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Richard Fairhurst

@richardfairhurst.bsky.social
487 followers 83 following 336 posts

Building the world’s best bike directions at cycle.travel

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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I _thought_ the red arrow was there to guide cyclists across the station entrance and towards the shared-space cycling area (aka skateboarding area) across Frideswide Square. But the whole thing smacks of "this is the site boundary and we're not going to think about what happens outside it".
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
…at the expense of small village/town shops. WODC’s parking policy favours places you drive to (principally Witney) over places you walk to (i.e. your local shop/deli/cafe).
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I would love a greenway along the old railway line from Chippy to Kingham! 100% feasible (it's pretty much unobstructed) and there are potential funding opportunities. But we’d need to get a campaign group together to push for it…
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Nor us here in Charlbury! But this project is specifically "Oxford Greenways" - i.e. standard cycle commute distance from Oxford, which neither Charlbury nor Wallingford are. I'm hopeful there'll be similar projects across the wider county in due course, perhaps building on the NCN.
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The project name is perhaps a little confusing here – a large proportion of these routes are beside roads or in other areas capable of being lit, rather than the rail trail/country path infrastructure often associated with the word “greenway”.
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Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Plans have been unveiled for a network of cycle routes linking nearby towns and villages to Oxford, backed by county and city councils – and unusually, the University of Oxford. The Oxford Greenways would connect 200,000 residents to the city on traffic-free paths. oxfordclarion.uk/oxford-green...
oxfordclarion.uk
Oxford Greenways: a cure for congestion?
How far would you be prepared to cycle to work? Research suggests that, for most people, 2 to 5 miles is the sweet spot. That's 10 to 30 minutes each way. Enough for health benefits, but not too tiri...
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Hugely enjoyed working on this project over the past year and, better still, I'm looking forward to the routes being built. Which they will be. Oxford needs them. The mugs were Emily's brilliant idea and drawing the map for them was one of the most fun cartographical challenges I've tackled!
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cycle.travel @cycle.travel · 30/09/2026
cycle.travel has a fresh new look! More screen space for the map, route ideas in one place, searchable journeys, upgraded travelogues with the photos you take on your ride… and much more. All free as ever – no need to “go premium”. Have a play!
Screenshot from cycle.travel's front page
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La tête dans le guidon 🚲 @ltdlguidon.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026
Google Maps quand tu fais un itinéraire à pied : marche sur la départementale, traverse le rond-point, retraverse le rond-point, puis remarche sur la départementale 🤪 @cartes.app ou toute bonne application qui utilise les données OSM : trottoirs et passages piétons 👑
Capture d'écran google maps d'un itinéraire piéton qui semble tout ignorer de l'infrastructure piétonneCapture d'écran du même itinéraire sur carte.app : il suit les trottoirs et passages piétons
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
It’s not even an effective sop to the church! Most communion services are at 10am or thereabouts these days, exactly when the shops open. You could even argue (tenuously) people still being in town at 5.30pm might get a few more along to Evensong…
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Charlbury station was briefly proposed for closure in the early ’60s, but all the Oxfordshire stations on the line survived (thanks to a local campaign - the Gloucestershire stations fared much less well). Just three years later BR was marketing Charlbury as “the new rail centre for NW Oxfordshire”.
Charlbury timetable poster, 1966.
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Yes - one of the station gardens is dedicated to him. He didn't save the line from closure though: the closures were in the ’60s and Parker was well after that. He did save the wood-burning stove in the ticket hall though!
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
AB: "So, team, what have you been doing today?" Staffer: "Haven't got much work done because I've had to reply to 50,000 emails and say 'contact your MP'" AB: "Ah ok, I have absolutely no curiosity as to why that might be" (in Burnham's case that IS actually plausible, but you'd like to think...)
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
There must be something in the Lidl middle aisle they can use to fix this
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George Potter 🔶 @georgepotter.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Love it when my party leader unilaterally announces idiotic policies that conference hasn't approved and that mean spending billions on lowering the cost of fossil fuels exactly at the time we need to be weaning our economy off them.
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josieproc.bsky.social @josieproc.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Sometimes it’s important to literally stand up for what you believe in. And today it was telling the story of the development of active travel in Oxford (even if it was terrifying). I hope more councils can follow suit. #ldconf
Very scared woman in a pink jacket standing at a Lib Dem conference lectern
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“Incoming transmission from Goring… <bzzt> oh wait, it’s Goring ON THAMES. As you were”
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
(see also: highway authorities trying to make their fingerposts look traditional)
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Rail Alphabet and Transport do not work as all-caps fonts, and if you ever try to set more than two consecutive upper case letters, you need to rethink
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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
FAO BBC: it's all very well spending half your time gushing about how everything's lovely and inclusive but it starts to look a bit hollow if you spend your other half (the news half) shit stirring.
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Today’s discovery: 1hr boat trip along the lovely River Marne in Paris for €2 (or Navigo pass), courtesy of a local co-operative promoting passenger river transport. RER line A stops at each end. www.parisestmarnebois.fr/fr/marne-boi...
parisestmarnebois.fr
Marne Bois Bateau-bus
!! Exceptionnellement, dimanche 30 août le service s'arrêtera à 15h30 : dernier départ de Neuilly-Plaisance et de Joinville-le-Pont à 14h30 !!
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 30/08/2026
If you’d like to buy a book on why it actually matters that these buildings are listed and why the restrictions are necessary and good, and why you can still put a heat pump and double glazing in a GII listed cottage even though it’s listed, Great because I’m writing it.
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Exactly that!
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Open source rail timetable planning and capacity analysis, supported by SNCF Reseau and powered (partly) by OpenStreetMap. The speakers say French rail doesn’t really have a culture of open data but this is light years ahead of the UK. osrd.fr #sotm2026
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
It needs some album artwork though…
Still from the Channel 4 TdF titles as an Apple Music thumbnail
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Fabulous reworking of the One True Tour de France Theme (the 1980s Channel 4 one, obviously). There’s a download link in the comments. I swear if TNT Sports had adopted this, thousands of people would pay £30.99 a month happily soundcloud.com/starion/give...
soundcloud.com
Pete Shelley - Give it to me (Starion Edit)
Legend Pete Shelley who lived close to my home town in Leigh did some mega tracks with Martin Rushdent on production duties after the Buzzcocks split. You might recognise a section of it which was u
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Compare and contrast with this frankly shocking effort by Cotswold Wildlife Park, which is depressingly typical of (a) zoos (b) West Oxfordshire.
Travelling by car

