Hayling Herald article for July 2022

Here’s what we submitted for our Hayling Herald July 2022 column, with online links and more pictures …

This month

  • Car-free July
  • Investiture!
  • Sam’s Sunflowers
  • New map
  • Getting started
  • More cycling

Car-free July

Can you go car free for a month this July, or a week, or even a day? Get tips from ‘We Are Possible’ at wearepossible.org, and sign up to win some fantastic prizes.

Now the average car is taking £100 to fill up with petrol, e-bikes are starting to look positively cheap. Which is better value – 8 to 15 tank fulls of petrol that will be gone in no time, or an e-bike for the same money that lasts 8 to 15 years, keeps you fit, and saves the planet?

As always with Hayling, we’d recommend sturdier tyres to handle the Billy Trail and other rough tracks, and do consider a folding version for easier transport and storage. See cyclehayling.org.uk/ebikes for more tips.

Investiture!

Yes, Cycle Hayling has ’in-vested’ in bright pink vests! And the grand ’investiture’ was at our Donkey Derby Turbo Challenge, to see how far you can ride in one minute on our turbo trainer bikes, with some great performances, and great fun for all the family. So now you won’t miss us on the roads with our starter and training rides!

We also handed out details of the unique Queen’s Platinum Jubilee edition of the Hayling Cycle Safari. Cycle around the island to collect stickers towards a clip-on tube of Jubilee Hayling Island sun lotion or a personalised Hayling Jubilee commemorative plaque. Details at cyclehayling.org/safari. Give it a go!

Sam’s Sunflowers

And while you’re cycling round the Safari, Sam’s Sunflowers and Maize Maze, will be opening soon, so why not cycle there and use the Sunflowers to bling your bike! We saw several Sunflower decorated bikes riding home last year, and they looked really cool.

Sam and Nette have agreed that you can avoid the traffic by cycling there on the public footpaths from the Farm Shop, via Castlemans Lane. But take care, they’re quite rough, and you may still need to cycle a little way on St Peter’s Rd to the road entrance.

And do share your Sunflower bling’d bike pictures at facebook.com/samssunflowershayling !

New map

And we’re just going to print on our 2022 Cycling and Walking Map of Hayling. It’s a completely new version, pocket-sized, with more rides, more cycle paths, guidance on cycle-friendly quiet streets and roads to avoid. We include the Circular Langstone Harbour Ride, plus some of our wishlist items, and some cycling hints and tips.

And thanks to our generous sponsors, you’ll be able to pick it up for free at the Beachlands Tourist Information Centre, the Ferry, and many other venues around the island, or download it from our website, at cyclehayling.org/map.

Getting started

Would you like to cycle but find it hard to get started or build confidence? That’s what Cycle Hayling is all about, so every THIRD Wednesday of the month, Roger Knight leads our free starter and wheelchair rides, at the Community Centre, 10-12. He’ll have his wheelchair-carrying trike for wheelchair users and people with mobility problems.

We’ll have helpers there to offer advice and short rides to anyone else who wants to get more confident on their bike. They’ll be a bit weather-dependent, so keep an eye on cyclehayling.org and facebook.com/CycleHaylingPage.

We originally planned on the LAST Wednesday of each month, but that’s now for the ‘Cycling Without Age’ trishaw rides, also at the Community Centre, 10am, and also involving Roger, but these rides are funded and organised not by Cycle Hayling, but by the social prescribers at Hayling’s GP’s.

More cycling

Hampshire County Council’s Local Transport Plan wants a huge increase in cycling, to fight climate change and to get us healthy.

And the newly launched Active Travel England will be making sure it happens, with the legendary Sir Chris Boardman as it’s first commissioner, determined to make England more active and more healthy, and help us decarbonise our transport. And the first output from that is a record £20m of government funding for next year’s Bikeability, the cycle training scheme for children and their families. And that will help Hayling’s schools get even more kids (and their parents) onto bikes for a healthier lifestyle.

Happy cycling!

Much more on our Facebook page at facebook.com/CycleHaylingPage and our website at cyclehayling.org