Frank’s riding high on country roads for first time in 50 years

Frank Smart last rode a bicycle when he was about 17 years old.

Fifty years on, with the roads quiet, he hopped into the saddle once more to explore the area around his home near Auchterarder and keep fit.

Having last biked to school as a teenager, the roads are a different place now – with traffic a little heavier, unlike Frank, who has shed a stone since taking to the roads.

“I’m fortunate in the sense that, living just outside Auchterarder, I can cycle on the tracks around the golf course at Gleneagles,” he said.

“I’ve started going out on the roads but I’ve noticed a big difference in the traffic now. Compared to three, four weeks ago it’s absolutely crazy now.

“It’s good to see more people keeping up their cycling but it’s getting more dangerous. Someone is going to get killed.”

The condition of the roads is of particular concern to Frank – especially as, in Perth and Kinross’ rural communities, the B-roads which link villages are the only ways to get around.

“There are certain roads where, I would say, they aren’t kept to a great standard in terms of their surface and their design,” he said.

“Yes they’re B-roads, but they are the main artery for a lot of communities and people use them day to day.

“I have to say as well, being of the age that I am and taking up cycling, I feel a lot better for it. But I have been taken aback a bit by how the dynamics have changed (recently).

“I was quite enjoying lockdown, to be honest. I will miss it.”

Perth and Kinross did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In late June the local authority’s executive director of housing and environment, Barbara Renton, said the £1.1 million Spaces for People bid approved was set to create reduced speed limits, temporary cycle lanes and segregation and adjustments to pedestrian crossing cycles.

Ms Renton said: “The aim behind our approach is to provide, as far as possible, Covid-safe streets and pedestrian areas as the current lockdown begins to be relaxed, in the locations we were successful in getting funding for.

“While many of the measures are proposed as temporary, we have the option to make them permanent if they are considered useful and supportive by our communities in the longer term. It will be a number of weeks before residents start to see changes on the ground.”