The Park is situated on the A361, two miles south of its junction with the A40 at Burford, Oxfordshire. It is 22 miles east of Cheltenham, 20 miles west of Oxford and 18 miles north of Swindon, Wiltshire. If you are travelling by car, minibus or coach for Sat Nav only, please use the post code OX18 4JJ. The Park entrance is opposite the Caravan Club Site. What3words: beads.banter.speeds

Parking is FREE for visitors to the Park and there is plenty of space to park your car. There is a large tarmac area for coaches and ample disabled parking.  You can also access your car at any point during your visit.

Using public transport

The Park is difficult to access via public transport.  The nearest bus stop is 2 miles away on Burford High Street, so you would need to get a taxi from there to the Park. Regretfully, we are unable to allow (taxi) drivers who have dropped off /collecting visitors to remain onsite without paying an admission fee.

We would advise against attempting to walk along the A361. No footpath is provided and it is a fast road.


Travelling by Train

The nearest train station is Charlbury, Oxfordshire, 11 miles away.  Please note there is no taxi rank at the train station and no direct bus link, therefore you will need to pre-book a taxi to take you to the Park (also booking a return journey), with the taxi gaining access to the Park before the last admission times of either 3.00pm November to March (Winter) or 4.00pm April to October (Summer).
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
We visited Hertfordshire Zoo at the weekend, because Junior loves zoos. Massive plaudits to them for laying on a frequent shuttle bus from Broxbourne station during the summer months. Bonus points for the route number being Z00. hertfordshirezoo.com/news/shuttle...
hertfordshirezoo.com
Shuttle Bus Returns at Hertfordshire Zoo | Hertfordshire Zoo
The shuttle bus runs regular return journeys throughout the day, giving you plenty of flexibility to enjoy everything the zoo has to offer before heading back
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
With the same amount of resentful old people!
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
This. Just see the enormous kerfuffle kicked up by “resentful old people” (plus one or two Conservative councillors particularly adept at exploiting their resentment) about making Witney High Street half-pedestrianised right now, 30 years after every single other high street was fully pedestrianised
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
COFNAS sounds like a mnemonic for remembering operator precedence. Contrarianism, Ostensible Feminism, Nazism, Addition, Subtraction
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Dan Raven-Ellison @danravenellison.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Thanks to people from across Britain the #SlowWays network includes over 10K walking routes stretching for 150,000km + contains 3M+ words of guidance for fellow walkers ❤️ Now we want to do this for every neighbourhood in the UK, Ireland + Channel Islands for 🚶🏃🏾‍♀️👩🏻‍🦽🚴‍🏇🏾 Join #GoodWays >>> goodways.org ⭐
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
At the very least, close High Street to through traffic. But I reckon you could put traffic filters across the entire village centre. (And build a cycleway on the Kingham–Stow–Bourton trackbed, obviously.) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Bourton-on-the-Water residents want less tourists and congestion
Villagers got together to encourage a cap on visitor numbers and a change to parking regulations.
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Oxford Clarion @oxfordclarion.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Oxfordshire now leads UK on clean air, claims the partnerships director at Climate Emergency UK. Isaac Beevor said that while clean air and a decarbonised transport system were seen as the realm of London and Labour, Oxfordshire County Council (LD) now leads the way. www.lgcplus.com/services/env...
lgcplus.com
Isaac Beevor: Oxfordshire now leads UK on clean air
London is no longer ahead of the game, writes the partnerships director at Climate Emergency UK. Clean air and a decarbonised transport system were always
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
At the Medley. Is it safe to watch the eclipse through an olive? Inquiring minds etc.
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👻madeline bOoOoOoOodent👻 @oldenoughtosay.com · 10/08/2026
Happy 48th anniversary of the day they pulled the plug on Chesterfield Canal and drained all the water out
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Fortunately British Waterways (where I used to work) learned their lesson and it never happened again oh www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/7669446...
