Better for bikes? Norwich or Leicester?

[pete75]

One advantage of moving to Norfolk is that if you've an IQ over about 60 folk will think you're a genius.

[Tandemist]

Bootiful !

[steady eddy]

Pete75 you should get out more - Only a person with an IQ of less than 60 would believe Alan Partridge's sterotypical Norfolk nonsense.

It is a fine county - where coincidentaly your sister may be your brother's mother - if you believe what they sing at the football.

I tend not to believe what they sing at the football as I am not convinced that the Canaries are going up again at the end of this season. But you have to hope.

Long may the sterotypes keep the hoards away we like it just as it is.

[pete75]

Nowt to do with Alan Partridge me old boy. Live in the next county , Lincolnshire so am well aware of what Norfolk folk are like. You even had to get your most famous and acomplished musician, the Singing Postman, from us......

[pete75]

On the other hand to see what Leicester inhabitants can be like just type leicester donkey horse into google

[Cyril Haearn]

Leicester has about 50% white British people and 50% others, +1!
What is the ethnic mix in Norwich?

Which city has more medieval churches and other interesting buildings?

Anyone know b o t h cities well? I used to know Oxford and Cambridge well, not sure how I would *compare and contrast*

[TrevA]

This thread is an example of an Opening Poster who registers to ask a question, but never returns to see the answer. This happens far too often - see the recent "cycling clubs in Nottingham" thread for another example.

To answer the above question. I know Leicester well, I worked in the centre for 5 years and commuted in by bike. I still visit quite often. I've never been to Norwich, though I know rural Norfolk very well.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Eastern Leicestershire and Rutlland are particularly attractive with interesting villages, lanes, short sharp hills, off-roading opportunities and light traffic.

Absolutely. "High Leicestershire" is one of the loveliest yet least well-known parts of England. There are other lovely cycling areas nearby, too, such as the Wreake Valley.

Leicester is getting a reputation for progressive cycle infrastructure - see http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/ ... ook-609372 for example - and is removing some of the worst excesses of '60s road design.

I wouldn't worry unduly about people who ask a question then disappear: the answers do at least create a Googlable resource for other people who might want to know about cycling in Leicester or Norwich.

[Cyril Haearn]

This thread is an example of an Opening Poster who registers to ask a question, but never returns to see the answer. This happens far too often - see the recent "cycling clubs in Nottingham" thread for another example.

To answer the above question. I know Leicester well, I worked in the centre for 5 years and commuted in by bike. I still visit quite often. I've never been to Norwich, though I know rural Norfolk very well.

Maybe the OPs log in without registering to read the answers

[mjr]

Leicester is getting a reputation for progressive cycle infrastructure - see http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/ ... ook-609372 for example - and is removing some of the worst excesses of '60s road design.

As far as I could tell from visiting (most recently last year, I think), it seems like a triumph of Leicester marketing a few high-profile showcase projects more than a culture change even approaching what Norwich had even when we used to joke that people in Norwich used to cycle despite council cycling projects, rather than because of them.

Take the example of London Road - Leicester is only now showing artists' impressions which could easily change before they're built, while Norwich has been building the "Blue Pedalway" on its London road (the A11 Newmarket Road) for years and has recently opened the latest section between the A140 Daniels Road and A1056 Ipswich Road, with a Cambridge-style stepped hybrid cycleway on the northbound side, with a wide cycleway on the southbound side with a large verge between it and the carriageway. That's a route which is mostly at least kerb-protected all the way out to Wymondham, 10 miles away, with small gaps through Eaton and Cringleford (where it's mostly quiet village streets) and just outside Wymondham at Kett's Oak (which I think will be closed soon). www.norwich.gov.uk/pedalways

Leicester's London Road is only 3 miles and I'm not sure the above project covers all of that. They won't start building before next summer, opening a year later. So even if it's the whole 3 miles, at that rate they might catch up with Norwich on that one route some time around 2023, but then Norwich is building several other routes, including the somewhat confused Pink Pedalway which hit the headlines for a few high-profile bloopers yet still delivered some useful junction improvements and returned £10 benefit for every £1 spent.

