When I used to drive buses, I very rarely was ever held up by cyclists. The worst offenders by a huge margin were tractor drivers (who are, AFAIK required to pull in at the earliest opportunity to let following traffic past, though I think there has to be a certain amount). In a bus, the usable overtaking opportunities are much reduced compared to the average car, and obviously a tractor towing a large trailer makes things much worse. If there is nowhere for the tractor to get out of the way, fair enough, nothing can be done about that. But if, with half a dozen or more vehicles behind, the tractor driver ignores places where they could pull in, well that just got me so annoyed!.

But, as Andrew (perhaps inadvertently) alluded to earlier, the problem is often other cars being driven by nervous drivers, too scared to pass when it is perfectly safe to do so. It only needs two or three of these behind a cyclist, cyclists, tractor or whatever, for a massive hold up to build up behind.

<< I'm not familiar with that particular road, but I am familiar with how to use Google maps. Looking at said section of road, as far as I can see there are only 3 shortish sections of solid white lines between Alston, up over Hartside Pass and down to Melmerby. >>

Forgotten your compass, BBD ? That's why I said EASTBOUND. That bit is rather different, the drop into Alston is great ... :-)

You were talking of drivers who won't cross a solid line to overtake,

on a winding road with no-overtaking lines in the centre, and are followed by a couple of cars driven by people who religiously keep to the left of those lines.

so why is the direction of travel relevant?. In fact, if travelling EASTBOUND, there doesn't appear to be any sections of solid lines til you get to the car park, so surely it is much less likely that you get held up by drivers unwilling to cross solid lines if there aren't any?.

And it doesn't change the fact that if drivers in front of you won't pass a cyclist, they are holding you up and not the cyclist.

It's relevant because we are discussing cyclists occupying the centre of (in this case) a long winding uphill stretch.

Yes we are, but you also spoke of solid no overtaking lines and being stuck behind a couple of cars who religiously keep to the left of those lines.

So lets take those two points separately.

First, regarding cyclists being in the centre of their lane, as I keep on pointing out, it has long been The Highway Codes advice to pass cyclists as if they were a car, i.e, passing on the other side of the road. So nothing has changed in that respect other than that it is now a legal requirement, something responsible and considerate drivers already should be doing. Also, as said, I'm not familiar with that stretch of road, so I decided to 'drive it' courtesy of Google Street View going Eastbound from Melmerby right to the summit, and frankly I've no idea what you are on about?. There is a short section about a mile East of Melmerby where the road winds through some trees, this would be difficult to overtake cyclists on, but not impossible if you are right behind them. For the next 3/4 mile or so after that there are short straights and blind corners, again not that difficult to pass on these straights if you are right behind the cyclists. But, from there right to the summit, the road is mostly open with good sight lines punctuated by the odd sharp corner.

I have driven this road a few times and about the only vehicles which can overtake at all are motorbikes, and they seem to be taking their lives in their hands.

So frankly I've absolutely no idea why even the most nervous of overtakers wouldn't be able to pass on that section of the road.

Second, regarding these solid white lines you talk of, and being stick behind drivers who won't cross them. On the way up the pass, Eastbound, there are none until you get to the summit where there is around 200 meters covering the bend right at the top and entrance to the parking area.

<< ... regarding cyclists being in the centre of their lane, as I keep on pointing out, it has long been The Highway Codes advice to pass cyclists as if they were a car, i.e, passing on the other side of the road. So nothing has changed in that respect other than that it is now a legal requirement, something responsible and considerate drivers already should be doing. >>

The problem with this is the conflict between theory and practice. Allowing that (a) many drivers will be unaware of the instruction or that it has become law; and (b) I would think that human nature might make them unwilling to risk moving completely to the other side of the road to pass, and perhaps the cyclist keener to keep a bit left of centre, so as to feel a bit less vulnerable, and less of a 'roadhog'.

In reality there are much more shades of grey. Here are just a couple of examples of what I mean.

A cyclist is expected to move over/stop if there are no opportunities for the vehicle behind to safely pass. What does that mean?. If I`m cycling and there are cars behind me, if I consider there to be plenty of safe opportunities for the cars to pass without my pulling over or stopping, why should i be expected to do so just because the driver behind me is too nervous to pass when they can?. If this happens to be going up a steep hill, the last thing a cyclist wants to do is come to a complete stop on a verge before starting off again!

As an ex bus driver and with truck drivers in the immediate family, I`m acutely aware that both will need more space to pass (they probably be on a tight time schedule too) and so if cycling on a road with limited opportunities to overtake, I`d make extra allowances for that. Most cyclists are going to be completely oblivious to this and just carry on their merry way assuming the truck behind can pass in the same space as a car. Meanwhile the driver of said truck is potentially getting ever more apoplectic with rage, which is of course when things can go horribly wrong.

<< why is the direction of travel relevant?. >>

It's relevant because we are discussing cyclists occupying the centre of (in this case) a long winding uphill stretch. I have driven this road a few times and about the only vehicles which can overtake at all are motorbikes, and they seem to be taking their lives in their hands.

Cyclists going westbound are probably enjoying themselves hugely on the long downhill.

It depends - when I've been out cycling on local rural roads, I always have to keep a sharp eye out on them, especially on the downhill sections, in case of sunken drains and pothole, which aren't always easy to spot (especially if the kerbside is not that clear of detritis like leaves), especially if you're coming up on them at 30mph+ (nice as that speed can be on a bicycle).

Swerving at that sort of speed can easily induce an off or worse still, a serious accident involving the cyclist hitting overtaking or oncoming vehicles, or lead to an overtaking vehicle's driver make an error and cause a fatal crash.