Saturday, 24 July 2010
Damien Walsh writes: When I arrived at Brookside, Cheryl and newcomer Rob were waiting there. Before long two more rides arrived Daniel and John. We discussed routes and the route that I had planned seemed fine.
The route took us took us through Trumpington and Great Shelford to Little Shelford, so as John lives nearby he lead the first part of the ride.
We then rode through Newton where I took over leading the ride. We then went to Barrington and north over Chapel Hill to Haslingfield. When we got to the top of the hill it was about 8:15pm. I was a little concerned that we would not make our tea stop for 9pm. So I did a little ad-hoc re-routing. John made his apologies and left to travel back home.
We set off on our new route north to Barton then to Hardwick through Comberton. As we headed north from Hardwick to Dry Drayton we could see the sun setting. We got to The Black Horse in Dry Drayton just before 9pm.
After a drink and a long chat we discussed the route that we would take back whilst fending off the midges. We decided to travel back to Cambridge though Coton as Daniel was familiar with the cycle route from there to Cambridge.
We put our lights on and set off through Madingley to Coton, with Daniel leading. We then went into Cambridge using Daniel's cycle route. I took over being in front as it was very dark and I had the best lights, with Daniel giving directions from behind.
We arrived back in Cambridge after doing about
30 miles. Daniel split off from us to go home. Rob and I went back to Brookside and Cheryl went to the station. Cheryl did really well particularly since she was riding her little fold-up bike.
It was a very nice evening with a collaboration of leading and advising styles enjoyed by everyone. The following day Rob became a CTC member. Welcome Rob!
Damien Walsh.