Tag: Aberdeen
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Merry Christmas from the bike path
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King Street cycle path competition
Last week, on behalf of the Aberdeen Cycle Forum, I launched a design competition for a cycle path on King Street in Aberdeen. Out of all the cities in Scotland, Aberdeen was the only one not to apply for Sustrans Community Links Plus funding this year which is specifically for infrastructure projects like this. The…
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Sunday at the beach
Elizabeth was invited to a birthday party today at Laser Tag which is by the beach. We don’t go to the beach very often because it’s a bugger to get to by bike but we survived the traffic to make it there in one piece. To be fair, all the motorists were very good and…
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It’s 4C and I’m hot
I love our Saturday bike rides to Highland Dance for Elizabeth followed by lunch at Newton Dee. My bike told me it was 4C: But I got hot from the exercise. I feel so happy after a bike ride. We’re so lucky to live somewhere we can cycle all year round. I love feeling the…
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When no one comes to your talk
Yesterday I gave a talk at the Aberdeen Science Centre to, er, 6 people. That’s embarrassing enough as it is but 3 of the 6 people were Daniel, Elizabeth, and Ben. The other 3 were staff at the centre. I won’t give up my day job for paid speaking gigs just yet. My talk was…
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Street art
I saw this fantastic street art in Aberdeen yesterday. I think it’s new because I haven’t seen it before. It’s on Justice Mill Lane near the junction with Bon Accord Terrace.
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Bike paths for all demonstration on 9th September in Aberdeen
The new bypass for motor vehicles – the AWPR – is set to open soon and I posted recently about the attempts to make up for the absence of cycling provision in the new road by organising a cycling event where you cannot take a bike. After a lot of bad publicity the event was…
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I think our transport planners are stuck in a 1970s time warp
I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry about this article – Is this the worst cycling event EVER? They’ve built a new ring road exclusively for motor vehicles around Aberdeen which is about to open but somehow they were allowed, in the 21st century, to build it without any provision for cyclists. Indeed cyclists…
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The weekly yield
This is what I picked from my allotment yesterday. There is more I could have picked but didn’t, like kale, swiss chard, spinach, beetroot, and potatoes. The tomatoes are some kind of tiger variety and are meant to look stripy. I’m really happy to get them because a couple of months ago the plants looked…
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Broad Street is open to buses
Broad Street is open to buses again after several months of closure while construction work was carried out. I was there yesterday and took some photos of the new design: Can you see what’s wrong with the new design? It’s not clear where the road ends and the pavement begins. There’s no kerb. It’s all…
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Recap of the Sustainability Festival in Aberdeen
I had a great day at the Sustainability Festival in Aberdeen yesterday. I was there with Hoss, my new e-cargo-trike, and lots of literature from Cycling UK. The very lovely Fiona from Cycling UK also came to lend a hand. I was amazed by how many people had not heard about the campaign for a…
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Aberdeen Sustainability Festival
I’m representing Cycling UK at the Sustainability Festival in Aberdeen on Saturday. The festival is a celebration of sustainable living and a first for Aberdeen so I’m not 100% sure what to expect. There’ll be lots of wonderful produce from local farmers and also green community organisations like Aberdeen Climate Action and Cycling UK. I’ll…
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Bikes and mikes
I gave a talk at the monthly climate cafe last night about my petition for a bike path on Union St. It started badly. The microphone was too short and in my attempt to adjust it I dropped the clicker to advance my slides. When it hit the floor the back came off and the…
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Pedal on Parliament 2018, Aberdeen
It was the Aberdeen Pedal on Parliament today. The Pedal on Parliament is a demonstration for safe cycling infrastructure throughout Scotland. The main event was in Edinburgh on Saturday but there were two smaller events, one in Aberdeen and the other in Inverness. It’s the fourth year running for Aberdeen and we had 80-100 people…
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Aberdeen City Council to report on the bike path for Union St petition
Yesterday I got to speak at the Operational Delivery Committee at the Aberdeen City Council to argue the case for a bike path for Union Street. This is following on from the petition I submitted in February. It was initially meant to be discussed by the Petition’s Committee in March but this meeting was cancelled.…
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Pedal on Parliament Aberdeen 2018
When: Sunday 29th April at 11am Where: Starting at Rubislaw Terrace Gardens and cycling along Albyn Street, then Union Street and finishing up at The Town House on Broad Street. Pedal on Parliament is an annual event to promote bike-friendly cities in Scotland. The Scottish government wants to increase rates of cycling but money has…
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Emotional attachment to a place and good bread
Have you ever felt an emotional attachment to a place or even a landscape? A feeling of belonging when you go there even when you’ve never been there before? I feel that way about Scotland and to a lesser extent, England. It puzzles me a bit because the environment I grew up in was so…
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The Beast from the East
We haven’t been as badly affected as other parts of the country by the extreme weather. We’re close to the sea which always helps to moderate the temperature but we also haven’t had the huge snow drifts they’ve had elsewhere. No one is panic buying food and it hasn’t been particularly cold. That said, we’ve…
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First day of spring
I’ve never seen so much snow outside our front door before. Aberdeen is looking gorgeous this morning for the first day of spring. I flew back to Aberdeen from Nice yesterday afternoon and I’m very lucky to be here. All other airports in Scotland were closed and all BA and Flybe flights in and out…
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Bike path for Union Street
Which of the following two photos do you think looks better? Union Street without a bike path: Union Street with a bike path: The second photo is an artist’s impression produced by Cycling UK. It was a year ago last month that I discovered the city council had no plans for a bike path through…
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