Cycling congestion. Lea Valley, Easter Sunday.
There's certainly scope for mass cycling in London. But off-road routes like these are not a practical reality in Greater London. Which is why cycling isn't going anywhere as long as highway engineers and councils prioritise on-street vehicle parking at the expense of the convenience and safety of cyclists, as long as the Met continues to indulge bad driving and regard traffic law as a minor policing priority, as long as even such simple and rudimentary matters as signing and cycle parking are grossly neglected and marginalized, and as long as a substantial minority of London drivers get away with driving in a reckless, threatening and dangerous manner and abusing such few cycle facilities as there are. (And, I should add, as long as the theme tune for cycling organisations remains Always Look On The Bright Side of Life.)
And if that band of merry cyclists were heading for the London Borough of Waltham Forest via Lea Bridge Road, which is a couple of hundred metres ahead of them, they would shortly all have had the thrill of sharing this superb off-road pink cycle lane. (Left of the continuous white line is for pedestrians.)
