Sir, – Like Noel Brown (August 31st), I also recently had occasion to transport a bicycle from Dublin to the west coast. The solution I arrived at was for the bicycle to transport me.
Planning a quiet, scenic route from Swords to Sligo was time consuming, as I had to allow for junctions on minor roads not always being signposted adequately.
A posting I consulted on boards.ieeven suggested a GPS unit would be near-essential for navigation.
Signs specifically for cyclists covered only around 2.5 per cent of my route, and even these signs, which make no reference to actual places, would have been unintelligible to me had I not happened to have a map of the Kingfisher Trail.
Once planned, my journey was very enjoyable, with the exception of my transit through Ratoath, where I had to choose between possibly breaking my bike (by using the hazardous cycling facilities provided) and breaking the law (by not using them).
Painting footpaths pink and deeming them cycling facilities creates hazards for cyclists and pedestrians alike, as well as imposing delays on cyclists, so I checked the Ratoath Local Area Plan 2009-2015 after my trip to see if I could discover anything that would explain this poor use of public money.
What I established was that it is the stated policy of Meath County Council “to promote and facilitate the development of cycling and walking facilities in Ratoath”.
In these straitened times, it is somewhat depressing to see resources ploughed into facilitating the development of cycling facilities that do little to facilitate cycling. Other measures would offer better value for money.
My own trip, for example, would have been much easier to plan if an online journey planner and coherent signage existed to help cyclists identify quiet, direct and attractive routes through urban, suburban and rural areas. – Yours, etc,