Grenoble
I went to France last weekend.
I took the bus to Victoria, and cycled through London to St Pancras.
In Paris, I found a road going south from Gare du Nord. It was big and full of traffic, and the bus lane was marked no cycling.
Conveniently, a cycle lane was provided on the pavement. Mostly, the pedestrians kept out of it.
It continued at the traffic lights.
Paris was quite well signed. The cycle lanes got their own signs in green.
Further down the road, the cycle lane rejoined the bus lane. Then I got to a big roundabout and was left to fend for myself. I followed another cyclist, without lights, without hi-vis, into the traffic.
Hardly any of the cyclists had lights or hi-vis. I saw quite a few riding the Velibs.
Then I got to Grenoble. Apparently Grenoble is one of the flattest cities in France. In the middle of it, there is the Old Town. Then there’s miles of newer suburbs round it. Out towards the University, along the river, joggers and lycra-clad cyclists exercise. You can tell where you are by the bikes. In the old town in market day, cyclists trundle up and down on bikes with saddles too low and crates bungeed to the rear.
I think this one is a supermarket basket. Out towards the suburbs, and in the university, the bikes look like those I expect to see in English towns. Not many mountain bikes. Along the river, nothing but thin tyres and lycra. In a more expensive suburb, we only saw one bike.
We mainly walked around the old town. I didn’t like to take too many pictures of bits of tarmac, but I was struck by the way the cycle facilities were ubiquitous. Every no-entry sign had a “Sauf cycles” added. Every one-way street had a contraflow. Cycle lanes or routes were marked on all the roads.
I don’t know what it was like in the rest of Grenoble. This?
Then I went back through Paris and came back to England and hurtled into the London traffic. In the morning between Waterloo and Vauxhall I raced a couple of commuters. There’s nothing like being in the middle lane of fast-moving traffic for keeping the speed up ^_^. I noticed a cyclist with an enormous pile of linen bungeed awkwardly on the back of her bike, and another trundling along with a substantial trailer following behind. The awesome green cyclists have gone from Lambeth Bridge.
Then I came back to Southampton. Grenoble has a MetroVelo scheme - there were yellow metro-velo bikes around the place. People were riding them. I thought I took a picture but apparently I didn’t. Paris has its Velibs. Southampton had OYbikes but they are gone. Poor Southampton.