Cycle Reading to Heathrow

email hidden said:

Hi,
I work the London side of Heathrow and thought cycling the
journey in the summer sometimes might be less stressful than the drive
however the A4 looks menacing - is this so? And is there a quieter
route?
Thanks

I've cycled a couple of sections. The bit around Twyford is quite
pleasant and leafy. From Slough to Brentford is fast, wide, dusty and
not pleasant, but actually not too scary if you're happy to cycle fast
and assertively because there's plenty of width for the cars and
lorries to avoid you.

There was another question about the A4 a while back, check Google for
the thread.

POHB said:

I've cycled a couple of sections. The bit around Twyford is quite
pleasant and leafy.

what are those red triangles with bicycles on em about ? ... A4 is
quite a fair stretch of road & i'm usually in a hurry when round there
so I've never lingered long enough to check it all out, but there's
definitely a route there in the bushes somewhere

Jeremy Parker said:

Triangular signs are warning signs, but the ones with bikes on are
**not** to warn motorists of bikes. After all, bikes might be
anywhere on any road, and obviously you don't need the warning where
bikes are common, only when they are fairly rare.

The sign is to warn motorists, and, I suppose, cyclists, of **bike
facilities**.

If you don't believe me, look in the Highway Code. Actually, the
Highway Code, with its anti cycling attitude, gets it slightly wrong,
and claims the sign means, "cycle route ahead". That's obvious
nonsense, since every street, and every road, except for a few
motorways, is a cycle route.

that was pretty much my point 🙂
I'm of the impression that they are an attempt to scare cyclists off a
perfectly good and fast road onto these 'facilities' about which I
know nothing ... other than that I could if I felt the need purchase a
map to discover where they may go.

Found a Salisbury to Staines route which includes my route for the
start of the ride. Then follow the A315 and A30 inot Brentford -
there's a kinda cycle lane to the side of the road. A collegue from
New Zealand was telling me that there ar cycle paths next to motorways
there! Now that would be good.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

A collegue from
New Zealand was telling me that there ar cycle paths next to motorways
there! Now that would be good.

FSVO "good" - do you really want to ride next to 6 noisy stinking lanes of
traffic?

cheers,
clive

Quoted message said:

A collegue from
New Zealand was telling me that there ar cycle paths next to motorways
there! Now that would be good...

That reminds me of a trip I made from Amsterdam to Arnhem. Having
arrived at Schipol airport, unpacked and reassembled the bike, I just
followed the road signs for Nijmegen, mounted above a pedestrian
crossing, as I didn't have a map. The only problem with that was these
road signs were blue, and very large. Some blue lights (on a car) soon
put me right - I was, err, "how you say?..On a freeway?". I've yet to
find any other motorways with pedestrian crossings!

--
MatSav