Author Topic: National Byway (Read 3998 times)

Ruthie · « **on:** 21 May, 2017, 09:55:58 am »

The website seems to be quite shiny and up-to-date. Has the Byway had a boost? I thought the project ran out of steam a few years ago?

perpetual dan · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 May, 2017, 12:38:58 pm »

Yes, very shiny. A bit blank round me though.

Ruthie · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 May, 2017, 02:46:41 pm »

And round me, at least on the web site. Which is odd, as the best of the roads I rode yesterday were signposted as 'Byway'.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 May, 2017, 11:22:29 pm »

The National Byway is nothing to do with byways though, is it? Most of it's country lanes, I thought. Or was that your point? I'm not quite sure what the idea of the NB is really that makes it different from the various NCNs.

Ruthie · « **Reply #4 on:** 22 May, 2017, 12:19:42 am »

I thought NB took you to specific places of interest along sparsely trafficked routes? NCN being a more a to b affair?

Kim · « **Reply #5 on:** 22 May, 2017, 12:35:36 am »

Indeed. I think the idea of the byway is that it's specifically on-road (and therefore suitable for all bikes, if not all riders), rather than the perilous shark-infested shared-use silly-Sustrans-gated bollocks we've come to expect from the NCN.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #6 on:** 22 May, 2017, 08:23:08 am »

Depends on perspective. AFAICT NB is a scenic, touristic loop, not going anywhere for the sake of getting there but simply to enjoy a journey by bike with sightseeing. Whereas NCN varies wildly: smooth, direct ex-railways, country lane meanders, muddy bogs, short sections of main road, urban streets, and plenty of gates – I think it's got pretty much everything apart from actual motorway.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #7 on:** 22 May, 2017, 08:48:15 am »

I can't see this:

without thinking "Hovis".

Wobbly John · « **Reply #8 on:** 22 May, 2017, 10:58:11 am »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 22 May, 2017, 08:48:15 am

I can't see this:
without thinking "Hovis".

They sponsored it originally iirc.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #9 on:** 22 May, 2017, 11:07:23 am »

Peter · « **Reply #10 on:** 22 May, 2017, 12:19:26 pm »

This thread got me interested. So I looked at their site and at the areas covered by their maps - no North West England at all! Maybe it's in preparation.

Cyclops · « **Reply #11 on:** 22 May, 2017, 12:52:15 pm »

Is there any way to see where these routes go without paying £4.50 for one of their paper maps?

Regulator · « **Reply #12 on:** 22 May, 2017, 12:57:48 pm »

Quote from: Peter on 22 May, 2017, 12:19:26 pm

This thread got me interested. So I looked at their site and at the areas covered by their maps - no North West England at all! Maybe it's in preparation.

No East of England either....

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #13 on:** 22 May, 2017, 01:07:32 pm »

Quote from: Cyclops on 22 May, 2017, 12:52:15 pm

Is there any way to see where these routes go without paying £4.50 for one of their paper maps?

Only very generally as far as I can work out.
http://www.thenationalbyway.org/routes/the-national-route/

yoav · « **Reply #14 on:** 23 May, 2017, 08:23:16 am »

Unless there have been some recent developments I am unaware of, the national byway project has been in indefinite suspension if not actually defunct for the last 20 years. My part of the world, north cumbria and south west Scotland seems to be particularly well served given the number of byway signs around here. The brown signs, however, have faded to a light beige.

Plug1n · « **Reply #15 on:** 23 May, 2017, 08:44:55 am »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 22 May, 2017, 01:07:32 pm

Quote from: Cyclops on 22 May, 2017, 12:52:15 pm
Is there any way to see where these routes go without paying £4.50 for one of their paper maps?
Only very generally as far as I can work out.
http://www.thenationalbyway.org/routes/the-national-route/

Interesting - if you superimpose where the most people live on that map there is a very low coincidence. Swansea, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, London to name a few.

Now that may meet their definition of "byway" but begs "what's the point?"

The About page includes "When completed, the Byway will be within one hour’s journey of 65% of the population. It also provides an ideal destination for thousands of international cycle-tourists who visit the UK each year."

Obviously "one hour" means by car, train or plane.

andrew_s · « **Reply #16 on:** 23 May, 2017, 02:14:29 pm »

Quote from: Cyclops on 22 May, 2017, 12:52:15 pm

Is there any way to see where these routes go without paying £4.50 for one of their paper maps?

Some of it appears on https://www.opencyclemap.org/, in purple & labelled "NB"

Wobbly John · « **Reply #17 on:** 23 May, 2017, 03:01:30 pm »

Quote from: andrew_s on 23 May, 2017, 02:14:29 pm

Quote from: Cyclops on 22 May, 2017, 12:52:15 pm
Is there any way to see where these routes go without paying £4.50 for one of their paper maps?
Some of it appears on https://www.opencyclemap.org/, in purple & labelled "NB"

Similarly on Cyclestreets: https://www.cyclestreets.net/.

Round here, the council did much more signage for the National Byways than for the National Cycle Network. I haven't noticed anybody following the National byway though.

inappropriate_bike · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 May, 2017, 06:33:28 am »

Quote from: Wobbly John on 23 May, 2017, 03:01:30 pm

I haven't noticed anybody following the National byway though.

We have! We cycled around some of the bits near Oundle this weekend.

Apart from nearly being killed by a long trailler carrying overhanging farm gate sections when the driver pulled in to avoid a head-on collision with another car it was lovely.

Richard Fairhurst · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 May, 2017, 02:53:36 pm »

Hoping to have some more news about the National Byway real soon now. Watch this space.