way: Starlit bike path

We were rather taken by this starry bike path. It leads east out of Cambridge towards Newmarket.

By day (right) it's your average roadside cycle track. But by night, lighting units (below right) set in the tarmac twinkle into action.


They're labelled 'Astucia'. The website says it supplies intelligent road studs, which sounds more like someone's fantasy than traffic illumination equipment.

They've only been here a couple of weeks and we're told they're not solar - like similar units installed in other cycle paths in Cambridge - but luminous, whatever that means.


It seems to us a very good lighting solution (right). We much prefer this to floodlighting, whose shadows create more problems than the lights solve. But these twinkly lights form an easily followed constellation (with Mars-like red versions to show stop lines at junctions) and don't intrude outside the range of the bike path itself.


And they're clearly better than nothing (right).

They're also rather romantic. If you find the Hubble Space Telescope romantic.

Still, anything that can make Stow-cum-Quy and the A14 a must-visit romantic destination on a dark night is OK by us.

Cambridge overtakes London in safe-cycling signage

Cambridge can claim to be England's real cycling capital. It's signs like this that show why.

It's the roadworks on Hills Road railway bridge just south of the station. (Roadworks which, incidentally, are for installing bike lanes.)

The cones have narrowed things down to make overtaking unsafe, so the sign instructs motorists not to overtake cyclists.

And it works. We got no hassle from drivers. In fact, we could enjoy the view at leisure from the top, which is one of the highest points in East Anglia.

It took a bit of activism from excellent local group the Cambridge Cycling Campaign to persuade the council to put up such signs for similar works a couple of years or so ago, but this time round it went up without prompting, we're told.


Compare the Cambridge situation with Waterloo Bridge in the capital (right). There are similar works there, but no such signs - and little consideration from buses or taxis. Perhaps Cambridge could lend a couple of its signs to London once those bridge works are done.

Blowing the trumpet for Cambridge

The latest issue of Cambridge Cycle Campaign's newsletter is available as a PDF.

Cambridge (right top and middle) is the best place for real cycling in Britain. A quarter of the residents cycle to work, compared to the national average of, oh, something rubbish.

Cycling there is a fabulously enjoyable and leisurely experience if you're used to the gladiatorial combat of London. (There's a chapter in my book about how best to experience the Cambridge Thing.)


And the CCycC has an outstanding website, full of crisply-written, authoritative and well-illustrated resources on campaigning and everyday cycle stuff (including how to mend a puncture). In beta, there's also an extremely promising open-source route planning guide and photomap of cycle facilities, not just in Cambridge but nationally and internationally.

Many of the articles and issues are, of course, local to Cambridge. But the way in which they handle their campaigning and publicity – well-researched, persuasively argued, realistic but assertive – is a model to us all.

And I haven't just said that because their newsletter plugs this blog, or because of that excellent New Year's party we had at David and Jane's. But such things obviously help.


Anyway, I was taken with the newsletter's 'photo of the month' (right). You know how annoying it is to be hooted by a driver when you're right and they're wrong; this chap appears able to fight back.

I'd love to have had this yesterday for the taxis at the narrow Waterloo roadworks who thought that if they hooted enough I might vanish from in front of them.