Fancy a free trip to France? It’s Bike Week in June, and to celebrate SeaFrance are offering free travel to any foot passenger crossing *with a bike* between June 16–24. They operate on the Dover–Calais route, so you’d have to get to Dover first…
- by car (bike in the boot or on a bike rack)
- by train (http://www.atob.org.uk/Bike_Rail.html is a good summary of bike restrictions)
- by bus, if you have a folding bike (cheapest: advance book national express funfares for Southampton-London and London-Canterbury separately)
- by bicycle (what’s 150 miles either end of your journey? 
Anyway, for more info you can visit the website, sailandcycle.com.
As part of the World Naked Bike Ride, there will be a ride in Southampton on Friday 8 June this year!
From the website:
Riders keen to participate should contact southampton [at] bikenaked.org for information or join the wnbr-southampton Yahoo group. We will have WNBR stalls at Environmental Rock at The Hobbit pub in Bevois Valley Road on April 28th, and during the Southampton University Environment & Ethics Week on April 25th at the University Highfield campus. This is a perfect opportunity to find out more about the ride and to get involved!
The highway code is preparing for a new version, as it regularly does, and the current version before parliament for consideration contains the phrase “cyclists should use cycle facilities where possible” - regardless of whether convenient or even safe. There’s a petition up on the number 10 site requesting that this clause be re-thought.
The CTC have been campaigning for the last year to get the draft changed during the consultation phase before it was handed to parliament. The response to the consultation left it as is. It went to parliament end of last week, and people have been asked to renew their activities to get it changed.
While in many cases cycle lanes provide an excellent provision, there are sometimes reasons why you might choose not to use the cycle lane:
- vehicles parked in it
- Too narrow
- Potholed / poor surface
- You feel safer / more visible nearer to the middle of the lane
- Full of slower cyclists, possibly cycling two-abreast and conversing
- It’s night time and the off-road cycle lane isn’t adequately lit
- The pavement cycle lane is overgrown / there are overhanging branches
- … etc
Some cyclists fear that if the new wording goes into the highway code, cyclists will feel obliged to use cycle lanes even where they are less safe than the main road. Cyclists believe/hope that cycle lanes are intended to be a provision to make cycling safer and easier for cyclists, in order to encourage cycling, not a way of keeping cyclists out of the way of motor traffic.
If you are interested, sign the petition. Hell, write to your MP, go along to Southampton cycling campaign on the second Monday of the month, cycle on the roads wearing an on ‘on yer bike’ t-shirt. Whatever.