Apologies to blog readers and a cycle lane review!

Ok so I'm really sorry but I broke the rules of my year of blogging every ride! I've actually done two commutes before today without a single word of Bloggage. So I'm very sorry and in future I'll be less of a useless blogger.

Today's ride to work was typical for me in that I wasn't really up for it and then two minutes down the road I was loving it. I was going to blog all about that but then I saw Claire's post about Kettering Borough Council having a Q&A session on bicycle routes and well that was the theme for today
sorted.

Now some of Kettering's cycle paths are ok, but most of them are just crap. I've discussed my normal route to work using the Rockingham Road and how I don't bother with the path once I get into Kettering. So tonight I took an alternative route home starting on Northampton Road, onto Gypsy Lane and then past Telford Way down the A14. Thankfully I was back on country roads quite soon using Violet Lane through to the Glendon Road and home. A picture tells a thousand words so here goes.

This KBC is a joke, it's not anything apart from a bike painted on a road not wide enough for cars to allow cyclists the space of the painted on bike so it's actually pretty pointless!

Cycle path? Barely a pig track!

See the lady in the background she stepped into the road to let me pass, what is the point of a bus stop on a bike path?

Oh...well those specks are bits of glass which all bike paths seem to be full of

The perilous crossing on junction 7, no crossing lights you just have to chance it in between the light changes

Can you tell I'm not impressed? The bike paths and routes of Kettering are too narrow, have too many obstacles and are very poorly maintained. I'm guessing the glass comes from smashed headlights which are sweeped off the road onto the path. Brambles also stretch across the path in many places. The only place they've really got it right is round by Glendon Road industrial estate and even then cross with care because the cars get very confused by the traffic lights and pelican crossings.

I'm going to end on a positive note. Last week fellow cyclist David White dropped me off some pallets to build a wood store. This week C&DCYCLES CC stalwart Big Steve Major brought me a load of wood to start filling the store. So thanks to you both it's looking good for toasty toes this winter!

Wood!

Happy pedalling