Regents Canal Towpath

[Morat]

Without wishing to start another cyclists vs boaters flamewar...

does anyone have any experience of the Regents Canal and the towpath conditions?

There seems to be some friction

http://road.cc/content/news/158682-petition-asks-google-maps-stop-routing-cyclists-along-busy-regents-canal-towpath

 

[magnetman]

Ah its Google doing it. Didn't realise that but it makes sense.

 

Interesting thanks for the link to the article

 

 

"Canal and River Trust, which manages the Regents Canal, points out cyclists should give way to pedestrians when using the towpath, as the more vulnerable path user."

 

 

They need these chaps to tell of the cyclists

Edited July 27, 2015 by magnetman

[patty-ann]

Thats an awful lot of users every hour..no wonder there is concern

[KarlosMacronius]

As a boater who uses the regents canal and a cyclist who cycles along it I have two opinions;

As a Boater: its fine but at rush hour there are too many fast cyclists (I just don't walk my dog between 5-7pm) and on sunny weekend it gets absolutely rammed (I can believe 500 users per hour and would say sometimes more!) but I don't mind it being busy, it is central London after all, if it really bothered me I could move.

As a Cyclist: The surface isn't the smoothest in the world (being a mix of slabs, block paving, concrete and tarmac.) but it is narrow, especially under bridges where the decreased head room renders half the towpath unusable. There aren't many places it could be widened. Its especially difficult (traffic wise) around locks as many of them have limited clearance between the balance beam and nearby buildings. There are too many fast cyclists willing to overtake where its unsuitable or go through bridge holes without ringing a bell.

 

There is some friction.

[magnetman]

As a boater who uses the regents canal and a cyclist who cycles along it I have two opinions;

As a Boater: its fine but at rush hour there are too many fast cyclists (I just don't walk my dog between 5-7pm) and on sunny weekend it gets absolutely rammed (I can believe 500 users per hour and would say sometimes more!) but I don't mind it being busy, it is central London after all, if it really bothered me I could move.

As a Cyclist: The surface isn't the smoothest in the world (being a mix of slabs, block paving, concrete and tarmac.) but it is narrow, especially under bridges where the decreased head room renders half the towpath unusable. There aren't many places it could be widened. Its especially difficult (traffic wise) around locks as many of them have limited clearance between the balance beam and nearby buildings. There are too many fast cyclists willing to overtake where its unsuitable or go through bridge holes without ringing a bell.

 

There is some friction.

Good comments

 

I nearly had a bike through the window of the boat at Commercial Road Lock. He came steaming under the bridge towards the lock and assumed a pedestrian in front of him was going to step out the way which he didn't. the cyclist took evasive action and hit the lock bollard. Bike and rider almost hit my window. No damage and he got back on and cycled off. To say there is friction is to state the truth.

Bikes aren't going to disappear so my advice to elderly or infirm people or those with small children is use parks rather than towpaths its safer.

[bargemast]

As a boater who uses the regents canal and a cyclist who cycles along it I have two opinions;

As a Boater: its fine but at rush hour there are too many fast cyclists (I just don't walk my dog between 5-7pm) and on sunny weekend it gets absolutely rammed (I can believe 500 users per hour and would say sometimes more!) but I don't mind it being busy, it is central London after all, if it really bothered me I could move.

As a Cyclist: The surface isn't the smoothest in the world (being a mix of slabs, block paving, concrete and tarmac.) but it is narrow, especially under bridges where the decreased head room renders half the towpath unusable. There aren't many places it could be widened. Its especially difficult (traffic wise) around locks as many of them have limited clearance between the balance beam and nearby buildings. There are too many fast cyclists willing to overtake where its unsuitable or go through bridge holes without ringing a bell.

 

There is some friction.

 

 

It's them fools making the bad name for all the careful, polite and normal towpath cyclers that are slowly passing pedestrians, children and animals while ringing their bell to let them know that they are behind them, the ones that know how to share a towpath with other towpath users.

 

Peter.

Edited July 27, 2015 by bargemast

[peterboat]

Good comments

 

I nearly had a bike through the window of the boat at Commercial Road Lock. He came steaming under the bridge towards the lock and assumed a pedestrian in front of him was going to step out the way which he didn't. the cyclist took evasive action and hit the lock bollard. Bike and rider almost hit my window. No damage and he got back on and cycled off. To say there is friction is to state the truth.

Bikes aren't going to disappear so my advice to elderly or infirm people or those with small children is use parks rather than towpaths its safer.

Reading my soundings CRT have stated that pedestrians have right of way over cyclists so maybe its up to CRT to police it a radio 2 presenter was collered by a bobby in the park so maybe a few high profile you are nicked sunshine would do it. It is a path for all but primarily it is for boaters after all some times we do have to moor up

 

Peter