Milton Keynes Redways

[jack the lad]

I had to stay overnight in Milton Keynes to attend a meeting the next day. Having just acquired a new Brompton I thought I would take it with me and get some early morning exercise riding on the Redways. Got the map, planned a route, set off and...god knows where I got to.

What a potentially brilliant cycle network, completely ruined by crap signposting. Trying to use local cycle networks is like trying to use local bus services i.e. don't bother if you don't have local knowledge.

Where signposts do exist they point places so obscure that they don't even appear on the official route map. If I want the City Centre how am I supposed to know if I need to head for Nags Bottom or Windy Hole? Sometimes you can see the signposts for the roads - City Centre straight on - but then there's no cycle path going that way. Half the time I picked a path to try I ended up at a bus shelter (no timetables or route information, as usual).

At one point I gave up and cycled along the road. For about 100 yards. Bloody Murderers.

Why can't we get cycling facilities right in this country?

 

[Kirstie]

Yes the redways are a nightmare. The other week when I rode into work (it's a 110 mile round trip so I don't do it very often), I ended up honking the last 3 miles up V10 with its many roundabouts, rather than the stupid secuitous and frankly crap cycleways. If you're not a local don't attempt them without a good map! It's certainly not intuitive and because of the lack of a central point or any visible landmarks navigation is a nightmare. there's also the fact that they are poorly lit, are lined with thick bushes so it doesn't feel safe, and are covered with broken glass and other crap

It is indeed a very strange place.

 

[Mr Phoebus]

I've noticed that all the cycling network signage by me has been turned around to point in a false direction. (most probably bored yoofs)
And there ain't even a war on, either.

 

[jack the lad]

there's also the fact that they are poorly lit, are lined with thick bushes so it doesn't feel safe, and are covered with broken glass and other crap

You're right about the lighting and bushes. I did try to use them for an evening ride on a previous trip, but they are just too isolated to feel safe. Nice idea, but back to the drawing board. Strange how we feel safer in the dark next to traffic!

They are quite usable in daylight though and I thought they were very good surfaces by the standards of other town's cycle paths. All the ones I used were clean & well maintained, even cleared of fallen leaves, but just no idea where I was going.

 

[Kirstie]

All the ones I used were clean & well maintained, even cleared of fallen leaves, but just no idea where I was going.

Oh well that's good to know at least. The ones up V10 have large piles of rubble dumped on them and all kinds of detritus. They wind their way through the most bizarre of Mk 'suburbs', which feel very isolated as if they should have tumbleweed blowing through them.

 

[GrahamG]

Milton Keynes, I hate that city.

There's an interesting report from years back on the safety of the redways - they've got a much higher accident/injury rate than cities with comparable cycling levels but no segregated routes.

 

[beancounter]

I cycle into MK via Fenny Stratford and then on to the redways parallel to V7, straight into central MK.

It sounds straightforward but took a few trips at first to get it right. It wasn't at all obvious from the redways maps and I don't recall seeing any signposts.

Surface quality is mixed to say the least, but at least I can avoid the roads.

bc

 

[Baggy]

Ah, the redways. I grew up just on the edge of MK and me and my brother used to know the routes like the backs of our hands. When they were first built they were brilliant - smooth, well-lit, and fabulous if you didn't have a car - used to love belting down Railway Walk from the Windmill to Newport Pagnell (actually, I still do ).

Sadly I can't remember my way round any more and end up getting hopelessly lost when I go back to see my parents. I particularly like those mysterious bits that lead you to a completely undeveloped scrubland where they obviously intended to build houses, but haven't quite got round to it...(these are probably the bits near the V10, but who knows where I was at the time). Maybe they'll tidy them up when they build the second half of MK.

There have been some isolated incidents of assaults/kids stringing wire across etc over the years, but I reckon the biggest danger is starving to death trying to find your way home.

Still, the fact they exist at all means one friend has recently started to cycle to Tesco once a week instead of taking her car, so hurrah for that.

 

[Madcyclist]

I must confess to living a few miles from Milton Keynes and being a patron of Phil Corley cycles. I've never managed to find my way round the cycle paths and resort to the roads without too much success either LOL.

There are some excellent rides around the Brickhills nearby though.

 

[derall]

Phil Corley Cycles syphoned off far too much of my income when I lived in MK. Brilliant shop. I loved living in MK, mainly because of the Redways (although this was about fifteen years ago). Lived in Stoney Stratford and worked at the Hospital. Knew my way around the Redways and could usually navigate them quickly and easily. Even so there would be the odd time when I'd have to stop and think about just where I was

 

[Madcyclist]

Maybe it's just down to my poor sense of direction then, the 'H' and 'V' roads are so alike i regularly take the wrong ones.

Probably explains why I always preferred time trials to road races too !!

I used to ride on the chain gangs with members of the North Bucks, A5 Rangers and MK clubs with Phil Corley, even though he had retired from racing for a few years he was still an animal on the bike !!