Hambleden again

No messing about today. Nothing complicated or remarkable. Just a variation on a regular loop up through Marlow, Fingest, and Hambleden doing the usual stuff.

Even the variation wasn't much of one. In the past I've experimented with different routes home from Hambleden, but I've never tried the most direct one. That would be over the weir at Mill End then up Aston Lane to Remenham Hill, to join up with another regular route around Crazies Hill (yes, really). I think the only reason I've not returned this way before is that a couple of years ago I rode the reverse direction, down Aston Lane. In those far-off days it stuck in my mind as a long steep climb. It isn't though, and it made for a change.

The weather was a bit cold, but bright and sunny. We'd had a frost overnight, and there were still patches of ice around, but nothing to worry about. The Thames seemed very full, and the flow over the weir at Mill End was quite impressive.

It was nice to see plenty of other people out and about enjoying the day.

It's been great, and I've only done two rides so far in 2011, so plenty more to go.

Clarts

Definitions of "clarts" (noun) and "clarty" (adjective) in online dictionaries describe them as words used in Scotland and the North-East of England to mean dirt or mud. I've always used "clarty" more specifically for particularly sticky and messy mud. But I may be confusing "clarty" with "claggy". Either would be useful for the state of some paths on this morning's walk in Hodgemoor Wood (near Chalfont St Giles).

We had fun getting messy, followed by a pleasant lunch in the nearby pub.

There are comments on the web site from people who had got lost in Hodgemoor Wood because maps of the paths are lacking.This is one of the bigger areas of natural woodland in the Chilterns, with quite a mixture of ancient trees. It isn't huge though, so when we were reading up about it beforehand we had a chuckle at people who couldn't find their way around. It was our first visit, but we didn't see how you could get lost in a wood that's only a couple of miles across. It wasn't quite so funny as we made our second circuit through the claggy clarts looking for the car park.

The comments seem fair. A better map would be useful. Chastened, I checked on OSM when we got home. Some of the paths are shown, but not all of them. It would have been a good idea to trace and map our wanderings. Unfortunately I didn't. We'll have to go back.

Pickles and Hammond save the world

Tonight I will rest easy in my bed, secure in the knowledge that Eric and Philip (assisted by the mighty Greg Clark) are allowing Local Authorities to attract shoppers by setting competitive local parking charges, and allowing developers to provide as many car parking spaces as they want. They tell us that this will bring an end to drivers being unfairly penalised, over-zealous parking enforcement, and unsightly parking congestion. They also seem to think that it will improve the environment by encouraging people to drive into town centres instead of shopping out-of-town.

So, whoopeee!

They are spinning this as the end of the war on the motorist ("Today the Government is calling off Whitehall's war on the motorist".... says Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles. "This is a key step in ending the war on the motorist" says Transport Secretary Philip Hammond).

The spin is the most appalling nonsense, but presumably they think somebody out there is daft enough to swallow it. The reality (at least as parking charges go) is rather mundane.

This is the actual change made to the Planning guidelines on parking charges...

Before: As part of an overall approach on parking, covering both the local transport plan and development plan, local authorities should adopt on-street measures to complement land use policies. Car parking charges should also be used to encourage the use of alternative modes. The RTS should set out the context for parking controls and charges by each local authority. Within this context, local authorities should set out appropriate levels and charges for parking which do not undermine the vitality of other town centres. Controls over public parking (both on-street parking and in car parks) need to be backed up by adequate enforcement measures.

After: As part of an overall approach on parking, covering both the local transport plan and development plan, local authorities should adopt on-street measures to complement land use policies. Local authorities should set out appropriate levels and charges for parking which do not undermine the vitality of town centres. Parking enforcement should be proportionate

It also seems that parking enforcement need no longer be "adequate". In future it will be "proportionate", whatever that means.

If the political ambition of Pickles and Hammond is to go down in history as the government ministers that removed a couple of irrelevant sentences from section 13 of a 25-part document on planning guidance, then lets hope their ambition is realised.

Meanwhile these are still decisions for local authorities. The planning guidelines still say that local authorities should:

• use parking policies, alongside other planning and transport measures, to promote sustainable transport choices and reduce reliance on the car for work and other journeys
• give priority to people over ease of traffic movement and plan to provide more road space to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport in town centres, local neighbourhoods and other areas with a mixture of land uses

Existing guidelines from the Department for Transport on local authority parking (in place since 2008) say this....

The setting of charges for parking on-street or off-street in designated areas is a matter for the [local] authority...

Parking charges and penalty charges should be proportionate, so authorities should not set them at unreasonable levels...


Authorities should never use parking charges just to raise revenue or as a local tax...


When setting charges, authorities should consider the following factors:

• parking charges can help to curb unnecessary car use where there is adequate public transport or walking or cycling are realistic alternatives, for example, in town centres...
• charges should be set at levels that encourage compliance with parking restrictions
• charges can reflect the value of kerb-space...
  
• if on-street charges are set too low, they could attract higher levels of traffic than are desirable

Of course it could be that the government anticipates that local authorities are about to increase parking charges to cover some of their funding shortfall, and they are trying to ensure that their own hands are clean.

If that's not the reason, then apparently three government ministers think there is so little to worry about that they can spend their time tweaking a document to make it clear that local authorities have the freedom to do something that they can do anyway.

