The Scaresbrooks' Cycling and Gardening and... blog » Cycling

Flowery cycle racks

Alec'n'Val — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 17:06:27 +0000

What’s not to like about this bike rack – much more attractive than the usual toast racks so they’d look good in a garden as well as outside the shops. They’re called Plant Locks and are available in red or green from Front Yard Company.

More regular cyclists to school

Alec'n'Val — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:15:29 +0000

Sustrans has just announced that, last week, leading up to Team Green Britain Bike Week, over half the youngsters (127) at Belvidere Primary School, Shrewsbury, cycled to school every day. The school’s head teacher also made his 30 mile commute on two wheels. Parent governor Debbie Clee cycled in with her two children and said, “It is fantastic to see so many bikes in school.”

Sustrans has worked with the school since October 2009. Kim Williams, Sustrans Bike It officer for Shrewsbury has been working with the school, teachers, pupils and parents to encourage children to get to school under their own steam. Back in October 2009 there were around 12 regular cyclists each day – now there around 25 children who regularly cycle to school each day.

Let’s hope they keep it up.

Trafford: First Connect2 scheme in England completed

Alec'n'Val — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:03:21 +0000

Sale-Stretford pedestrians and cyclists have a newly surfaced route thanks to lottery money. The Bridgewater Way scheme has been opened after a week of events along the canal. This new route provides a practical and accessible path for commuting and for leisure, highlighting the use of the historic canal towpath as a sustainable travel route for Trafford, and has the distinction of being the first Connect2 scheme in England to complete.

Street art

Alec'n'Val — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:24:11 +0000

What’s not to like about this street art? Take a look at Carlton Reid’s May blog entry.

Cycle/cycling insurance review

Alec'n'Val — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 12:53:22 +0000

We’ve ploughed through policies and squinted at small print to compare cycle and cycling cover for ourselves, so we thought we’d share the information in an insurance review. There’s info for you to compare specialist cycle and cyclist policies for everyday, holiday, commuter, leisure, triathlon and other competitive riding, for theft, damage, personal accident and liability. NB for UK residents.

Cheshire Cycleway video

Alec'n'Val — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:43:34 +0000

If you want to see what the countryside is like on or near the Cheshire Cycleway, have a look at the following video. The Cheshire Cycleway (regional cycle route 70) is a signed circuit, using mostly back roads to travel 175 miles through the best countryside in Cheshire. See for yourself from the video.

In the making of this video I discovered a good source of music. See Free Music by DanoSongs.com

Recycling prices for mobiles

Alec'n'Val — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:48:01 +0000

There are so many different places to cash in your old mobile that we’ve added a quick comparison page.

Shoppers aren’t all motorists

Alec'n'Val — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:59:58 +0000

There’s a lot of fuss in Congleton about car park charges being introduced that will ‘kill the town centre’, but a study of some local shopping areas in Bristol showed that traders overestimated how many shoppers arrived by car. They thought 41%, but in fact it was only 22% - the rest walked, cycled or used the bus. And although the traders wanted better car parking facilities because they thought it would attract customers, in fact many shoppers wanted better pedestrian facilities and traffic calming.

Additionally, the non-car borne shoppers visited several shops on each trip, and went shopping more frequently, so it could be argued that they are more frequently exposed to impulse buys.

There’s more about how this and how cyclists make better shoppers on Copenhagenize.com – the Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog.

We do all our shopping by bike – it’s surprising what you can fit into panniers.

Warm hands for cycling?

Alec'n'Val — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:38:20 +0000

Just come across a possible solution – actually one for keeping hands dry but that’s half the battle. Washing up gloves.

I’d forgotten that my 3-layer approach to fending of frostbite in the fens (outside lifting carrots and in sheds sorting spuds) included work gloves over washing up gloves over Damart thermal gloves.

Next time I venture out on the bike I think I’ll try thermal gloves plus washing up gloves plus Buffalo mitts for extra warmth and to stop teenagers pointing at me any more than they already do.

Cold cyclists read this

Alec'n'Val — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:30:35 +0000

Further to my research into warm toes etc, I found a couple of useful sites yesterday. One is the Guardian’s Bike Blog for 5th and 6th Jan, where a lot of people have contributed ideas. The other is about riding in snow (including the clothes for it) from the appropriately named Nutty Cyclist.

Have decided to stay on foot for now – although the black ice might have us over before long.