Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => On The Road => Topic started by: vince on 20 May, 2008, 08:23:59 am
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For me it has to be the A632 (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=a632%20chesterfield%20matlock&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wl) out of Chesterfield to the junction with the road to Beeley Moor. Be not deceived, on the aerial view of the map it looks lovely, in reality it is several miles of long drag that pulls your speed down. You climb about 750 feet in 4 miles, it is the fastest way of getting out toward Matlock, but you pay for this in the traffic flashing past at 60mph. One of the problems is that there are a lot of double white line sections and so the cars really squeeze past and back in again sharpish to avoid on coming traffic.
There are many roads like this, but it is the juxtaposition of beautiful hills and a hellish traffic experience that seems to make this one worse >:(
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The A420 between Swindon and Oxford. A congested 25 miles of bad-tempered driving. The single-carriageway parts are worst, but the dual carriageway bit by Kingston Bagpuize holds the dubious honour of England's fastest (car) speeding ticket, where a twat in a borrowed Porsche did 172mph.
I was literally run off the road by a convoy of pikeys travellers just before the split bridge near Shrivenham. If there hadn't been a layby to dive into, they'd have crushed me for sure.
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A38 past the airport into exeter. For all intents and purposes it's a motorway, don't do it kids ::-)
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A66 between Darlington and Middlesbrough. A dual carriageway swarming with massive wagons transporting cars from Teesport, divvies in Corsas racing each other and some of the most dangerous junctions I can think of.
It was also the quickest route to work - which I took only once. The second quickest route involved about a mile of the A66, and was unavoidable if I wanted to get to work on time.
Thankfully I don't work in Stockton any more.
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The A420 between Swindon and Oxford. A congested 25 miles of bad-tempered driving. The single-carriageway parts are worst, but the dual carriageway bit by Kingston Bagpuize holds the dubious honour of England's fastest (car) speeding ticket, where a twat in a borrowed Porsche did 172mph.
I was literally run off the road by a convoy of pikeys travellers just before the split bridge near Shrivenham. If there hadn't been a layby to dive into, they'd have crushed me for sure.
That's a horrible road. Quite a few of the loops I ride from the house cross the A420 or use a small stretch of it to join up quiet roads, usually at some point between Kingston Bagpuize and Cumnor. Once, while in the central box, after crossing one carriageway, waiting for the next carriageway to become clear, some twat in a stupid sporty car moved from the inside lane to the outside lane (even though remainder of the inside lane was free) cranked up the speed and buzzed me with the horn blaring. Nice!
My least favourite bit of road is Turl Street in Oxford. Exceedingly badly paved at one end, a high kerb that seems to be aggressively anti cyclist at the other end and full of delivery trucks on the wrong side of the road aiming straight at you.
Fun in the morning. I cycle it every day when going to work!
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I would suggest the N8 from Valetta to Mosta - or certainly the first 5-8 miles out of Valetta. I've never seen grown men so close to brown shorts... ;D
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From when I was in England, it would have to be the A580 towards St.Helens. Deadly.
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Hardknott
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Lawrence Road in Liverpool (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=lawrence+road). It may look innocent on the map, but in reality it must be the silliest road in the entire city. There's a school midway along, so school-run time is terrifying - cars lurching everywhere, kids and parents stepping out without looking. During non-school hours it's full of bored chavvy kids. I've had sticks, stones, and bottles chucked at me, and once a half-brick to the temple that left me groggy for the whole evening. Stop to debate the issue and you're in for a kicking.
The drivers are confronted with a puzzling series of traffic calming measures, including one-way chicanes. This seems to come as a shock to them every time, and they will abruptly swing left or right, or sometimes just roar through the no-entry sign. Use of turn signals seems to be thought a sign of weakness, and drivers avoid it at all costs, and burst acceleration is the order of the day, with extreme braking at each speed bump, which are roughly fourty yards apart.
They park on both sides (often swinging in from the other side of the road to land a parking space, regardless of oncoming bicycles), and have a nasty habit of opening doors without looking at all. I must get 'nearly doored' at least twice a week on that road, with only wide road positioning saving me. The poor visibility means that anybody leaving a side road gives up on actually checking that the road is clear, and just swings out at random.
There's usually a big dog wandering about the place without a lead, and always a few big men with pitbulls in chest-harnesses outside dirty-looking pubs. And don't even get me started on the road surface - the speed bumps are illegally steep, and one has an enormous pothole between it and the rest of the road, which is dangerous if taken at speed.
I've heard it described by another cyclist as 'Indian Territory'.
