cycle route frustrations

Cycling on Shetland

   

A bridge in Hungary for cyclists separate from the road

Whilst doing some work on Shetland for some local Shetland workers, I was shocked to hear them say people should be banned from running or cycling the road between Brae and Mossbank when it is dark! I couldn’t believe what they were saying as I am one of those individuals who still like to get out running walking and cycling on the dark winter nights, on an island that’s very short of daylight hours in the winter I was surprised to find this attitude.

         

Hungarian roads not as good as Holland Germany or Austria
 but way ahead of Scotland

Of course I spoke up and fessed up to the fact that it could well be me that they would be calling a loon for being out on the roadside at night being a hazard to myself or motorists! I pointed out to them that this section of the road was in fact part of national cycle route one, which they knew nothing about and refused to accept it could be a cycle route, (this I could understand as it is a busy narrow road) I asked if they had not noticed the signage? which they hadn’t there is plenty signs pointing to the fact that this is part of national route one not only at every junction but also along the roadside on the signage it would appear these signs are not noticed by motorists and the Shetland isles in general is not really interested in cycling as a pastime

on Shetland when cycling I rely on PPE!

Sustrans  is a charitable organisation which works with schools to encourage active travel (cycling, walking or scooting) among students. It also works with employers and local authorities. It administers several thousand volunteers who contribute their time to the charity in numerous ways, such as cleaning and maintaining the National Cycle Network, enhancing biodiversity along the routes, leading walks and rides and supporting communities to improve their air quality.

potentially good Shetland cycle path
 with posts in place to stop parking

 Sustrans flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created 16,575 miles of signed cycle routes throughout the UK including 5,273 miles of traffic-free paths. The remaining 68% of the Network is on previously existing, mostly minor roads, in which motor traffic will be encountered, the number one of which goes along this road between brae and mossbank, Sustrans are trying to promote  Route one as an incredible long-distance cycle adventure stretching 1,695 miles from Dover to the Shetland Islands, through some of the UK’s most stunning scenery. they are quated as saying If you’re looking for an inspirational long-distance cycle route then look no further than Route one, they say its ideal for bikepacking or cycle touring. Their vision is to make cycle paths throughout the country that are suitable for a twelve year old to cycle unsupervised on

  I don’t think anyone would allow a twelve year old to cycle this section on Shetland unsupervised as a matter of fact possibly anywhere on the island as I have seen no traffic free cycle paths on Shetland(I could be wrong), from what Ive witnessed of not only shetlands roads but scottish roads in general oportunities to widen the road are ignored. in some areas posts are put in place to stop cars parking on verges or road calming that forces cyclist out into the center of the road, 

I have previously cycled the length and breadth of the UK mainland, then last year I cycled the Irish end to end Malin head to mizzen head, this year in May I cycled the HEB way (the Hebridean cycle way which is actually just like Shetland not a cycle route but all roads),I have just recently returned from an extended cycle holiday up through Europe, where I cycled up the rhine then down the Danube going through ten countries on all sorts of different cycling routes, Each of those countries had different degrees of quality cycle paths but all of them had much better cycle paths than the UK!

recently resurfaced road on Shetland
 not cycle friendly

 Each country has a different level of dedication to cycling of course, Holland is king of the cycle friendly nations and the country is covered everywhere with wonderful cycle paths, so good I came across cycling round-a- bouts regularly! I was amazed the cycle paths in Holland are better than the car roads in Scotland, I am a great believer in the fact that you can gauge a countries wealth by the quality of its roads and railways, this being the case Holland would be the richest country I have ever been to, (and scotland especially the highlands and islands the poorest) once over into Germany and Austria the cycle paths were still very good and plenty of them, all the cities have dedicated cycle paths and this is also the case in Hungary and Slovakia, the roads in Croatia Serbia and Bulgaria are much like the UK, but there is still some great paths around the cities which are better than anything I have cycled in the UK,

prominent route one sign no motorist on Shetland
that I spoke with even sees

Even Ireland is more friendly than Scotland toward cyclists the roads in Ireland have the same width for cars with the white line up the middle with yellow lines up the car width sides but! the roads are wide either side of the yellow lines allowing cyclist and pedestrians to walk at the edges of the road on tarmacked paths which although still part of the main road (this also gets used by slow traffic at times to pull to the side allowing faster traffic to pass) Scotland is a very poor country compared with Holland and Germany also modern Hungary and Ireland would appear to be more wealthy than Scotland, they are certainly all in my experience more cycle friendly than Scotland is. The recent success of the NC500 Scotland’s highlands motoring route on back country roads, has made these roads so busy I would not dream of taking a cycle holiday anywhere near that route, the roads can’t cope with the volume of cars motorhomes and motorbikes and are now in my opinion treacherous for cyclists

cycle route roundabout in Germany this one

Considering the amount of times I have ran walked cycled and drove this road on shetland between Brae and Mossbank, when I witnessed some recent repairs being done (and done well) the road was strengthened and widened with a whole new perfect surface, it would have been the ideal opportunity for a section of that road to have a decent sized area to cycle on away from cars! But no the road is much wider now, but as soon as the minimum width for cars is reached the sides are hard core tyre bursting un-cycle-able stones, I mentioned this to some locals and they said that the island could not afford road repairs never mind extending a verge for cyclists, with this in mind I realize the Shetland isles is not as rich as Holland - neither is Scotland but surely we could adopt the Irish road strategy if Scotland can’t afford dedicated cycle paths then we should make it our policy to widen the back roads, or stop putting up signs saying this is a cycle route 

Irish roads sometimes don`t have much extra but its still OK
much better than Scotland

I could and would love to put lots more pictures up on this blog page showing more of the wonderful cycle paths I have been on throughout Europe over the past three months, I hope this sample is enough to get over my point  

Shetland roadworks for pipeline ideal time to widen road,
an opportunity missed in my book