February 2014 ~ Cycle Harrogate

I don't know if you saw Inside Out, the local BBC news magazine programme on Monday 24th February? It was a Tour special. It featured Paul Ogden contrasting cycling Harrogate to Leeds with a commute in Holland. Suffice to say it was a lot easier in the Netherlands. He was riding from Harrogate with some of Harrogate Nova. Predictably they left him for dead after a few miles. Anyway it got me thinking that there really is is no decent route for cyclists from Harrogate to Leeds that doesn't involve quite a lot of time on some very busy and fairly narrow A roads. Roads which are about as bike friendly as the Daily Mail would be if Jeremy Clarkson was guest editing. I was wondering, perhaps joining up the two urban blobs with some decent cycle route should be something we should try to aim for as a benefit for both the tourism and the commuter markets?

This thought was after I have had quite a few people emailing me who are staying in Leeds for the Tour. They were asking for decent traffic free routes from Leeds so they can ride into Harrogate for the finish of Stage one. I have had to tell them that you take your chances with the traffic or you get the train.

I rode the new Hollybank Woods Sustrans route, the part of the Greenway that links Ripley to Hampsthwaite with my boys on Sunday. It's not far, maybe two miles but it's a lovely ride through the ancient woods. It starts down the side of the castle. It's not officially open yet. In fact we snook around the bridleway closed signs and avoided a solitary digger as lots of other people were doing. Feeling slightly naughty with woody Guthrie's mis-quoted words from This Land is Your Land ringing in my ears, we headed on.

As I went cycling I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me

My youngest boy went for the full mud slide, dismount on the minor road at the Hampsthwaite end and looked like a creature from lord of the rings as he stood up oozing and sobbing. He got back on the bike to his credit and a spicy apple ice-cream that tasted like mulled wine to me (bad thing), sorted him out.

A good trip, recommended.

Finally to end this little data burst from me, this quote from the excellent Gia Margolis, your local Sustrans Ranger about some more new developments on Harrogate's cycle network and some thoughts about where we could go next as a town.

The almost completed new Greenway from Hornbeam to the Showground and the Hollybank Woods path are already proving to be successful even though they are not officially opened. This is excellent news. On Sunday I took a group along the Greenway on to Clint then returned to Bilton Lane and cycled along to The Avenue. From there we cycled through Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and in to the Showground and on to Hornbeam Park. This route was about 17 miles with almost all of it on safe and good off road cycle paths. With the newly laid Beryl Burton we now have a fabulous network of cycle paths.

Observations:

The section from Bilton Lane to The Avenue is a mixture of good and very bad.

The path behind Sherwood Drive needs some maintenance

Sustrans Rangers could look at this.

The route from The Avenue to Sainsbury’s via Prospect Avenue and Morrisons is not signed.

These extended routes will provide a wonderful opportunity to attract local people to cycle to work, children and adults to cycle for pleasure. It could attract tourists to bring families to come to Harrogate with their bikes.

Following on from the LSTF perhaps officers could consider an application to LEP to get funding to create a post that would bring more tourists to the area, and support local businesses. Also to complete unfinished routes. We welcome the LSTF projects that will make these routes well known to local people.