Quiet streets are great for cycling. The Coronavirus lockdown has proved it by making them all quiet. We’re back to the fifties, back to the traffic levels Hayling’s roads were actually designed for.
But we can show you plenty of Hayling’s quiet streets, lockdown or not, some of which you might not have thought of riding. When you drive around the island, you’ll just take the car route. But if you’re on a bike, a quiet route will usually be nicer, and might even be faster.
And why not look them out for a leisurely exercise ride? If you don’t know them you might even get a pleasant surprise!
London started calling quiet routes ‘Quietways’, although they weren’t always so quiet, so the idea was dropped. They’re not always the fastest way to get from A to B, and they’re not usually segregated from other traffic. But they’re still better and safer than busier roads. Given the lack of cycle paths on Hayling, we’d like to get quiet routes onto Hayling’s road signs and cycle maps, to encourage people to use them.
Here’s a sample of our favourite Hayling quiet streets, and a suggested 19 mile quiet route around them! You don’t have to do them all in one ride. You could limit it to your coronavirus exercise by just looping around Sandy Point, or the Ferry, or the Northey loop. There’s a useful shortcut from the Billy Trail across to Billy Trail to Daw Lane, which we don’t show on the map.
We’ve excluded the old cinder track cycle path, because it’s too narrow to maintain social distancing.
For more detail click here to see it in MapOmeter. You can download a GPX file for a Garmin or similar device from MapOmeter or perhaps easier, click here from our local Portsmouth CTC website,
Some favourite quiet streets
Station Rd, Sinah Lane, Ferry Rd
Sea Front (by road or cycle path), Southwood Rd, Eastoke Ave
Earnley Rd, Wittering Rd, Bracklesham Rd, Bosmere Rd
St Hermans Rd, Fishery Lane
Seaview Rd, Marine Walk
Salterns Lane, St Leonards Ave (to avoid Elm Grove)
Hollow Lane, Alexander Ave, Victoria Rd, Westfield Ave, Bacon Lane
St Helens Rd, St Georges Rd, St Catherines Rd
The Billy Trail, Daw Lane, West lane (South of the HBCP junction)
And when you ride ….
Please ride politely and safely, and maintain your social distance! Enjoy.
And if you aren’t already a Cycle Hayling supporter, please do sign up now and ask your friends to do the same!