Following on from my blog of 11th August ( Windmills etc: Visual Amenity, What’s it for?) I must tell you of one of the highlights of our latest trip when our caravan came to rest in the Clent hills, in the Black Country: the place where the great wealth of our nation started to be generated from the 18th century onwards. From Coalbrookdale to climate change is such a small step but there is much still to be done to reverse this deadly drift, as G.K. Chesterton puts it, ‘before we go to paradise by way of Kensal Green’.
Having made the climb to Clent summit the views are magnificent, from city sprawl through to Housman’s ‘blue remembered hills’ of Shropshire, and of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. For us it was the view to the west which meant the most. Sixty miles away among the haze was our part of the world. At the top of this list was Hay Bluff, Black Hill and the line of the Cats Back with the Sugar Loaf insisting on being seen in the far distance. For such a comparatively easy walk this must be the most rewarding climb in the region.
Whilst taking in the contrasts of rural and industrial landscape I got talking to an elderly, sprightly gentleman who was a life member of the CTC. He had lived all his life in Sutton Coalfield and said he valued the contrasts of his region. Looking towards Hay Bluff, this veteran t recounted his cycle ride as a young man to Brecon with his fellow CTC members. The traditional meeting place was the Temple of Remembrance in the city centre, with an 8 am start on a Saturday morning. Instead of the route the crow might take from Clent, the cyclists route would be winding and lengthy. The first section was to Hereford and then out along the Brecon Road, crossing the river at Bridge Sollars and on to Hay-on-Wye from Madley via Hardwicke.
We both recalled the methods of cycling in large groups in the fifties and how the occasional vehicle was assisted in passing several dozen cyclists by making sure that there were ample gaps in the column for the overtaking car or lorry. A Tail Ender cyclist would warn of an over taker with the call, ‘Oil Up’, while a leading rider would call ‘Oil Down’ for one coming in the other direction.
Main road cycling in the fifties at weekends was rarely a problem, and my veteran friend told me that he was still riding on main roads up until the early seventies. By then the speed and volume of the traffic had reduced the pleasures of the open road while increasing the risk. I think cycling in some towns has now reached that point with added risk of being knocked down as a pedestrian by cyclists in pedestrian precincts!
Having passed through Hay-on-Wye, the Brecon YHA was reached just after 5pm. Returning by a different route on the Sunday ensured a varied, affordable and refreshing weekend for the cyclists of his generation. For the present generation of cyclists it is probably wiser to avoid busy roads as much as possible and support segregated cycle routes whenever possible.
This meeting so inspired Sian that she has decided that I should upgrade from my 1957 Dawes Clansman to something a bit lighter. I collect it, still a Dawes, from Master Craft Cycles of Hereford on Tuesday and we plan to make use of cycle routes beyond the reach of the car and lorry whenever possible. The car cycle rack has been retrieved from the shed ready for our next. Possibly the National Cycle Route along the Kennet and Avon Canal. See where a good view can end up.
Showing posts with label Cycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cycling. Show all posts
Sunday, 23 August 2009
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Popular Policies are Doomed!
Have you noticed that if ever something turns out to be popular, the powers that be will try to curb our enthusiasm? You name it, it’s been cut back or made more expensive once people see what a good idea something is. Peace, for example, usually has to be seen as an expensive thing to protect and usually has to be fouled up by some governmental idiot or two taking offence or taking liberties. But I digress.
University education was seen a good idea back in the sixties, so much so that quite generous grants were available for some of us of mature years together with some pretty flexible entry requirements.The latter might still be the case but the grants are gone, debts are the alternative, and degrees from anywhere other than Oxbridge or the Russell Group are rubbished, usually by people from such universities. The real underlying motive is resentment that all these ‘Johnny come Latelies’ are muscling in on their nice cosy elite and would rather only see clones of themselves running higher, or even higher and higher, education. Sharing their resources would spoil it for them, while they seek to spoil it for others by asking for higher and higher fees and hoping that not too many comprehensive types get in under the wire. Getting over it would be out of the question of course.
Legal Aid is always a popular idea with ordinary people but always under threat because people use it. In the late seventies the system was improved, became popular and has been the subject of more and more cuts ever since. Once upon a time we were encouraged to take our bikes by train. This was clearly a good idea because loads of people did it so very quickly leaflets started to appear stating the complicated restrictions and where fares had to be paid. This was just a holding operation while they abolished the guards van to be replaced by small cupboards where our newly created ‘conductors ‘ could hide when things got a bit overcrowded or, more usually, late.
There are many other areas where this British disease can be observed. Decent pensions, retirement at 65, housing improvement grant, mortgage interest relief, subsidised transport, civil liberties. At a lower level grants for energy saving and even bus passes are too popular and must either be restricted or preferably made meaningless lotteries. All these ideas are apparently too expensive for the, allegedly, 4th richest economy in the world.
Is it just me but are their no good ideas which will be kept despite their popularity? Now that we are heavily in debt as a nation are we still so rich? Do we have that many great things worth defending? The National Health Service would be at the top of most people’s list, but even that is constantly under threat, as are our traditional liberties and freedoms. These don’t come cheap either. If there is no great list of great achievements to glory in, then what are we defending? Someone somewhere still thinks that there must be. Do these people have safe jobs, good incomes and final salary pensions I wonder? They probably are and will also make sure that we buy some nice new nuclear weapons on the ‘never never’. ‘Some new helicopters that work? Now that’s not quite so easy old boy’.
Dacier ( I feel better now)
University education was seen a good idea back in the sixties, so much so that quite generous grants were available for some of us of mature years together with some pretty flexible entry requirements.The latter might still be the case but the grants are gone, debts are the alternative, and degrees from anywhere other than Oxbridge or the Russell Group are rubbished, usually by people from such universities. The real underlying motive is resentment that all these ‘Johnny come Latelies’ are muscling in on their nice cosy elite and would rather only see clones of themselves running higher, or even higher and higher, education. Sharing their resources would spoil it for them, while they seek to spoil it for others by asking for higher and higher fees and hoping that not too many comprehensive types get in under the wire. Getting over it would be out of the question of course.
Legal Aid is always a popular idea with ordinary people but always under threat because people use it. In the late seventies the system was improved, became popular and has been the subject of more and more cuts ever since. Once upon a time we were encouraged to take our bikes by train. This was clearly a good idea because loads of people did it so very quickly leaflets started to appear stating the complicated restrictions and where fares had to be paid. This was just a holding operation while they abolished the guards van to be replaced by small cupboards where our newly created ‘conductors ‘ could hide when things got a bit overcrowded or, more usually, late.
There are many other areas where this British disease can be observed. Decent pensions, retirement at 65, housing improvement grant, mortgage interest relief, subsidised transport, civil liberties. At a lower level grants for energy saving and even bus passes are too popular and must either be restricted or preferably made meaningless lotteries. All these ideas are apparently too expensive for the, allegedly, 4th richest economy in the world.
Is it just me but are their no good ideas which will be kept despite their popularity? Now that we are heavily in debt as a nation are we still so rich? Do we have that many great things worth defending? The National Health Service would be at the top of most people’s list, but even that is constantly under threat, as are our traditional liberties and freedoms. These don’t come cheap either. If there is no great list of great achievements to glory in, then what are we defending? Someone somewhere still thinks that there must be. Do these people have safe jobs, good incomes and final salary pensions I wonder? They probably are and will also make sure that we buy some nice new nuclear weapons on the ‘never never’. ‘Some new helicopters that work? Now that’s not quite so easy old boy’.
Dacier ( I feel better now)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)