This week my cycling blog is about driving. Yes, you did read that correctly I am mainly going to be writing about driving, but it's not a rant about bad drivers.

Over the last few weeks I have been doing more driving than normal, so I thought I would share some observations from behind the steering wheel.

One of the things that motivated me to do this was a drive out of Bournemouth towards Ringwood on the Spur Road on Sunday morning.

It was a lovely cold and crisp morning and the Sun was shining, after I had got past the stench from the sewage works it would be a pleasant trip along the rest of the road.

However, this was not to be, I was appalled at the continuous strip of litter and debris that coats the verges along the side of the road.

In some places there were deliberately dumped piles of rubbish and along the rest of the road was, what has become, the usual roadside debris of fast food containers, drinks cans and plastic bags.

What I don't understand is why people do this? It always amazes me to see people drop litter in the street when they are just a couple of feet away from a bin, but this problem seems to be much worse when people are in a car.

Our country does not clean itself; didn't your parents teach you to put rubbish in a bin?

Another observation is the colour of the road sides and verges following a thaw. The combination of melting snow, grit and pollution turns what are normally green verges into very sorry looking black ones.

This doesn't seem to happen under any other circumstances and is something that I always find slightly disturbing.

I always imagine that poor plants coughing away desperate for some rain to clean them and restore them to their usual colour!

Over the last few weeks of imposed driving, I have had the opportunity to witness some of the bad cycling that the motoring community like to rant on about.

Last week in Parkstone I saw a cyclist come out of a side road, through a red light and then weave in and out of the traffic on the main road.

All of this was carried out with no lights, despite it being dark and, I'm sorry to announce, this was what appeared to be a competent, if foolish, cyclist on a nice bike who really should know better!

One final motoring observation which I saw written somewhere, but I can't remember where, that really does make sense - You are not sat in traffic, you are the traffic!

So after a few weeks of not so much riding and more driving than usual, my conclusion is simple. I can't wait to get back out on the bike!

It's more fun, cheaper, better for the environment, often quicker and much more satisfying than driving. You really should try it sometime!