A MYSTERIOUS half-painted cycle path has caused one Old Town resident to question if unicycles are coming to town.

This week the cycle path in King William Street, Old Town was partially repainted, leaving a single-wheeled bike design, similar to a unicycle.

Retired cartographer Jeff Owen, spotted the unusual road marking when he was walking dog Pesky, and had a humorous take on the new design.

“It seems Swindon remains at the front of innovation and has started to introduce unicycle routes,” he said.

“Of course, in reality the utility company that recently carried out work along the cycle route in King William Street has a rather different approach to making good road signage.

“It seemed very unusual and I thought I had to take the photo otherwise no-one would believe me. I don’t quite know what has happened, but it looked a bit of a mess and amusing.

“My friends were the ones who said it looked like a unicycle which I thought was very funny.”

Unfortunately it appears the new unicycle road marking is only temporary after telecoms work in Old Town by BT dislodged the road surface.

And the lane was certainly fit for purposes as unicyclist Ben Walker, from the Cats Pyjamas Circus, had a spin on the path. He said he was in favour of the cycle path’s ‘new’ design,

“It would be great if it were to encourage more people to get on their unicycles. It is tricky to learn how to balance but worth it,” said Ben, who began unicycling when he was 14.

“I think it’s fun and it would make a difference cycling up here.”

A Swindon Borough Council spokesman said: “The cycle marking was repainted by BT, but unfortunately only partly, after they carried out some cabling work over the weekend. We will ask them to come back and complete their artwork.”

A spokesperson for BT Openreach said they hope to fill in the other half of the cycle path in the coming weeks.

“Our engineers are currently in the process of connecting ethernet circuits to a local business. In order to carry this work out safely we have had to arrange for traffic lights to be in place. We’re sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause but we hope to have completed this work along with all road markings, subject to any unforeseen problems, by the end of next week.”