Tarmac Over Uk’S Canals To Create Nationwide ‘Cycle Superhighway’

[AB Editor]

Not such a bad idea?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-has-secret-plan-to-tarmac-over-uk-s-canals-to-create-nationwide-cycle-superhighway-if-a6962736.html

Better than having those mucky canal boats ruining the view.

[gangesboy]

Waterboatman will be none too pleased !

[sandyRoe]

He's a selfish so and so. Just because he rides a bike he thinks the world should change to suit him and his freewheeling fiends. :-((

[Tilly2]

Someone should lock him up.

[sandyRoe]

I meant friends but fiends is an interesting Freudian slip ^^^

[Old_Geezer]

Whilst getting cyclists off the road is a great idea, and I assume they'll introduce a cycle tax to pay for cycle tracks, and if not, why not, I would have thought that covering canals would make the country that bit less attractive. I like canals and streams, they should exist to be enjoyed.

anyway aren;t canals still used ?

How do they know a secret plan anyway. Where is the evidence ? Millions of Britons would not improve fitness, they'd ignore the paths and be glad the danger of hitting a cyclist on the road is lower. It'd be expensive and probably not financially justifiable unless it was thought to enhance the country so much it was worth paying extra for.

[bhg481]

Has nobody spotted the EU regulation reference?

[fiction-factory]

Yes, but I don't think we needed to, bhg

[Tilly2]

I like the 'inverted pyramid of piffle' quote. That made me laugh.

[dannyk13]

Does that mean that canal barges will have to be fitted with wheels?

[fiction-factory]

Did anyone hear the story on Radio 4 pm last night which was surely an early April fool- it was about a new regulation that all champagne and German lager had to be produced flat to reduce CO₂ emmissions

[jomifl]

Rather than tarmac the canals why not fit floats to bikes.

[Old_Geezer]

Indeed it has all the hallmarks of today's news stories.

[Ellipsis]

Outrageous! What will happen to the poor little fishes in the canals? Les poissons d'Avril, for example ...

[Hopkirk]

A bit bumpy over the locks

[Hypognosis]

Ah, Lord ABEd-adder, I see you are in good fooling, this morrow? 'tis April-tide, after all.

[EDDIE51]

I thought this was a serious idea to use the canal tow paths as cycle ways until I realized the date was April 1st. The initials of the organisation quoted as the objectors was a bit of a give away C.A.R.P !

[mikey4444]

Eddie....But if Trump had suggested this, millions of Americans would be jumping up and down and whooping !

[Hypognosis]

"He claimed the scheme was illegal under EU Regulation 01/04/2016."

Also, you barely have to scroll the page before reaching the bottom (on phone), which is a mercy, compared to most of the stuff ABers link to. I could go back to reading books, if I could give up AB!

[Hypognosis]

With all these floods, shouldn't we, instead, be digging huge lagoons to catch river overspill, more ditch systems to give floods alternative routes around built-up areas? All the spoil could be made into heaps and turfed over, as livestock refuges or levees and so on. We've seen the side-effects of recent flood protection measures; let's see them try something new.

[Chipchopper]

Could ruin the fishing!