Water butt and waterbutt pump with hosenozzle works perfectly well for me – why bother with the mains at all? I do this all year round just using the collected rainwater. Very simple and easy…

6.drawing water, using a hosepipe, for domestic recreational use;

This should cover washing a bike I reckon.

Nah.

Riding a bike is recreational.
Washing a bike is just a necessary evil resulting from the above.

However, I live up North where there’s loads of the H2O … plus, I always use a bucket and sponge cos I can’t be bothered getting the hose out

If I have a tap on the end of my hosepipe and use it to fill my bucket just to save walking backwards and forewords, is that OK?

I usually just leave the tap running the whole time while I walk back and forth to refill my bucket. Saves me turning the tap on and off and on and off and on and off. This uses just as much water as a hosepipe, but wastes most of it. At least I’m adgering to the ‘rules’ though.

Washing a bike is just a necessary evil resulting from the above.

Nah, its a H&S issue as without washing/cleaning the bike will become unsafe 🙂