Leicester's Great Central Way rail trail is fine, but it's only about 5 miles, the same length as Norwich's two tarmac rail trails, Lakenham Way and Marriott's Way, which then continues another 14 miles as unsealed compacted surfaces out to near Whitwell, at which point you're well into country lanes, but you can still return along the Bure Valley Way and another route whose name I forget to complete a 26 mile loop back to the edge of Norwich.

There still seemed to be a lot of cycling restrictions in Leicester city centre and mentioning them to local campaigners seemed to suggest there was no prospect of that changing any time soon, whereas Norwich has recently agreed to lift the cycling ban from the rest of its city centre streets, where it was thoughtlessly banned along with motor traffic back in the sixties and seventies. There is almost a utility-cycling culture finally developing in Norwich, even if it's still a bit much dayglo and MTB dazzlers for my taste.

I'm sure Leicester's lovely and it seems much better than nearby towns, but what I've seen on my visits is nowhere near as nice as Norwich...

[millimole]

Without quoting all of mjr's post - I'd tend to agree.
I've lived and cycled in Leicester for >35 years, and the new cycling infrastructure is excellent, but it is disjointed, and doesn't extend much beyond the City boundary - the County and District authorities don't get cycling.
I'd dispute the 'cycling restrictions in Leicester City Centre' - cycling is allowed on all the pedestrianised public streets; equally The Great Central Way (Sustrans 6) is a good route south out of the city and suburbs - unfortunately severed by removal of the Upperton Road viaduct a few years ago.
Leicester city sits in a bowl which means that unless you are going along the Soar (good towpaths) you will be meeting a hill (otherwise known as scenery!) which means that commuting will always be seen as a challenge.
I don't know Norwich, but perceive it as a 'prettier' city than Leicester, but Leicester has come a long way in reviving its fortunes, and is now a great place to visit and live.


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[mjr]

I'd dispute the 'cycling restrictions in Leicester City Centre' - cycling is allowed on all the pedestrianised public streets;

Is that a recent change? Last year, I couldn't turn left from Charles St northbound into Humberstone Gate westbound, or ride past the town hall (very strange little worded signs instead of the usual ones) or even reach the pedestrianised bit of Rutland Street eastbound... and outside the fairly small pedestrianised zone, there seemed to be lots of no-entry and prohibited turns without "except cycles" that deflected me away from where I was trying to go.

[Cyril Haearn]

I get Coventry and Leicester mixed up sometimes, I think they are adjacent in my mental map

Maybe Lady Godiva could upgrade to cycling
Why does sending someone to C mean to ostracise them?

[TrevA]

I'm sure Leicester's lovely and it seems much better than nearby towns, but what I've seen on my visits is nowhere near as nice as Norwich...

When I worked in Leicester I noticed that not many of my work colleagues lived in the city itself, or even the immediate suburbs. They all commuted in by car or train from places such as Nuneaton, Hinckley, Field Head (near J22), Derby or Nottingham. I commuted in from South Notts (by bike - 21 miles each way). I think I lived the 2nd furthest away but I was the only one who cycled in.

I used to ride in from the north, down the Melton Road and along the Golden Mile. There was no cycle infrastructure, apart from a ropey old concrete cycle way with uneven slabs along part of Melton Road.

[millimole]

I'd dispute the 'cycling restrictions in Leicester City Centre' - cycling is allowed on all the pedestrianised public streets;

Is that a recent change? Last year, I couldn't turn left from Charles St northbound into Humberstone Gate westbound, or ride past the town hall (very strange little worded signs instead of the usual ones) or even reach the pedestrianised bit of Rutland Street eastbound... and outside the fairly small pedestrianised zone, there seemed to be lots of no-entry and prohibited turns without "except cycles" that deflected me away from where I was trying to go.

Yes you can cycle both ways along Humberstone Gate, there are no restrictions upto the Clock Tower and then any route from there (Granby St, Silver St, High St (although I admit I wasn't always clear about this); Rutland street has been remodelled and I think it's now one way, but I get confused as I rarely cycle down there; across the front of the town hall is a bit odd - I think it's forbidden but it's only the town hall jobsworths who'd complain, I'm not sure why you'd choose to take that route anyway!
It seems that Belgrave Gate and Churchgate will soon have the buses and taxis removed to make the whole Clock Tower area pedestrianised.


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