ryananglem: Indeed, I had assumed we were talking about a different cut-through altogether. Mind you, I'm not sure what difference it makes, unless of course you are correct in thinking that pedestrians don't mind cyclists suddenly appearing round a sharp bend. But you know your area better than I do - perhaps on your pathway the locals can see round corners. It does sound like they need to.

Pavement cyclists tend to waffle a lot about politeness, and using common sense, and giving way to pedestrians, and how all that makes it OK to cycle on the pavement (that's the pavement, not Psychics' Alley). But it's all nonsense. If I intrude on your territory it's for you to say whether or not you mind, not me, and the pedestrians on this thread seem pretty clear that they do mind. So that ought to be that.

The reality is often Poppy's experience, and so often cyclists (whatever camp they claim to belong to) actually aren't upset by her kind of experience, which they should be. Instead they just become defensive, as has happened here. It seems to me that global warming has resulted in politicians encouraging more cycling, which sounds fine, except that all that has happened is that people who are not real cyclists are buying bikes, but then haven't the skill or bottle to use the road.