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Ouch, that sounds nasty. I used to live just round the corner in Hartington Road and never had anything chucked at me. One time a scally said to me "wotcha looking at yer knob head" and another time someone offered to sell me some drugs, but that was about the worst of it.
Incidentally, Hartington was a pretty dangerous road to cycle on. For those of you that don't know, it's quite a wide road (at the Sefton Park end), straight and about half a mile long. I lived there before the speed bumps were fitted, and cars used to travel down there at 80mph+. Police chases were frequent. One time I was driving down there and had my wing mirror taken off by a speeding motorist coming the opposite way in the middle of the road. I wrote my car off a few days later when I fell asleep and crashed into a parked 7-series beamer so it didn't really matter.
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- A48 immediately after the Tesco control in Chepstow
- rue de Quimper, Brest
- A44 out of Aberystwyth
It's purely coincidental that they're all uphill ;D
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Two bits. Both from when I was working at Upper Heyford
A4095 - Rock of Gibraltar to Bunker Hill. Just a climb, and not very long but something very awkward about it.
A4095 - The hill coming into Long Hanborough from Bladon, not a particularly bad hill, but constant, "Use the <insert obscenity here> cycle path!" grief from car drivers. Regardless of whether I was cycling up or down the hill.
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A38 past the airport into exeter. For all intents and purposes it's a motorway, don't do it kids ::-)
A30, actually, old chap. The old road is now quite a good cycle route, except that the provision for cyclists going west, where the old road joins the new, is poor.
A week ago I was marshalling the EWCC open 10 a little further up by Honiton.
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Railway Terrace North, New Herrington.
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The A65 between Settle and Skipton ,not the widest of roads lots of heavy goods now use it as part of the main route from Scotland to the M1 in west yorkshire ,also lots of wagons moving limestone from the dales quarries .To top it off its a major tourist route from west yorks to the dales and lakes with all that entails caravans etc all trying to get to their destination asap.I have only ridden it once and never again .There are a couple of back road options that offer lovely quiet rides to the same destinations and yet I see lots of cyclists riding this road and I think for gods sake just a get a map out and look will you ???
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NCN 16 in Southend. (http://nuttycyclist.co.uk/cycling/farcilities-ncn16.htm)
It was a lovely road before they put the path in.
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I would have to say the A41 from its junction with the A5 through to Whitchurch as it is so, so narrow in places and very busy with big trucks.
I cycled along it for about 2-miles after leaving the 24-hour truckstop at Prees Heath (2 miles South of Whitchurch) and took my life in my hands as the trucks came past me very close indeed.
This is the same road as used by part of the Anfield 100 and was once used on Audax UK's inaugural 600k - Windsor-Chester-Windsor.
How times have changed over the years!
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I would have to say the A41 from its junction with the A5 through to Whitchurch as it is so, so narrow in places and very busy with big trucks.
I cycled along it for about 2-miles after leaving the 24-hour truckstop at Prees Heath (2 miles South of Whitchurch) and took my life in my hands as the trucks came past me very close indeed.
This is the same road as used by part of the Anfield 100 and was once used on Audax UK's inaugural 600k - Windsor-Chester-Windsor.
How times have changed over the years!
I think the Windsor Chester Windsor used that road throughout the years it ran. I did the penultimate WCW in 1994 and rode it then.
This end of the A5 (also near the A41!) has been designated part of the LCN+ (London Cycle Network).
Car dealerships alternate with shops, there are intermittent bus lanes, aggressive motorists and traffic lights every 300 yards. Not nice.
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I would have to say the A41 from its junction with the A5 through to Whitchurch as it is so, so narrow in places and very busy with big trucks.
I cycled along it for about 2-miles after leaving the 24-hour truckstop at Prees Heath (2 miles South of Whitchurch) and took my life in my hands as the trucks came past me very close indeed.
This is the same road as used by part of the Anfield 100 and was once used on Audax UK's inaugural 600k - Windsor-Chester-Windsor.
How times have changed over the years!
The A41 around Prees Heath is still used for time trials - I've seen them out a couple of times and I felt frightened for them.
and myself- one lorry driver was incandescant with rage that I waited behind one guy at 20mph until there was a safe place to overtake - so much that he was tailgating my car very apressively - funnily enough we both pulled into the truckstop at the Raven (I assumed he wanted to pick a fight) but he wouldn't get out of the Cab of his lorry!
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Mine has to be the road from Elland to Brighouse, past the resevoir. Gorgeous views but the truck drivers going to/coming from Elland (and the tile works) seem to feel that a single carriage is the proper place to do motorway speeds, and as there is grass banking up either side, as a cyclist you have no where to go when they do!
