The 6 yo cycled from our house in Greystones to Millhouses Park & back today for the first time. This is a long thread about the short journey, with our observations on why it's so difficult for families to cycle places. But first, the good things...

We are lucky to live so close to many beautiful green spaces. Endcliffe Park is only a 5 minute cycle down the hill & our usual haunt. Millhouses feels a long way but is only 1.7 miles. Google maps has the cycle time there at 10 minutes vs car at 7 - 10 mins (traffic dependent).

Since it's been raining all week we took the chance to get out in the dry today. Tier 3 has meant a very limited choice of activities over half term. Outside activities & exercise to be encouraged in these covid times, right? 6 yo keen to give it a go by bike despite my nerves

Apart from one main road section to cross up & along Ecclesall Rd, the route is mainly residential side roads. 6 yo isn't experienced on roads yet & one of us rode beside him. Lots of drivers have us plenty of time & space before overtaking & we thanked them.

Despite the many patient drivers, the journey was still difficult. Lots of cars parked on either side meant no room for cars & bikes at the same time. Some drivers insisted on coming through gaps at a fair speed towards us. This can be scary for a child & can cause wobbles.

Even the side roads were really busy. Taking a child on 'quiet roads' is not an option. The worst bits of the journey were round the corner from our home, which should be a 20 mile zone.

In these covid times, more than ever, we need to make the roads (and pavements) safe for all to use. Even if every driver today had been a model driver, it still wouldn't have made the journey easy...

We had to walk to navigate the main road. The pavements were not wide enough to walk together or pass people safely, and there were junctions with zero visibility due to parked cars.

It shouldn't be so difficult to do a short journey by bicycle. There are improvements happening in Sheffield & there have been some great new bits of infra put in. But there needs to be more than bits.