Author: Secretary

Cycling in Lockdown 2

Posted on by Secretary

New restrictions have been brought in as from midnight today to help halt the spread of Covid-19. For the next four weeks, you must:

  1. Stay at home, except for specific purposes.
  2. Avoid meeting people you do not live with, except for specific purposes.
  3. Close certain businesses and venues.

The good news is that under the new restrictions cycling is still permitted for health and fitness, and it is actively encouraged for local journeys. However there are a number of rules which everyone must follow when out and about on their bikes:

  • Only cycle alone, with others in your household/support bubble, or with one person from another household. If you do ride with someone from another household, you must only ever ride as a pair.
  • Stay two metres apart from anybody not from your household/support bubble.
  • Stay at home if you:
    • are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms;
    • are self-isolating;
    • are sharing a household /support bubble with somebody with symptoms; or
    • have been told to self-isolate after being contacted by NHS Test and Trace or a local equivalent

There are no restrictions on how far or how often you can ride, but you should ensure that you ride within your ability level and prepare accordingly, especially if riding alone.

For further information, visit the Gov.uk website.

Towpath Works at Colthrop & Thatcham

Posted on by Secretary
  • West of Midgham Lock
  • West of Midgham Lock 2
  • West of Midgham Lock 3
  • Potential to extend works towards Colthrop
  • Thames Water funded works at Thatcham

SPOKES has long been campaigning for the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath surface to be restored between Reading and Marsh Benham. With the exception of sections within Newbury, the surface has not benefited from any significant maintenance since it was originally upgraded 20 years ago to form part of National Cycle Network Route 4.

Grass encroached over time, leaving a deep, narrow rut, while boats pulling on mooring pegs tore chunks out of the bank, which cut into the towpath, creating major hazards for unwary cyclists.

The Canal and River Trust is responsible for maintaining the towpath, but has been unable to fund the extensive works that are required to bring it back up to the required standard. So we decided to help by raising funds to tackle some of the worst sections, starting with the section to the west of Midgham Lock.

We put in £10,000 of our own funds and raised over £100,000 of additional funds through the Good Exchange, including grants from West Berkshire Council, Thatcham Town Council and Englefield Trust, with match funding from Greenham Common Trust.

As with any project like this, there are risks, and an ecology survey carried out just before the works were due to start highlighted the presence of water voles. While it is fantastic news that this endangered species is present on this section of the canal, it did mean that some significant constraints had to be imposed on the scheme’s construction. These included: limiting the depth of excavation, not being able to use timber edging, and not being able to use vibratory rollers when laying the surface.

However, the contractor was able to progress with a scheme and works were completed earlier this month. As you can see from the photos, the towpath is almost unrecognisable when compared to its previous state.

Also, the reduced specification has resulted in a significant under-spend, so we may be able to extend the length of the improvements as part of a second phase of works. We are in discussion with our funders and the Canal and River Trust about this. We will keep you posted on progress!

The other bit of good news is that Thames Water has also funded some improvements to the towpath to the west of Crookham Hill. Although this section does not form part of NCN4, cyclists are still permitted to use this stretch. The improvements have covered exposed tree roots and repaired significant hazards such as dips and holes in the embankment. The result is a more usable route, but one that is still more suited to mountain bikes and hybrids with suspension.

Towpath Updates

Posted on by Secretary

The section of towpath between the A339 and Hambridge Road reopened this week. The Canal and River Trust has been making extensive improvements to this stretch, including a new tarmac surface.

Although some of the towpath had been improved in recent years, the eastern and western sections were previously in a very poor state. The section past Greenham Island suffered badly with puddles whenever it rained, while the path between Tesco and Hambridge Road had lost its top surface, exposing larger stones underneath, with large level differences appearing where the path joined the bridges.

The new path not perfect – the path is still very narrow in places, particularly past Greenham Island where you need to slow right down or stop for pedestrians or cyclists coming in the other direction. But the eastern section seems wider, making it easier to share.

Inevitably, we have already had one complaint that cyclists are now travelling too fast, so we would remind everyone to please respect other users of the towpath – please slow down and pass with care.

We have also heard people complaining that the tarmac surface is not in keeping with the rural feel of this section of towpath, with does feel very green and leafy in places. Thankfully, we have confirmation that the Canal and River Trust is coming back to surface dress the path with a buff coloured stone, which should soften its appearance. This should be done by the end of October.

