The state of Country Lanes.

Cycling safety in a rural environment.

There seems to be strong pressure for cycling in our cities to be made safer.  But we mustn’t just limit improvements to some cities, the whole country needs a massive rethink.

Our countryside might seem to be inviting to a cyclist, but having left the fumes, and hazards of cycling in traffic of an urban environment, then, whilst the traffic might be less, the cyclist is faced with other hazards.

In my youth I cycled all over Kent, and the road surfaces I encountered then were good;  With Pot-holes being rare: it isn’t like that now.  So what has gone wrong?

A lane descends steeply down the face of the Downs in Kent; with the road edge broken away, and the centre of the road full of debris, the cyclists has about 30 cm clean space left to ride through.  

But we can forget about pot-holes, we all know what a pot-hole is, and we know only too well how many there are there out there, but in addition there is much more to worry about.

Our country lane network has been totally neglected for so long, that the cyclist really has to concentrate hard on the road ahead, or he will come a cropper.  Rest assured there are many more examples, and many more I have not photographed.

The crown of the many roads are full of loose debris, particularly dangerous to cyclists, but to motor-cyclists too.

Illustrating shear neglect.  It is not unusual for grass and weeds to have completely taken over the centre of the road.  That grass is well established, this is supposed to be a fully maintained road!

                                     What has happened to our once pristine country lanes? 

Cyclists must really concentrate in such circumstances, which are even worse in the dark.

Some Pot-holes are worth recording especially as these are (or were) on a National Cycle Network route, and along what is supposed to be a fully maintained road.

And, in each one of the above situations, we have what is in fact, a: “Shared-space” scenario; but in practice, the max speed in force is 60 mph!  Not 20.