Reaching the time to turn off the laptop and de-assimilate from the cyber hive for a week or two heres an end of year post and a mention of 15’s new starts. Just to fill the ‘Routes vs Queues’ series of cycle routes I need to add Purple – timing these as happily Ive been awarded some work leading workplace Bike rides in January February and March. These will be for new bike commuters and starters so distance and time will be important, thankfully my selection means that using my existing routes saves me lots of planning- as Ive thought of these and ridden them repeatedly over the last 6 years. Glancing at the purple route on the Strava shows the best way out of Town to the University via quietways. Meyrick park is found next to Braidley road – theres heaps of events and sports happen here, with the pine enclosed arena providing a seasonal treat by foot or bike. Surrounding the golf course theres a complete circumnavigation by trails that are great running too and worth a mention. Even the old central drive which used to be a main road and closed for years shows some reclaim of open spaces- lets have some more of that please Engineers. Its a smooth entry slope much less gruelling than Richmond hill or Priory road should work well for my new groups. Reaching Wimbourne road theres a push button crossing to get straight over into Stokewood which makes things easy. You could and many students do ride straight to University over the 2 roundabouts by making a left here, or Ive included this back route simply as it passes both Charminster and Winton that are residential and retail areas with good eateries, have mentioned Charmy before- if you want to find the best middle eastern munchies this is the place. Riding Stokewood when you get to the 5 ways next to Leisure centre go right to Charmy or left down St Lukes road to meet Winton High st. Crossing over to Bryanstone rd go straight on and then left -right to Stirling road, at the end of this cross into the central island path and up towards the University. Youre now next to Talbot campus- this took me 17 minutes and will be the first section of loop Im taking one town centre business staff on to connect with Routes vs Queues Green route- the Bourne Valley Greenway which connects back into Upper and Middle Gardens, I look forward to taking them on this.
A short round up of upcoming work seems timely now. As mentioned above 4 Business’ have signed up to the Workplace Challenge for Spring, happy to be helping them work towards the Momentum challenge that is taking part in March 15. Even 5 years ago I couldnt have imagined that there would be business seriously promoting active travel to work- and even more so between January and March, great to be asked to manage the ride leading. All the ‘Routes vs Queues’ posts you may have read are being condensed into an exciting tube -style map by a designer friend, we will be looking to release these as printed ride guides and more for business’, as a kickstarter project- will be looking for help with this. Other cycling work- Im in dialogue with a couple of people about possible new track sessions for Easter onwards, should be good for my season at Bournemouth cycling Centre. Colleagues will be submitting architects plans for a new pavilion for Slades Farm soon- we hope that will be approved by executive Council and perhaps 2016 will see another era of quality start at Slades Farm. Orienteering- our mappers are working hard on the Queens park and Boscombe Chine maps, my club will be organising some introductory sessions at Queens park which will become the best of what will be our 8 Mapped park areas in Bournemouth and Poole- meant for new runners and families getting into the sport. Boscombe chine and the Coastal Activity Park will also come onstream in Spring-ready for what I hope will be a cracking summer for visiting school groups and others at Boscombe. Poole Council will be training 6 new Bikeability instructors early 15- so the area should again be providing a good service to schools all year, hope Bournemouth Council pick up the pace on this too. My 6th series of Yoga teaching start again 9th January- see drop down Yoga Coaching page for info on this, youre warmly invited to discover what keeps me moving smoothly and injury free all year. Quite a lot happening then I hope you enjoyed reading these posts- have a safe Christmas Break enjoying time with friends. Salutations!