Cycling UK Forum

There is talk of a smog this weekend and recommedations that we stay indoors. I don't fancy breathing in those horrible particulates. Is it really a problem and what's the best time and place to avoid the worst conditions?

West Wales (anytime), just so long as you dont bring a car.

unless you're very young or very old and live in a big city, i'd ignore it

I'd imagine all the BBQs aren't going to help the air quality.

I'd be far more concerned about the crowds of frustrated, impatient motorists myself - check out the OS maps and get out there on the bridleways. The motorists won't stray far from the roadside parking places before starting their picnics

Steve

Greybeard wrote:check out the OS maps and get out there on the bridleways.

the very old ought to stay indoors

Greybeard wrote:I'd be far more concerned about the crowds of frustrated, impatient motorists myself - check out the OS maps and get out there on the bridleways. The motorists won't stray far from the roadside parking places before starting their picnics

Steve

+1, glad I am working away from the madding crowd.

GrahamMC wrote:There is talk of a smog this weekend .......

Is there?

We're in Malta, come home tomorrow, but smog is a thing from my childhood in Lancashire!

Smog was grey/yellow, thick and smelly, and you could see barely 25yards though it. It brought traffic to a standstill and we used to walk round with scarfs over our mouths and noses.

If they are forecasting smog, they must be using a time machine.

eileithyia wrote:

Greybeard wrote:I'd be far more concerned about the crowds of frustrated, impatient motorists myself - check out the OS maps and get out there on the bridleways. The motorists won't stray far from the roadside parking places before starting their picnics

Steve

+1, glad I am working away from the madding crowd.

Pity us poor buggers that have to work in the city next to two motorways, on all of the upcoming bank holidays, at a place that will be athrong with the madding and maddening crowd

Well, at least I can go up to the top floor, point at the 10 mile tail backs on the motorway and snigger (until the smog from the 10 mile tail back turns the snigger into a strangled choking noise).

hubgearfreak wrote:

Greybeard wrote:check out the OS maps and get out there on the bridleways.

the very old ought to stay indoors

Thanks, Tim I'm off for the next week - fancy taking an elderly person on a ride over the Yorkshire Wolds? I'll go steady so you keep up

Si wrote:Pity us poor buggers that have to work in the city next to two motorways, on all of the upcoming bank holidays, at a place that will be athrong with the madding and maddening crowd

I suppose living 40 miles up a railway siding in East Yorkshire does have some compensations

Steve

I remember a forecast about five years ago that the Friday of the May Bank Holiday weekend would see the worst traffic the country had ever seen...

I had to get home to west Cornwall after work near Doncaster leaving 5pm and was dreading it.

It appeared everyone else had heard the report and decided not to travel! I got on the A30 at Exeter and thought I had missed a road closed sign as I did not see another vehicle in either direction for 15 miles

Maybe we should issue wild traffic reports to clear roads in advance of our rides? Who's for the A82 seeing predictions of horrendous traffic as someone's JoGLE gets there?

Greybeard wrote:fancy taking an elderly person on a ride over the Yorkshire Wolds? I'll go steady so you keep up

i do fancy it as it happens. i'll have to get permission. perhaps saturday? i've got out my OS map, there's no bridge from barton and the cyclepath to horsea has L. & N. E. R. written on it

I'm asthmatic so I'll be careful. If I go for a ride it'll be a short one. Rain helps to clean and freshen up the air and it hasn't rained here for weeks.
jonty

meic wrote:West Wales (anytime), just so long as you dont bring a car.

I second that!

hubgearfreak wrote:

Greybeard wrote:fancy taking an elderly person on a ride over the Yorkshire Wolds? I'll go steady so you keep up

i do fancy it as it happens. i'll have to get permission. perhaps saturday? i've got out my OS map, there's no bridge from barton and the cyclepath to horsea has L. & N. E. R. written on it

I tried that path for the first time a few weeks ago. How nice can it get? I loved it. Returned to Hull via Aldborough... a really excellent day out. And not the slightest possibility of smog (or smaeg, they probably would call it, if they had any).