worcesternews.co.uk
Who pulled the plug on Diglis Basin?
DIGLIS basin has been drained of water after British Waterways workers hit an 18th century storm sewer during improvement building works.
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Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 07/08/2026
today's the first Make Tax Digital deadline for freelancers! why not celebrate by reading my irate column about it: www.thenewworld.co.uk/marie-le-con...
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Whoa. New native iOS vector tiles renderer! github.com/artembobkin/...
github.com
GitHub - artembobkin/ImmersiveMap: Native Swift 6 + Metal map rendering engine for SwiftUI. Globe and flat vector-tile maps with labels, SwiftUI markers and avatars, on iOS and macOS.
Native Swift 6 + Metal map rendering engine for SwiftUI. Globe and flat vector-tile maps with labels, SwiftUI markers and avatars, on iOS and macOS. - artembobkin/ImmersiveMap
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Anyway. That ‘Mercy Street’ remix. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WtS...
youtube.com
Mercy Street (William Orbit Mix)
YouTube video by Peter Gabriel - Topic
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Five years later I remember being in the car, switching on Radio 1 and hearing some unmistakable, swirling burbles and bleeps. Wait, there’s a new William Orbit album… and Radio 1 are playing it? Cut to the end of the song: “So that’s the first single from Madonna’s new album, Ray Of Light.”
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Rest in peace, William Orbit. First encountered his work with the amazing 1993 remix of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Mercy Street’ on a B-side. Strange Cargo III (and, best of all, Water From A Vine Leaf) came out the same year and served as my introduction to electronic music. www.youtube.com/watch?v=StRW...
youtube.com
William Orbit feat. Beth Orton - Water From A Vine Leaf (Official Video)
YouTube video by Abstructure
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Sure, it’s a little uneven. Durutti albums always are. Sargasso Sea and For Friends Everywhere are being raved about but I find both a bit flabby and unengaging. Still, for the first seven tracks it’s nothing less than delightful. Listen to this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpdp...
youtube.com
The Durutti Column - Time Present and Time Past (Official Visualiser)
YouTube video by The Durutti Column
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Not just great solely because it is, literally, the return of the Durutti Column after years of absence, but also a cracking album in itself – comfortably the best Keir Stewart-produced Durutti album, i.e. since Fidelity back in 1996. thedurutticolumn.bandcamp.com/album/renasc...
thedurutticolumn.bandcamp.com
Renascent, by The Durutti Column
11 track album
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Magic train! (Half-hourly departures from Charlbury for Wilderness Festival, with the extras running fast through Hanborough. Festival-goers evidently eschew the quiet carriage though)
Very quiet quiet carriage
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Of course the real answer is to build proper segregated infrastructure parallel to these roads but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I’m fairly sure this was an 00s (?) Highways England initiative after a cyclist death on one of their dual carriageways. The risk assessment flagged traffic merging at high speed from slip roads as a danger to cyclists, so they put these in everywhere
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Performance is fine. UI is roughly akin to a startled warthog but that’s not platform-specific
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Turns out that was somebody else’s fault too!
"We were consistently disappointed by the standard of political debate surrounding the scheme. Most recently during the City Council election campaign, we believe many voters were presented with inaccurate or misleading information about key aspects of the proposals. We would welcome stronger, enforceable standards for factual accuracy in local election campaigning, as the current voluntary code of conduct provides little protection."
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Richard Fairhurst @richardfairhurst.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Almost the best final stage of the Tour since 1989.* Almost. But neutralising it for GC was a mistake, I think - the Seixas/del Toro subplot would have been magnificent. * and yes, I remember watching 1989 on Channel 4! Including shouting at the screen when Phil Liggett momentarily called it wrong…
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