Читать книгу The C2C Cycle Route - Jeremy Evans - Страница 10

SUSTRANS AND THE C2C

On 11 September 1995 UK Charity Sustrans received £43.5 million from the National Lottery to create the National Cycle Network (NCN), a series of traffic-free paths and quiet on-road routes that connect to every major town and city and pass within 2 miles of 75 per cent of the population, stretching 14,000 miles across the length and breadth of the British Isles. In 2012, over three million people made 485 million journeys on the National Cycle Network, which was extended by 500 miles. Based on average car emissions, the potential carbon dioxide saving of Network journeys was around 884,000 tonnes. Trips made by children on the National Cycle Network numbered 81.4 million, including an estimated 18.4 million to and from school. Sustrans’ maintenance responsibilities along much of the Network cost £1 million during 2012, and as a charity they are reliant on donations and funding to be able to keep these much-loved routes in great shape.

Riding through Lorton Vale on the edge of the Lakeland fells

‘Terris Novalis’ is among the most impressive sculptures on the C2C route

The NCN was created and developed by Sustrans as part of its work to promote walking and cycling, both for local everyday journeys, and for longerdistance leisure rides. From the 17-mile Bristol and Bath Railway Path where it all began, to the latest new flagship route – the 170-mile Way of the Roses through Lancashire and Yorkshire – the Network scales mountains, crosses divides, races through cities and takes leisurely ambles through the countryside.

The Sea-to-Sea (C2C) route is perhaps the best known and most iconic of all Sustrans routes, and when you look through the pages of this book, it’s easy to see why. It was originally created by Sustrans as the first long-distance cycle route in the country, as well as the first fully coast-to-coast route. It came about after Sustrans built local routes at either end of the ride, and then decided to develop a route linking them together, using substantial sections of traffic-free paths, It is now the UK’s most popular ‘challenge’ cycle route, passing through the northern Lake District before climbing the Pennines, ‘the roof of England’, and then descending to the railway paths of County Durham.

Whether on-road or traffic-free, the NCN has grown to become an integral part of the UK’s transport network and carrying over one million journeys every day, it has exceeded all expectations. There are now more miles of Network than there are of motorways with over 50,000 signs, 10,000 seats and thousands of bridges, viaducts and tunnels along its fascinating routes.

So whether it’s for business or pleasure, commuting or just for fun, travelling on the network has something for everyone as well as being a fundamental part of how people in the UK get around everyday.