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A4 from the end of the Cromwell road, then on to the Syon park junction. The first section is motorway in all but name, the next section is under the motorway (lovely smell), followed by a drag into a permanent headwind up to the Syon Park turn off.
The inside to outside lane gymnastics required in heavy traffic are such fun.
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The A420 between Swindon and Oxford.
That was exactly the road I thought of! It must be right up there in the league of bad roads.
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That stretch of the A4074 on the Willy Warmer from Cane End to the Goring turn off (B4526). Not my favourite.
No problems going the other way at the end of the Severn Across, but then it was Sunday at 5.30am.
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That stretch of the A4074 on the Willy Warmer from Cane End to the Goring turn off (B4526). Not my favourite.
Ah - the 13 bends of death (http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/features/article716874.ece). I used to drive on it regularly 25 years ago. Only cycled it once. I can't think of anywhere worse, apart from the A1.
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Mine has to be the road from Elland to Brighouse, past the resevoir. Gorgeous views but the truck drivers going to/coming from Elland (and the tile works) seem to feel that a single carriage is the proper place to do motorway speeds, and as there is grass banking up either side, as a cyclist you have no where to go when they do!
I've never cycled it but I know it. Is the tile works still there?
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I can't think of anywhere worse, apart from the A1.
A14 Girton to Bar Hill (or even further if you survive that far).
A47 Acle to Great Yarmouth.
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This road (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=blacko&sll=53.872874,-2.222672&sspn=0.02682,0.080338&ie=UTF8&z=13) in East Lancs was named as Britain's most dangerous road (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6235058.stm) last year by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme.
I cycled on that road often between the ages of 13 and 18. That's 12 years ago, so was quite a bit quieter but still had all the blind bends and summits that make it such a dangerous road.
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I haven't been riding enough in UK to name one there.
But my pick for worst road a minor road on Majorca the MA-3334 continuing into
a unnamed road south between Arta and Manacor.
We rode it several times on Majorca Brevets.
It was potholes with gravel and scarce parts of asphalt.
It costed me a headlight and another rider cracked a frame
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I would have to say the A41 from its junction with the A5 through to Whitchurch as it is so, so narrow in places and very busy with big trucks.
I cycled along it for about 2-miles after leaving the 24-hour truckstop at Prees Heath (2 miles South of Whitchurch) and took my life in my hands as the trucks came past me very close indeed.
This is also used on the Mersey 24.
A lot of roads I've ridden on this thread and some of them are real nasties. Well, it's actually the way people drive their cars along them that make them so unpleasant.
Is the Raven cafe still a 24 hour cafe? I thought that it only stayed open for 24 hours for the Mersey 24.
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The A65 between Settle and Skipton ,not the widest of roads lots of heavy goods now use it as part of the main route from Scotland to the M1 in west yorkshire ,also lots of wagons moving limestone from the dales quarries .To top it off its a major tourist route from west yorks to the dales and lakes with all that entails caravans etc all trying to get to their destination asap.I have only ridden it once and never again .There are a couple of back road options that offer lovely quiet rides to the same destinations and yet I see lots of cyclists riding this road and I think for gods sake just a get a map out and look will you ???
I'll second that!
I lived in Settle once and worked in Long Preston at the Rohan store.
There are some great lanes alongside the road of certain death (A65)
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This road (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=blacko&sll=53.872874,-2.222672&sspn=0.02682,0.080338&ie=UTF8&z=13) in East Lancs was named as Britain's most dangerous road (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6235058.stm) last year by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme.
I cycled on that road often between the ages of 13 and 18. That's 12 years ago, so was quite a bit quieter but still had all the blind bends and summits that make it such a dangerous road.
There seems to be a different 'most dangerous road' named about every six months. That was certainly one of them.
I get pigged off, because there are no dangerous roads - just dangerous behaviour from motorists.
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I get pigged off, because there are no dangerous roads - just dangerous behaviour from motorists.
Why does that rile you so much? If road design/layout wasn't contributory factor then we wouldn't have accident "blackspots" would we?
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If driver behaviour was modified to take into account road conditions, we wouldn't, either...
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Hence you get what were once (dons petrolhead hat) "interesting" roads at the NSL dumbed down to 40mph to cater for the incompetent, drunk and distracted. This makes them incredibly dull to drive, although if people observe the limits, they should be safer for other road users, even though that probably wasn't the main reason.
I don't know the 13 bends of death, but the A346 from Swindon to Marlborough has a reputation for carnage. It's a mostly straight Roman road with lots of deep hidden dips. Despite the flashing LED signs, I still frequently see people overtaking when there is no way they can see oncoming traffic.
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That stretch of the A4074 on the Willy Warmer from Cane End to the Goring turn off (B4526). Not my favourite.
