Canal Towpath "let me see your permit" aggressive rambler content

I use Regents Canal in Town occasionally, but during Rush Hours it’s rammed full of angry Cyclists going full chat whilst weaving in/out of pedestrians..

We are our own worst enemy sometimes.. 🙄

Maybe if the roads were safer, they’d use them instead. Motor vehicles are our worst enemy always. 🙁

I think you are missing the point Stoffel, many cyclists using the towpath treat pedestrians as some car drivers treat riders on the road. A shared space needs to be shared.

The Canal & River Trust website says it is for England and Wales, yet presumably British Waterways also included Scotland. Who looks after the Scottish waterways?

Shared space is rubbish..everyone hates it. Walkers one side of canal..cyclists on t’other

stilltortoise- no issues in Scotland because of the different access rights up there.

Q: “Can I see you permit?”
A: “Can you swim?”

Ladies and Mentlegen, I give you The McLovin Fake ID Generator[/url]

tell him to phone the police.
then ride off.

This is my standard response to any have-a-go-heroes who tell me that it’s illegal to ride on the footpath. Apart from in the Peak District, where’ll I’ll give them a lecture on the Kinder Trespass and how I’m carrying on the tradition which won walkers like them the right to access.

I used to have a nice little ride down the river Lea towpath, but rarely bother with it now, the towpaths are too busy with walkers, runners (often listening to music) and other cyclists.
Regents Canal in London – the horror, the horror!

whilst weaving in/out of pedestrians..

If pedestrians had their wits about them a bit and didn’t wonder all over the place then we probably wouldn’t have to weave about so much 😛

Next time, ask him if he’s heard about the latest plans from the Council, who had been given a grant from the EU to drain the canal and tarmac the bottom to create an uninterrupted high speed cycle path, or ‘bicycle motorway’ to encourage green commuting 😀

no issues in Scotland because of the different access rights up there

Neither British Waterways nor the Canal & River Trust were solely about access though. I realise this is slightly off-topic, but I was curious about who looks after Scottish waterways if British Waterways is no more. I realise I could ask Google 😆

Shared space is rubbish..everyone hates it. Walkers one side of canal..cyclists on t’other

And your real world solution is…………….?

alex salmond

whilst weaving in/out of pedestrians..

It never ceases to amaze me how pedestrians complain about cyclists on pavements but then, given shared space, how many of those same pedestrians will quite willingly walk right down the middle of the lane marked “Cyclists” thus inviting as much confrontation as possible…

Shared space is rubbish..everyone hates it. Walkers one side of canal..cyclists on t’other

I assume walkers get the towpath side. After all we are gnarly off roaders.

Next time, ask him if he’s heard about the latest plans from the Council, who had been given a grant from the EU to drain the canal and tarmac the bottom to create an uninterrupted high speed cycle path, or ‘bicycle motorway’ to encourage green commuting

That’s actually a brilliant idea!

I used to work in Paddington basin which meant towpath from the station to the office. Some days I rode, some days I walked.
People riding often seemed utterly incapable of dealing with the crowds of pedestrians – still riding at full tilt, no covering of brakes, swerving instead of stopping when faced with oncoming pedestrians… etc – just looking panicked when they had to make any kind of manoeuvre…
As an experienced cyclist, I agree it was tricky with the sheer numbers of pedestrians but the very obvious solution seemed to me to just slow up until space was available around the walkers, stopping if necessary…

I do think there’s more training required on how to cycle in either heavy traffic or in shared space – you wouldn’t need new infrastructure if people rode with more skill.

And at the same time, driver training and pedestrian training might help! As always, conflict comes from ignorance rather than anything else

Agreed on the ‘shared space being rubbish’ suggestion.

Rather than build proper infrastructure we tell commuting cyclists to use a relatively narrow towpath and act all surprised when there’s conflict.

the subject will never go away, how many times has the “three lane footpath” debate come up? or pedestrians who bury their head in the phone debacle. while out riding on a massive bridleway the other week we were ticked off by a group of ramblers for not having a bell. the fact they had moved out of the way of their own accord because they saw us coming from a mile away (litarally! it was a wide open field?) didn’t seem to have registered? it made us think for 5 seconds about the need to over warn a group of walkers who are a) stood still at the time b) facing your direction when they have clearly spotted you? c) were not causing an obstruction when we got to them? and then we laughed….. 😆 it’s not like we were tramming it at the time.

Yes, shared space is crap.
The sooner we ban bikes from the road the better.
😀

The solution is to be considerate to everyone.
Costs nowt, cheap, makes the world a happier place.

Used the towpath around Tod/Hebden for years.
Everyone does, cyclists, fishermen, ramblers and locals.