Maybe that should be reassuring - but somehow it isn't.

Longest ride of the year

There's nothing very special about riding an easy 21 miles on a Sunday afternoon, but it was pleasant enough for the first outing of the year. I went down the Jubilee river, then on to Datchet, and back through Eton and Eton Wick. On the way I located and mapped a few more of the local war memorials, but the real point was just to get out for a bit of a stretch. There were a few other cyclists around, and we shared a little bit of sunshine and some quiet roads.

I hope this won't rank as my longest ride of the year for very long, but just at the moment I'm proud to declare that I'm 20% ahead of schedule on my annual mileage plan. It won't last.

Review of 2010

Once again my track record against the year's cycling resolutions is a bit mixed. I achieved some of my goals, but missed more. Purely on the numbers I'm a bit disappointed with myself. Being walloped by a car back in October was definitely the low point of the cycling year. It's no excuse, but it was one of the factors in falling short on the numbers. The other factor was either my inability to set myself realistic targets, or my inability to achieve the targets I set myself. Either way, it doesn't really matter. What's important is that I've had some lovely days out on the bike, a variety of different experiences, and quite a lot of ground has been covered. Looking back over the whole of the year it has been thoroughly enjoyable, and I feel reasonably satisfied.

I knew that setting a goal of cycling 3,759 miles over the year was going to be ambitious, and I was absolutely right. In the end I covered 3,010 miles. That's a long way short of the plan, slightly more than I covered in 2009 (2,853), and slightly less than I covered than the year before (3,019). I'm plateauing at about 3,000 miles a year.

I wanted to reach an Eddington number of 50 in 2010. At the start of the year I didn't think that was very ambitious, but at the end of the year it stood at just 49 (i.e. I've ridden 49 rides of more than 49 miles since I started counting). Just one more 50 mile ride would have allowed me to put a tick against this one. To fall short by just one ride is a bit galling.

I didn't manage another 100 mile ride in 2010 either. My longest was 76 miles, but I did do half a dozen rides of more than 70 miles. I was particularly keen this year to clock up rides that were longer than 60 miles. I did better at that than I had in 2009, but not as well as I hoped - with 16 rides in 2010 of more than 60 miles compared to 10 in 2009

I did better than I planned on reaching famous churches. The idea here is to take a list of famous English churches, rank them by the distance from home, and ride to them in turn. Each time I reach one the next is a bit further away. Each year I seem to set my ambition a bit too low for the number of churches I reach. In 2010 I planned to reach the 40th, and ended up reaching the 50th furthest from home. Since I started this project it has proved to be one of my better ideas. Many of the churches are in pretty little villages, but not all. So it has encouraged me to explore areas that wouldn't otherwise occur to me, and taken me to some interesting places as well as helping me to gradually increase the length of my rides. I can't help feeling that the idea has run its course now though. To reach the next tranche would involve round trips of about 70 miles, and take me to places of no great interest, through busy road networks. I need an alternative for 2011.

I had a wonderful week cycling in the west of Scotland back in May. It was not the ideal weather, but I saw plenty of glorious scenery, met some lovely people and generally had a whale of a time. I had also intended to do at least one overnight trip with the bike in 2010, but I never managed to fit that in. On shorter trips I had plans to fill some of the local gaps in Open Street Map, and retrace more of the routes around London that Charles Harper charted in 1902. I've done a bit of both, but not as much as I would like. On the other hand efforts to locate Blue Plaques, old Milestones and local War Memorials have worked reasonably well as incentives to vary the short trips I take exploring  local byways.

On progress towards reaching the ideal height for my weight, the least said the better.

That leaves the question of what goals to set myself for 2011. My track record in setting and reaching annual targets in 2009 and 2010 is iffy to say the least. More importantly cycling has to fit around some significant family and work plans for 2011. For various reasons this is going to be a particularly difficult year to predict. So my current thinking is to go with a target of cycling 3,000 miles over the whole of the year, but otherwise to track short-term progress on the basis of a "project of the month". We'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone for sticking with my ramblings in 2010, and best wishes for 2011.

Fawlty Towers

View Larger Map

How appropriate to find the location of Fawlty Towers missing from Open Street Map.

The place where they filmed the exterior was not in Torquay at all. It was at Wooburn Grange Country Club between Bourne End and Wooburn Green. The familiar white building burnt down in 1991. It was demolished and replaced by private houses. I've used OS Streetview to add the roads.

There's more informsation here

Rode ten miles this afternoon. Well I say rode, but....

I took a quick turn over the winter hill loop after lunch. The road there and back was clear, but between Winter Hill and Cookham there was still a lot of snow and slush on the road surface.

It was a bit of a mess, and left the road slippery and lumpy so the bike was sliding around quite a bit. Last winter (when I was younger and more foolish) I rode in worse. Today I decided that discretion was in order, so I ended up walking and pushing for a mile or so.

Despite that it was good to get out. The ten miles has finally taken this year's total mileage over 3,000. That falls well below my plan for the year, but at least I can console myself that it's higher than I achieved in 2009, and there are still a few days left to go.

I also took the opportunity to try out the new helmet camera, but that wasn't a great success. I hadn't positioned it properly so I have just collected and downloaded about 40 minutes of video showing nothing except a stretch of tarmac just ahead of the front wheel. I'll have another try soon.