Cyclists should be as near the kerb as possible ❌

Posted on 9th Jun 2025 by insightndes

This is rule 72 from the Highway Code:

72
Road positioning. When riding on the roads, there are two basic road positions you should adopt, depending on the situation.
1) Ride in the centre of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible, in the following situations

on quiet roads or streets – if a faster vehicle comes up behind you, move to the left to enable them to overtake, if you can do so safely
in slower-moving traffic – when the traffic around you starts to flow more freely, move over to the left if you can do so safely so that faster vehicles behind you can overtake
at the approach to junctions or road narrowings where it would be unsafe for drivers to overtake you

2) When riding on busy roads, with vehicles moving faster than you, allow them to overtake where it is safe to do so whilst keeping at least 0.5 metres away, and further where it is safer, from the kerb edge. Remember that traffic on most dual carriageways moves quickly. Take extra care crossing slip roads.

So it’s ride at least 0.5 m from the kerb but in some circumstances in the middle of the lane. In particular when the road is narrow, so it is unsafe for the vehicle to overtake the cyclist.

It is Bike Week 2025. https://www.cyclinguk.org/bikeweek.

There are a lot of misconceptions out there. This bike week I thought that I would address a few of them.

Number one – not particularly contentious, it’s in the Highway Code.

Travel

North

Posted on 7th Jun 2025 by insightndes

No window seat on the way to Paddington, so no photos.

Dinner at the Great Nepalese Tandor next to Euston station.

And we’re off

Still had a four hour journey north and the sleeper breakfast is not sufficient. So..

Too much chatting to take pictures. I reach my destination only ten minutes late.

Tourism, Travel

Surrey and beyond

Posted on 2nd Jun 2025 by insightndes

The worst cycle infrastructure on Epsom Road in Guildford.

The cycle lanes marked out in Guildford are beyond useless. No segregation, suggesting a totally inappropriate position for the cyclists to take on the road. I would cycle at least at the line. I actually cycled in the mostly in the middle of the lane to take the decision away from the drivers, so they did not attempt to overtake at the frequent traffic islands. Of course I was hooted at, but ironically I was going faster than the motorised vehicles. Guildford suffers from pollution,

There are plenty of stations in the commuter belt.

Someone had pulled a communication alarm on a train causing all the trains to be delayed.

Two days later headed back to Oxfordshire. Dodged the rail replacement buses by travelling from Farnborough.

The Thames at Wallingford – The Boat House.

Travel

North to the south

Posted on 1st Jun 2025 by insightndes

Blue skies and a few clouds heading south.

Changed from the far north line to the sleeper at Inverness.

Speeding away from Inverness.

Near Kingussie

Not sure this breakfast looks appetising. It tasted ok. A few issues on the train. The lock on the cabin was not fully functioning, no pull out table in cabin, coffee machine in buffet car not working. There are some maintenance issues it appears.

Arrival in Euston is 20 minutes late due to work in the line. I had been forewarned by text.

Then headed back east

I witnessed an old couple falling over on the escalator just after getting on. while they were heading up. I was heading down. A woman at the top shouted for someone to hit the emergency stop. A hapless woman holding a dog appeared transfixed and unable to hit the button. After what appeared to be an age someone finally hit the button. Chaos. No staff about.

It’s sunny again

Ash

Farnham

Travel

No fly zone …. Paused

Posted on 19th May 2025 by insightndes

Due to work commitments I had to fly back to Scotland. Still managed to complete the journey by rail.

Very early start to get the 0740 flight to Heathrow. A trip involving a tram and the airport bus to Budapest Airport. Budapest is a fairly pleasant airport compared to the nightmare that is Heathrow. Then onto Inverness Airport, which now has its own railway station. Inverness airport is relatively pleasant.

Not great flying but almost halved the carbon footprint compared to flying both ways.

A 45 min wait for the 12 min train ride to Inverness. Then a further wait before heading to the far north.

Beauly Firth.

In contrast to the other train lines the vegetation is really close to the track.

A spectacular display as the sun sets on the journey north.

Tourism

Budapest

Posted on 15th May 2025 by insightndes

Budapest is a photogenic city.

Athletics stadium lit up in the national colours.

A good way to see Budapest is from the river Danube,

Petiöf Híf with tram.

Passing under Szécheny Lanchid

Walzing up the Danube

Margit Hid

Parliament

Next day some sightseeing on dry land.

Tram on the other side of the river

Barge

Travel

München to Budapest

Posted on 13th May 202512th May 2025 by insightndes

I set off early from the hotel to allow for the ongoing work on the S Bahn. Which meant I arrived well ahead of time at the Hauptbahnhof. So purchased some bread based snacks for breakfast and the journey plus some fruit.

The train was an Austrian train, OBB, starting in Germany and ending in Hungary.

South east of München- wall to mitigate noise.

Near the Danube- is that a power station?

The Danube

Tourism

München

Posted on 12th May 2025 by insightndes

A local’s tip was the Dachgarten at Rosenheimer Platz. Lots of little bars and food stalls.

Fish in the Isar

Lots of people, lots happening. Lots of footy fans attending the Bayern München vs Borussia Mönchengladbach match. München won 2-0 clinching the title.

Bretzel und bier – the mini Hofbrauhaus in the Englishergarten

Catching the sunlight

I used the Tageskarte and a lot of walking. Due to work on the S Bahn, I had to find different routes to get around, using a tram and bus as well as the U Bahn.

Travel

St Pancras to München via Brussels

Posted on 11th May 2025 by insightndes

Early start at St Pancras means that I should get to München at a sensible time of 6pm local time. The ticket told me to be at St Pancras at ten to six. An early start.

We came to a stop. Announcements came periodically as the delay lengthened. The reason was eventually announced. A train had broken down in the tunnel so only one line was available. Trains were being sent in one direction and then the direction was being switched. Eventually we got going.

Eventually we made it to…

The next train left slightly late, a DB IC, heading for Frankfurt, but I was due to change at Frankfurt airport.

The train took a curious route due to work on the more direct line.

The ICE got further delayed so I bailed out at Köln, seeing that I could catch a slightly delayed train heading to München. This proved to be a good move as the train was mobbed at Frankfurt. I had a seat.

The bright sun is getting low near Stuttgart

Arrived at München around 9 local time. Three hours late although the final train was actually early . A long day.

Met some interesting people on the way. The Portuguese lawyer working for the EU who can speak about 7 languages, and the group returning from a family wedding in Eritrea. All evidently having grown up in Germany as shown by German being their preferred language.

Tourism, Travel

Reading to St Pancras via Didcot

Posted on 9th May 2025 by insightndes

A detour to Didcot.

District & Circle line tube station Paddington

Arrived at Paddington and to the closest tube station with a branch of the circle line. No trains running. Backtracked to the other circle line branch and finally caught the tube. It’s far simpler and quicker on the bike.