The other bit of good news is that SPOKES has successfully raised enough funding to upgrade another section of towpath to the east of Colthrop, with works due to start within a few weeks. We raised £109,000 from Canal and River Trust, West Berkshire Council, Thatcham Town Council and Englefield Charitable Trust and we are putting in £10,000 of our own funds towards the project.

This will tackle one of the worst sections of the towpath where the old path has reduced to a narrow, deep-sided rut, which is extremely hazardous to cyclists and makes the path unusable by people in wheelchairs and families with pushchairs. We will keep you updated on progress with the construction.

Active Travel Fund Scheme on A4

Posted on by Secretary
  • West of Gables Way
  • Light segregation in action
  • Segregation runs out on approach to Colthrop Lane
  • Wands are used either side of junctions
  • Orca profiled to be forgiving to errant cyclists
  • Wands on approach to bus stop

West Berkshire Council has been awarded £124,000 for Phase 1 and £495,000 for Phase 2 of the Emergency Active Travel Fund to give more space to pedestrians and cyclists as part of the response to COVID-19.

West Berkshire SPOKES was consulted on the measures that we would like to see. Our priorities included protected cycle lanes on the A4 and on approach routes to the main town centres, as well as closing some local roads to through-traffic and exempting cyclists from some one-way streets.. We are delighted to see the first of these installed this week on the the section of the A4 between Cothrop and Thatcham.

The scheme uses wands and Orcas to provide low cost physical segregation that helps to make the mandatory cycle lane self-enforcing. These are low cost, but effective measures that can be rolled out quickly and easily, and are therefore ideal candidates for the Emergency Active Travel Fund.

The wands are used before and after junctions, while the Orcas are used in the central sections. If you are unfamiliar with an Orca, they are low-level rubberised features that have a near vertical profile facing traffic and a more gently sloping profile facing the cycle lane. This means that if you were to hit one, while riding your bike, it would just push you back onto the cycle lane.

First impressions are quite good. The gaps between features seem quite large, but vehicles were definitely keeping their distance, which is the main goal. However, the segregation runs out on the approach to Colthrop Lane, and the presence of a pedestrian refuge means that traffic is pushed towards the cycle lane. Longer term, it would be good to be able to widen the cycle lane into the verge to allow the segregation to be extended a bit further.

We look forward to see the rest of the schemes rolled out in the coming weeks and will keep you posted on the results.

Social Bike Rides Start Up Again

Posted on by Secretary

Our programme of social bike rides for 2020 was knocked for six when the COVID lockdown was announced. However, as restrictions are starting to be relaxed, we are finally able to start our social rides again, albeit with some restrictions in place.

British Cycling has announced that in line with government guidance, HSBC UK Ride Social activities can start from 4 July. However, all rides must comply with the relevant Government guidelines on social distancing and group size.

For now, we have to keep to a maximum of six in a group (one ride leader to five participants), and maintain social distancing of at least two metres at all times (except between members of the same household).

In line with government guidelines, masks or face coverings are not required if social distancing is
maintained; the use of face masks or coverings is a personal choice, but they should not restrict breathing.

If you are within the ‘clinically vulnerable’ group, then the advice remains that you should stay at home as much as possible and avoid contact with others outside your household.

Further information for participants can be found in Section 2 of British Cycling’s COVID-19 guidance, ‘The Way Forward‘. We would ask all ride participants to read this before booking on a ride.

We have planned rides on the first and third Saturday of each month starting on 18 July and running through to 17 October.

In previous years, we have planned rides with the option of a cake stop at a local café. However, this introduces an unnecessary risk and unless we can be certain of sitting outside, we will need to skip the cakes until the COVID risk is reduced.

As ever, all our rides are published on LetsRide, which is a free to use website run by British Cycling and we ask riders to book a place on each ride you want to attend. This lets us know to expect you and ensures that we have a manageable number of cyclists. This is even more critical now, since rides are limited to 6 people.

Please note that our rides are not aimed at complete beginners. Rides are typically 25-35 miles and while we try and go at the pace of the slowest rider and are happy to wait at the top of a hill for slower riders to catch up, we do recommend that you get a few miles under your belt before coming on your first ride so you are confident that you can do the distance and take on a hill or two.

If you have any queries or concerns, then please do contact us.