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A long awaited update regarding the status of South Gloucestershire Council's vandalism of the Bristol to Bath cycle track.
Sorry about not updating these pages sooner but usually when I'm out on my bike I don't want to keep stopping to take pictures. Also I didn't think many people were visiting this part of my site, and like it or not we are now stuck with the new route. Work on the ring road and cycle track diversion was completed at least a couple of years ago and the barriers are now gone. The cycle path has been back in use since around the end of the summer of 2001. I will post some more pictures showing the new cyclist diversion... um eventually.
It is still quite a nice ride, just not as good as it was before and over time it will improve further when the tree plantings grow enough to hide the ring road. A short, fast, nearly flat stretch of path that ran through a disused railway cutting has been replaced by a route that mostly runs parallel to a busy ring road. It crosses the ring road twice includes several blind corners and a cattle grid (but no one blames South Gloucestershire Council for BSE!). Mostly it is still fairly flat but there is one significant hill with blind corners at both the top and bottom.
The diversion is about 0.7 miles from end to end or about 5% of the total distance from either end of the path (i.e. here to here). Look on the bright side thats what I always say 95% of the bicycle track is as lovely as it has always been. Its a bit noisey of course but at least when the new trees eventually grow to a decent size you won't be able to see it except when crossing the new bridges. I think the old route (where the road is now) was only about 0.5 miles, but the new route takes longer than the differences in distance would suggest due to the increased gradients and extra turns. Look on the bright side, this means more time to enjoy the ambience of the ring road.
Click here for a virtual tour of the final cyclists diversion.
See Also
The Bristol To Bath Cycle Path
Enhancements To The Environment (Vandalism in progress)
The even longer diversion
Accident Blackspot
Road Cones
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| Photography by Nigel 'Gear Ratio' Jones May 2002 |
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