Sunday, 18 July 2010
Julia writes: Our Saturday rides are particularly suitable for newcomers, so I was delighted that my house mate Luci, who has ridden with us before, brought three friends along.
Ian and I had planned an anti-clockwise route to Horningsea, and so just after 10.00am our group of 7 (Bob was also with us) set off south along Trumpington Road. Via Addenbrookes we went to Worts Causeway and over the hill into Fulbourn.
The hill is quite steep in places, so this was a bit of a challenge for some riders.
However, the downhill section on the other side, zooming along in the summer sunshine with the wind in our hair (and a tailwind it was, too!) was very rewarding. From Fulbourn we continued to Teversham and along the Airport Way to Newmarket Road. We had to wait a little while before we could cross this busy road and then turned right onto NCN route 51 as far as High Ditch Road, were we took a sharp left turn towards Fen Ditton.
Before we reached the village, however, we turned right onto Low Fen Droveway, which starts as a tarmac road, but turns into a farm track of variable surface quality after the bridge over the A14.
Even though the track was a bit bumpy in places, I enjoyed the ride between the fields of ripening peas and grain.
The clouds above us were getting denser and darker and there were a few spots of rain, but we reached Horningsea Road without actually getting wet. There I was pleased to see that the new cycle path between Horningsea and Fen Ditton is making good progress and is already in place north of the A14 into the village. We arrived at the garden centre soon after 11.30 am, where we were met by my other housemate Chris, who has also been on several rides with us before. Here we had a welcome break before making our way to Clayhithe and along the river back to Cambridge.
The sun came out again, making for a pleasant finish to our ride. I hope our guests enjoyed it, too, and will join us again some time.
Julia