York Cycle Paths

MarkA · Post by **MarkA** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:25 pm

We were just discussing cycle routes at work today after i said i had found a new one

Between the three of us we had 3 different versions of York cycle map. Mine was the oldest from 2000 and amazing the difference in provision - love them or not we have come on leaps and bounds.

I personally think they are great and Millie and I have enjoyed making use with Clifton Easy Riders.

For anyone interested the new route i found was out the back of New Earswick to Rowntrees which linked up nicely with Osbaldwick route.

Willy H · Post by **Willy H** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:03 pm

The York cycle route maps which Mark referred to are produced by the 1000's and are also on the City's web pages. Clifton Easy Riders like these routes. They are good for cyclists' nerves and show a more desirable side of our city: green and no traffic!

On the maps there are also ads from the main bike shops in York, and contact details for cycling organisations:
www.york.gov.uk/cycling
www.cyclingengland.org.uk
www.bikeforall.net
www.ctc.org.uk
www.britishcycling.org.uk
www.sustrans.org.uk
www.solar.york.ac.uk

but not (yet) links to any local cycling clubs

There will shortly be an entry on these CliftonCC pages about a special forthcoming event: where to cycle at 10 times the speed of light!

Intrigued? You should be!

Dave B · Post by **Dave B** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:16 pm

Willy H wrote:There will shortly be an entry on these CliftonCC pages about a special forthcoming event: where to cycle at 10 times the speed of light!

Intrigued? You should be!

Hmm....is this anything to do with the "solar system" on the York-Selby cycle path? Also, of course, until about 25 years ago part of the main London-Edinburgh railway line - there can't be many cycleways that allow you to travel the one-time route of the Flying Scotsman on a bike!

David

willhub · Post by **willhub** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 pm

Dave B wrote:
Willy H wrote:There will shortly be an entry on these CliftonCC pages about a special forthcoming event: where to cycle at 10 times the speed of light!

Intrigued? You should be!
Hmm....is this anything to do with the "solar system" on the York-Selby cycle path? Also, of course, until about 25 years ago part of the main London-Edinburgh railway line - there can't be many cycleways that allow you to travel the one-time route of the Flying Scotsman on a bike!

David

Did the flying scotsman used to travel up the york-selby cycle path???

, wow I never knew that, will have to remind myself that next time I am riding to college on my bike along the cycle path.

mal · Post by **mal** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:16 pm

My grandfather was a fireman on the Flying Scotsman sometime in the first half of the twentieth century.

Dr Dave · Post by **Dr Dave** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 4:35 pm

Dave B wrote:
Willy H wrote:There will shortly be an entry on these CliftonCC pages about a special forthcoming event: where to cycle at 10 times the speed of light!

Intrigued? You should be!
Hmm....is this anything to do with the "solar system" on the York-Selby cycle path? Also, of course, until about 25 years ago part of the main London-Edinburgh railway line - there can't be many cycleways that allow you to travel the one-time route of the Flying Scotsman on a bike!

David

Solar system? I know Riccall about that

BroomWagon · Post by **BroomWagon** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:06 pm

Blimey, this makes me feel old. As a child I used to cycle to Naburn to see the trains go by on what is now the cycle track. Was it really 25 years ago? I'm not quite old enough to remember the Flying Scotman on it though (want to know where it is - in the railway museum in pieces), it t'were Deltics in my day.

willhub · Post by **willhub** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:11 pm

I cant imagine trains going on that cycle path its just so thin trains would smash into the trees and be close to the sides and all that.

paulM · Post by **paulM** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:15 pm

They used to prune the trees along railway lines in them days Will and as the trains run on rails it doesn't matter that they are close to the sides.
The Selby cycle track used to be part of the old East Coast London - Edinburgh mainline which was diverted to avoid subsidence from the new Selby coalfield around 1982ish a new line was laid which splits from the York - Leeds line at Colton - the first mainline to be laid for over 100 years.
I remember when I first started cycling in about 1985 riding with a mate to Selby along the trackbed after the railway tracks had been lifted but before the ballast had been removed - not the smoothest of rides!
I always think cycletracks made out of old railway lines might better suit the cycling community if they were still railway lines and therefore perhaps keeping a few cars off the road. The old east coast mainline used to split from the York - Leeds line at what is now Tesco's Park and Ride on Tadcaster Road - but what was then just fields. A bit of poor planning there perhaps?

resus1uk · Post by **resus1uk** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:49 am

Access is off the path beyond the Tesco towards the A64 but there is a barrier to only allow solos through. I couldn't get the trike past the barrier & neither could a family with a trailer.

Several of the other paths in York have this problem (one onto the Racecourse near the old Terry's & the crossing from the Milennium Bridge)

Dave B · Post by **Dave B** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:13 am

resus1uk wrote:Access is off the path beyond the Tesco towards the A64 but there is a barrier to only allow solos through. I couldn't get the trike past the barrier & neither could a family with a trailer.

Several of the other paths in York have this problem (one onto the Racecourse near the old Terry's & the crossing from the Milennium Bridge)

Awkward, but a necessary evil, I guess, to keep mopeds & motorbikes - and even small cars, stretching the point - from going where they shouldn't.

Dave B

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 10:35 am

resus1uk wrote:Access is off the path beyond the Tesco towards the A64 but there is a barrier to only allow solos through. I couldn't get the trike past the barrier & neither could a family with a trailer.

Several of the other paths in York have this problem (one onto the Racecourse near the old Terry's & the crossing from the Milennium Bridge)

Hob Moor between the race course and Edmund Wilson baths wins the prize for "bike path furniture" in my experience....

NickScull · Post by **NickScull** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:48 pm

You can get on the York-Selby path by taking the track opposite the York College bus exit, although you do have to cross Sim Balk Lane then.

And having these barriers doesn't even stop mopeds, at least on the Bish to Tesco bit.

But the real problem is the rubbish and broken glass left behind in the London Bridge underpass - I blame the College students. Maybe we could take out an ASBO against the lot of them.

willhub · Post by **willhub** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:50 pm

I dont think it is college students I was down there once and it was some old drunks by the looks of it, I dont go down there due to the glass I just cut off and go accross the concrete roadway that leads to sim balk lane.

MarkA · Post by **MarkA** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:30 pm

I could add a photo of the Flying Scotsman in bits if that would assist? Not that you lot need much encouragement - i laughed out loud at some of previous comments.

Re. accessibility - the latest York Cycle Map shows a couple of gates marked with padlocks indicating keys are available for wheelchair users, kiddy trailers etc. iirc Hob Moor + two gates on my "new" cycle path were specifically highlighted. I may well enquire having nearly scrumped my nuts trying to navigate one of the traps on fixed.