Anyone ever considered moving abroad for the better cycling experience?

[vickster]

To be fair it is not confined to motorists, some cyclists are knobs as well.

I was on the cycle path (my bad, hate it) this morning, I could hear a couple behind me chatting away for about half a mile, so they eventually come past and I say " I'll take the favour back and sit on for a bit of a breather if that's ok" to which the female cyclist replies "No, we are having a private conversation!"

Why didn't you just wave them past? Or stop so they had to pass?

 

[HMS_Dave]

To be fair it is not confined to motorists, some cyclists are knobs as well.

I was on the cycle path (my bad, hate it) this morning, I could hear a couple behind me chatting away for about half a mile, so they eventually come past and I say " I'll take the favour back and sit on for a bit of a breather if that's ok" to which the female cyclist replies "No, we are having a private conversation!"

Sit on what?

 

[wafter]

Cities aren’t all bad, I still never tire of my 14 miles circular route in and out of Oxford. View attachment 539378
View attachment 539379

This is certainly all very nice, however one has to remember that Oxford is the second or third most expensive place to live in the country in terms of absolute house prices, and I think the most expensive in terms of house prices relative to earnings. It's also touted as a "cycling friendly" city, which as anyone who's tried to use the provided infrastructure will attest is a joke in its own right - even before comparison to far better developed "cycling friendly" cities in other european countries such as Utrecht, Copenhagen, Seville..

I love the city but (cycling aside) the prices are ridiculous; especially when you look at how it's fraying around the edges; empty retail units, a large homeless population, low median wage, relatively high crime in some areas.

Getting back to the general rant earlier, if you look at house price trends across the nation over the past few decades you can see how wealth is increasingly being concentrated in a few favoured locations (London, Oxford, Cambridge, Bath, Edinburgh..) as evidenced by rampant house price inflation, where the quality of life / prospects / desirability of other more deprived areas slides (the midlands, north, various bits of Wales and Scotland); as reflected in falling house prices.

As the country as a whole goes south those with money are flocking to a decreasing number of relative safehavens, driving up property prices and leaving everyone else to rot.

 

[Brandane]

Ask The Fonz

 

[Paulus]

Yet the casualty rate on UK roads is lower than France or Spain. Only Sweden, Norway and Switzerland have safer roads in geographical europe than the UK. Perception is a strange thing.

France is far form an idyll for cyclists. Hell, convicted drink drivers can still drive Voitures sans Permis, and they usually still do so while pithed.

The only roads I've cycled that I think were genuinely safer than UK roads - as opposed to some rose tinted impression - was Amish country in Pennsylvania, where the roads are broad and straight and visibility is as good as ever, but there were few cars.

Plenty of horses attached to wagons though. Have to watch out for the horse door dah.

 

[DRM]

I drove down to Tuscany a couple of years ago for a cycling holiday. Driving through Florence I spotted a very old guy with a walking stick on the kerb by a Zebra crossing, I stopped and gestured for him to cross. He looked at me as if I was demented and the noise of the car horns behind was incessant. The old chap refused to cross so I reluctantly carried on my way still with blaring horns behind reminding me of my transgression. When I related my tale to my Italian hosts I was told in no uncertain terms that the traffic stops for no one.

You'd have probably been rammed from behind for doing that around Naples, the worst place I've ever had the misfortune to drive round.

 

[avecReynolds531]

I wonder whether I would consider joining our continental brethren sometime in the future, seeing as how cycling is something I do so much of - it would make sense to reside in a country where the set-up is more favourable to cyclists.

Only every day

I've enjoyed brilliant cycling here in Britain and encountered considerate, aware and courteous drivers. I've also experienced cycling in other countries too.

Aside from better infrastructure and greater use of the bike as everyday practical transport, one thing that may be important is a country having a heritage/ love/ reverence for cycling as a sport.

This was especially noticable in Belgium where bike racing is hugely popular & respected: I've taken my Dad across for a couple of cycling breaks there, & his amazement at how road traffic treated us was heart warming: "I can't get used to them giving way to us."

I found this also around the St. Etienne area in France - historically a centre of bike & bike parts manufacture - and in the Alps and Pyrenees. Again there's the acknowledgement of the history of bike racing there, but, importantly with a geographical scale that the UK does not have: one side of the Iseran is a 47.5k (over 29 and a half miles long) climb, the highest road in France is 2802 metres (nearly 9200 feet).

I do feel that the spectacular beauty of the mountains and the physical effort required, and with all the Tour de France history, also has a positive effect on how we're treated by road traffic - there's definitely been my experience with plenty of space given & countless shouts of encouragement.

If you've been to the top of the Galibier or any of the classic climbs, you'll have memories for all life - a truly rich experience.

So, we can say that there are places where people see riding a bike as a noble thing - inevitably helping provide a better cycling experience.

 

[BigMeatball]

You'd have probably been rammed from behind for doing that around Naples,

They would have stolen your watch and wallet as well.

Worst place ever.

 

[Milkfloat]

Whilst I would not move to a country just for the cycling, I have rejected a move to a country because of the cycling. I have travelled extensively and also lived in a quite a few different countries (including the Netherlands, which is not quite the cycling Mecca it is made out to be). It is true to say that attitudes to cycling and attitudes of cyclists vary considerably across the world, the one place I refused my company to move to was Australia, it was cycling that played a very large part in my refusal.

 

[BigMeatball]

Too dangerous because of all the kangaroos crossing the roads?

 

[Milkfloat]

Too dangerous because of all the kangaroos crossing the roads?

If only it were the only the wildlife that cyclists had to deal with.

 

[Welsh wheels]

Whilst I would not move to a country just for the cycling, I have rejected a move to a country because of the cycling. I have travelled extensively and also lived in a quite a few different countries (including the Netherlands, which is not quite the cycling Mecca it is made out to be). It is true to say that attitudes to cycling and attitudes of cyclists vary considerably across the world, the one place I refused my company to move to was Australia, it was cycling that played a very large part in my refusal.

I've heard that attitudes to cyclists are not great in Australia

 

[dodgy]

You very rarely see any positive press about cycling in Australia. I get the impression Australia is stuck in the 1970s, and not the good bits of the 1970s, either.

 

[Blue Hills]

They would have stolen your watch and wallet as well.

Worst place ever.

I do like Naples, must go back, but it is true that even off a bike (wouldn't like to cycle there) you do have to have your wits about you.
Truly appalling crime problem as well.

As a wandering student a dodgy looking guy outside a bar in Naples asked me if I wanted a job on a ship.

 

[Blue Hills]

also lived in a quite a few different countries (including the Netherlands, which is not quite the cycling Mecca it is made out to be).

Care to say more on the Netherlands?