If you accept it’s going to be busy, be polite and relax, stop and smile, it’s fine.

some people will never be happy…just chill

You get dickheads in all walks of life. Have had no trouble in years from cycling, always slow down and am polite to walkers. On Saturday I saw a couple of dog walkers on a bridleway ahead. I was cycling slowly as I was carrying a large backpack and a fishing rod, and when around 20m away from them I slowed to a stop, put a foot down and said “Excuse me please”. The woman grabbed hold of her dog (which was stood right next to her, and I was stationary 20m away anyway) and shrieked “For God’s sake you need to slow down you’re going to kill someone!”. I started to laugh and pointed out I was standing still, her husband then shouted “slow down mister, you’re going way too fast”. She then proceeded to tell me that she was having a lovely day and that I had just totally ruined it for her. After them refusing to believe that I was standing still, and getting a load of abuse, I snapped, told her she was absolutely **** mental and rode off. Perhaps I should have bitten my tongue, but I’ve ridden that bridleway for the last 20 years and have never had such a reaction in my life. Basically 99.9% of walkers are fine, but there will always be irrational **** in every walk of life.

I’m sorry but I can’t see why we should be agressive to other users of the Canal Paths..

If they’re agressive then FairyNuff, but IME all I’ve encountered are either
a) a bit annoyed that they’ve been “buzzed” quite a lot by dicks on bikes and are a bit pissed off
b) happy to move over if you approach at walking pace and say “Hi, excuse me, Thanks”
c) have earphones on and jogging/walking and you startle them by tapping on thier shoulder..

Live and let… yadda yadda

You get dickheads in all walks of life

This

I was out on a family walk in Richmond park yesterday and as a semi-regular cyclist there I am very aware of the lack of awareness of pedestrians to cyclists. We were crossing the road and very wary of the MAMIL brigade ensured we had lots of space and time to cross (Mum’s with buggies etc). With a vast gap between the next set of riders we crossed the road to then hear (from a long long way away) some complete knobjockey in his all in one Bianchi outfit screaming telling us to get out of the f***** way etc etc. We finshed crossing the road and i counted a FULL 12 seconds before he cycled past. Some people just need an excuse to shout, they probably have shitty lives so i wouldn’t worry about it.

What has happened to the road rule of keep left
Not on a towpath it seems you have to use special senses to work out where the Sheep like Pedestrians will go even when they have seen you 500 yards away .

I was also following a lady on a bike the other day and she knew I was behind but carried on in the middle of the path I waited for a grassy bit to open up and passed her to which she said dont you have a bell
I guess if i had tinkled she would have sided up

Have just bought a bell so we will see if it makes like easier

No rants against fishermen with their rods extending into the towpath ?

Visitors should use common sense

ie rule #1, don’t be a dick.. for most of us it’s easy.

No rants against fishermen with their rods extending into the towpath ?

Told a chap once as I approached not to worry, I reckoned I could bunny hop it : ) he panicked for a mo.. was joking. Towpath on match day? Ride another route or deal with it. No different to driving along a sportive route imo.

Q: “Can I see you permit?”
A: “Can you swim?”

The correct reply : )

What has happened to the road rule of keep left

In fairness the rule of the road for pedestrians is keep right.
I think the rule of the road for towpaths is keep the other person between you and the canal 🙂

Just read a few bits of the consultation that the Rivers and Canals Trust did on towpath sharing recently.

Everyone hates cyclists on towpaths apparently, even other cyclists. 🙁

I had two people yesterday tell me I needed a bell…I was unfailingly polite to everyone I needed to pass, but apparently this counts for nothing. I was thinking about getting one of those boxing bells on the handlebars 😀

I’m always amazed at how walkers are obsessed by bells (or the lack of them). Thing is they really don’t want you to have a bell, they just want you to not be there, and not having a bell is the only thing they can think of that gives them some ammunition with which to have a whinge at you.

No doubt they’d complain if you had one of these instead http://www.airzound.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

So why not have a beel and defuse that particular argument? Perhaps then we would discover what the real gripe is.

Call me a bike snob, but I’m not putting a bell on my uber-expensive carbon road bike. Same goes for pedal reflectors.

rule #1, don’t be a dick

I have long thought that all laws should be repealed and replaced with this one all-encompassing one.

Granted it might be difficult to work out the penalties depending on the level of dickheadedness, but I’d be prepared to be the arbiter of that if it’s OK with everyone else.

Call me a bike snob, but I’m not putting a bell on my uber-expensive carbon road bike. Same goes for pedal reflectors.

why are you riding your uber-expensive carbon road bike on a shared used path….

So why not have a beel and defuse that particular argument? Perhaps then we would discover what the real gripe is.

Because on ringing your bell they will either

a. Jump out of their skin and otherwise act as if you’ve just tried to frighten them to death.

b. Completely ignore you and then, after your polite “excuse me” grumpily mumble “shouldn’t you have a bell?”

or rarely

c. wait till you’ve come past and then make sarcastic comments like “ooooh, a cyclist with a bell”.

You just can’t win.

agree with that…
not everyone has the complete picture on everything…as in

The Highway Code does not stipulate that bells must be used, but rather suggests that cyclists: ‘be considerate of other road users, particularly blind and partially sighted pedestrians, letting them know you are there when necessary, for example by ringing your bell.’

nuff said…it’s a myth that is drummed into us all at birth becuase bike shops have to fit it …read all the rules here

Cycling and the Law

“Haven’t you got a bell?’

“Yes, it’s in my pants, you pervert.”