Letter: Better provision for cycling on New Forest would be helpful
BEFORE Christmas I read about the idea of producing a cycle map for the New Forest cycle routes in the design of the London Underground map.
I am not a Lycra cyclist. I cycle with my family and have cycled in other countries, and other counties in England. I love the New Forest, returning here in 2018 only to be utterly shocked and disheartened by the state of the ‘Forest’. What Forest? What has destroyed the Forest ? As a child (in the 1980s) I was always told “it regenerates” and it did. And it will do if people allow it to – if traffic reduces and foot traffic is controlled.
During the recent Redbridge Causeway roadworks people just sat in the traffic. Maybe people don’t realise you can cycle to Southampton from Totton, and it takes between 30-40 minutes, depending if you walk over the bridges.
Cycling is a fantastic form of exercise and is environmentally friendly form of transport. This area isn’t traditionally a cycling area, more for horse riding and walking, so that’s the hard sell to get through. In principle I think the ‘Tube map’ is a great idea. It needs further work to show where the public WCs are, also where the significant hills are located (really important when you are a beginner or with children).
This map would “open up” the so-called “Forest” to cyclists but then I see an issue. Until I moved here I hadn’t appreciated the different forms of cycling. My bike is a mountain bike, I can road cycle and go off road. And there are appropriate cycle routes for me through the Forest, but you need a car to get to most of them, which is a bit silly. You should be able to cycle from your home.
There seems to be a huge influence here in “The Forest” to road cycle. The roads aren’t fit for purpose, in my opinion for the cars and cyclists. They are narrow, pot holey and, to be honest, the car drivers are so fast it’s dangerous. Why people choose to ride on the road with their thin wheels, beats me. Off road is safer, nicer, calmer.
The New Forest is (or used to be) a family friendly area, but there is no way I would allow my daughter to ride on some of the roads alone, which is a shame, because you can actually get across the Forest on a bike. Where there are cycle lanes, some of them aren’t wide enough for two bikes to pass safely, for example Totton to Lyndhurst is only just wide enough, and you risk being decapitated by the overhanging trees!
Maybe, just maybe, in about 50 years we will see the Forest rejuvenate, and we will see less people needing care from the NHS as cycling reduces blood pressure, obesity etc. If people do it.
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