Ah - the 13 bends of death (http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/features/article716874.ece). I used to drive on it regularly 25 years ago. Only cycled it once. I can't think of anywhere worse, apart from the A1.
It features at the end of the Upper Thames as well. One can either do 2.4 km on the 4074 and then take to the boondocks, or do the full-fat 11.1 km on the main road, in the dark, on Bonfire Night. It is, ah, interesting...
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As long as no chavs actually start aiming rockets at you, cycling on Bonfire Night is always interesting. You can imagine you're on the Ho Chi Minh Trail and stuff :)
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On LEJoG, we twice dismounted through sheer fear.
One was this short section (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=351240&y=253350&z=4&sv=351240,253350&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf) of the A49, where the A417 joins it and before we could turn off onto the B road, and the other was here (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=374685&y=400565&z=4&sv=374685,400565&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf)
where trying to start a fully-laden tandem on an upslope with fast traffic coming from the right and big bastard lorries overtaking as though you weren't there was a lycra-soiling experience.
This latter could easily have been avoided if only we had used the footpath from Monkton across the golf course.
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A30 in Cornwall :o
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A30 in Cornwall :o
Betjeman beat you to it!
http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/John_Betjeman/16972 (http://www.poetryconnection.net/poets/John_Betjeman/16972)
And the corner's accepting its kill...
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Mine has to be the road from Elland to Brighouse, past the resevoir. Gorgeous views but the truck drivers going to/coming from Elland (and the tile works) seem to feel that a single carriage is the proper place to do motorway speeds, and as there is grass banking up either side, as a cyclist you have no where to go when they do!
I've never cycled it but I know it. Is the tile works still there?
It was the last time I went down there (about 6 months ago, just before we moved to flatter North Yorks)
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The Right at Roundabout off the A1 to Great Gonerby services is a bit of an adrenaline boost.
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My LeJOG Horror Story was the A74 from Carlisle to Gretna across the Metal Bridge.
There was so much debris in the hard-shoulder that I thought I was going to get tangled in something strange-shaped and spikey. That is, more strange and spikier than the Windcheetah that was conveying me.
If only I'd had the detailed OS maps then that I have now - there appear to be some most excellent alternatives.
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The A720, Edinburgh by pass in 1994 on the Grand Triangle was my worst ever experience.
It's been illegal to cycle on there for several years now. But at least they have put up some signposts on the ring road so that you can use that instead..
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Almost all of the long, flat and featureless roads that seem to prevail throughout Lincolnshire.
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Teignmouth-Torquay A379 - It's bendy, narrow, hilly and in summer busy. Rode it several years ago and it still stands out as distinctly nasty.
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Farley Hill, Luton to Caddington. About a mile and a half.
Starts off with four traffic islands/pinch points, then narrows as it goes under the M1, then there's a stretch of twisty country lane with an NSL before you get to the vlllage. Grim.
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Farley Hill, Luton to Caddington. About a mile and a half.
Starts off with four traffic islands/pinch points, then narrows as it goes under the M1, then there's a stretch of twisty country lane with an NSL before you get to the vlllage. Grim.
Dave - there are far worse bits in Luton than the stretch up to Caddington (where I live!). I'll admit the road is less than smooth especially at the top, but for pinch points, try going along Sundon Park Road in the rush hour. Coupled with the interesting driving habits of the locals, that is very grim!
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If it's worse than Farley Hill-Caddington you're welcome to it!
The only riding I've done up at that end of Luton is on my MTB in the hills inside the A6/A505/B655 triangle - park near the church in B-le-C and there's a fairly decent 20 mile loop I've worked out.
And for 'less than smooth', I give you the road between Woodside Animal Farm and the A5, which I'm positive is some sort of unmarked Vauxhall suspension test track.
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The only one I really avoid round here is the A249. Any of it.
The A251 can be a bit hairy. Often very fast, no overtaking opportunities and not quite enough room for 2 cars and a bike.
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And for 'less than smooth', I give you the road between Woodside Animal Farm and the A5, which I'm positive is some sort of unmarked Vauxhall suspension test track.
Agreed - I haven't come across such a long bad stretch as that, anywhere else in the UK. It's part Beds County Council & part Herts responsibility - but both have ignored it for resurfacing for years. However, if you want 3rd world potholes in very posh areas, cycle round some of the residential roads of Harpenden. I think I might start a new topic once I've dug out my camera.......
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A1073 into Spalding. Most roads don't bother me, but that one is just the wrong width to encourage overtaking bikes when it's not safe, in the face of oncoming traffic. Finally found the alternative minor road along the river Welland this year.