Cycling UK Forum

So I'm slowly - oh so slowly, crossing Pero's Bridge in Bristol - on my commute home.

For those who don't know it, its a busy and narrow bridge, but it's marked as shared-use and is on the council's cycle routes maps.

I'm damned if I'm going to give up and walk across, since its clearly marked as a 'shared use' route and I'd take up more room that way anyway.

A clear section opens up so I move forward, and right at that moment some older bloke who's coming towards me looks right at me and steps out in front of me. Not wanting to run into him, I slam on my brakes, lurch to a stop, and put my foot down. He smiles, moves away and continues walking as if nothing has happened.

"Thanks for that!", I brightly call after him.
"Grr, ******* footpath, ******* cyclist, **** off..." is the response as he walks away.

I've had people elbow me on that particular bridge before, step into my way (on purpose!), ... Why do so many people seem to think that its their job to enforce rules on footpaths, even when they're actually in the wrong...?

/rant=off

you need one of those air horns that are really loud blow that in his face similar to that on large lorries

Brooksby
It's because the UK is the centre of the universe for anticycling [Inappropriate language removed] can be as polite and as accommodating as you like but the country has more than its fair share gits and gitesses

"shared use" is my latest gripe so i had to look it up on street view. maybe it's changed since but it doesn't look clearly marked either way, be it with a "cyclists dismount" sign or something warning pedestrians like floor markings or you know... a shared use sign *eyes council*. pedestrians probably assume that they have absolute right of way, which is fair enough if there's nothing to tell them otherwise. inevitably some handle this better than others and quite a lot of people aren't going to believe you, because you're a "b***** cyclist"

by the looks of things i'd probably assume there was a dismount sign (because... you know.... swinging your leg around the back of your bike in a busy area is the safest solution, again *eyes*).

it just looks like one of those things, where the needs of pedestrians and cyclists get so little priority, and the solution is prejudice and arguments. OR what i've noticed a lot recently, somebody seeking to improve info on cycling infrastructure has been busy on google maps, recommending routes without leaving the office to try them.

i have a lot of these problems on the a580 and i've just started using the carriage way for the duration. it's much quicker, but we cant really expect everybody to do this (though many do, including one elderly gent i saw grinding away on it just this morning)

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.44998 ... 312!8i6656

I presume that's the bridge. Hardly suitable for trouble-free shared-use by pedestrians and cyclists if there are lots of either. It would be interesting to know the bridge's history. I presume it was designed as a footbridge then, with the pressure to promote cycling, it was converted as an afterthought. The signs are faded and there's some extra wording below them which I cannot read on streetview. I wonder if it says something like "cyclists give way to pedestrians."

Hi,
Yeh..................welcome to the ped on shared paths that owns the universe

This morning............blaaaaa........shared path...........blaaaa....................

Cross narrow bridge...........ding my bell to warn any ped who might appear around blind corner at end of bridge.............not one not two but three dogs on the loose and two walkers..................end up doing a track stand even though they would of heard me coming, the dogs all stand in front of my wheel.......the walkers appear so I now have three dogs and two adults (call them selves) all blocking my path on bridge which is barely 3 feet wide.............my front wheel is actually off bridge and the gap is now 10 feet wide.

I do a track stand for five seconds and they do nothing.........then reluctantly one walker goes to move one dog and I get a small gap so proceed slowly past..................one said sorry but I cant work out if they are bloody minded or just plain stupid...................


Oh dog walkers turn around and see you coming...twice................but proceed in middle of path with several dogs, then when you are right on them they feebly make a slow attempt to round up dogs

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Oh dog walkers turn around and see you coming...twice................but proceed in middle of path with several dogs, then when you are right on them they feebly make a slow attempt to round up dogs

This is a regular experience for me on the ncn1 track. The dog walkers hear you coming from 100 plus yards back, they turn to look at you and continue taking up the whole path even though you are politely saying excuse me i'm coming past and they've looked directly at you. I do think they forget its a cycle path with shared use and feel you sbould not be there. I've experienced it face on too where they refuse to open up a gap until last seconds even though you are pedalling towards them.

I do feel that often it is just bloody mindedness and sadly too common, pretty well every ride on ncn1.

Happens everywhere
Even happened to me in quiet old Cockermouth. Two people on a bridge me on bike going one way about 5mph, other is an old guy walking towards me. Beautiful sunny morning and he has to have a go at bloody cyclists on the bridge.

Unfortunately you are not alone.

My commute takes me round the bottom of Arthurs Seat on a cycle way, with a clearly marked footway on the opposite side of the road. It amazes me the number of pedestrians who choose to walk on the cycle way and get irate at cyclists being there.

We take youngsters (GoRide club) into a local park, some varied 'shared use' paths... some with a surface some more suited to a bit of MTB-ing. We always have adults in advance warning that the group is on it's way through, and teach the children to pass other users with respect and care. We have had some shocking reactions from some and one particular 'gentleman' has been a nightmare, and has even tried to put his walking stick into wheels.... apparently he used to be a member of a Chorley cycling club (not the recent reinstated one) when he 'was that age and we started our cycling on the roads'!!!!! Totally believes we have no place on some of the routes we use... despite the fact we sometimes have children as young as 6 in the group.

You are not alone.

Rode over the bridge today and the only issue was an out of tune busker murdering a song, I do keep to walking pace. If you ride the bridge this weekend you'll be OK as there won't be many people using it.

Redvee wrote:Rode over the bridge today and the only issue was an out of tune busker murdering a song, I do keep to walking pace. If you ride the bridge this weekend you'll be OK as there won't be in many people using it.

Hell is other people's music

Cyril Haearn wrote:

Redvee wrote:Rode over the bridge today and the only issue was an out of tune busker murdering a song, I do keep to walking pace. If you ride the bridge this weekend you'll be OK as there won't be in many people using it.

Hell is other people's music

Or cyclists?

Don't forget that the media in Bristol have been publicly shaming people riding bikes on bridges, which of course helps foment an atmosphere of conflict.

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-fea ... ing-signs/

Bez wrote:Don't forget that the media in Bristol have been publicly shaming people riding bikes on bridges, which of course helps foment an atmosphere of conflict.

https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-fea ... ing-signs/

That's the problem, maybe.

Pero's Bridge *does* have shared-use blue roundels at each end, but they're about eight inches diameter, six feet off the ground, and I don't think anyone notices them behind the advertising signs for the ferry services'n'stuff. I also think it was built to be shared-use, not converted later (it's not that old). I think the idea at the council was that cyclists could use it to get across the floating harbour without having to go through the Centre.

Didn't the Post complain about cyclists using a brand new bridge near Temple Meads which was very definitely marked up as shared-use and on the council's cycle routes?

Their gripe about when Prince's Street bridge was closed is arguably more valid - that was a steep temporary structure which was intended as a pedestrian crossing and which was very definitely not shared-use.