Sunday, 07 August 2011
Peter H writes: There were 12 riders at Brookside at 2pm. I led the group out along Barton Road to Haslingfield, deliberately avoiding the direct southern route to Hare Street as I thought it likely that we would return that way. (Hare Street is one of our furthest tea stops, a few miles off the bottom of the Cambridge and Newmarket OS map.) After the climb over Chapel Hill we cruised through Barrington and Shepreth down to Fowlmere and on to Chrishall Grange and then to Chrishall. This picture shows us stopping for a breather on the climb to Chrishall.
After this we rode to Langley along a delightful track through some woodland as recommended by Jacob. From there it was not far to Hare Street and the delightful
Old Swan Tea Shop. I thought the cakes looked so good that I ate two slices (and I was right, they were)!
On the way back we split into two groups. One group headed directly back to Cambridge along the B1368, while I joined the other riding a slightly more scenic route. This was a wonderful ride, even though we had a few light showers along the way.
Here are some more pictures of the return journey, taken by Gareth Rees. The first is at Great Hormead, taken not long after we turned off the main road up a very narrow little road towards Anstey. The other two are on the ascent to Great Chishill – myself and Howard in one and Cathy in the other. Just after taking these photos Gareth spotted a buzzard circling over the woods.
We returned to Cambridge down Grange Road to Duxford and along the DNA Path, then explored the newly opened guided busway section down to the Trumpington Park and Ride. Nice, smooth, wide cycle route. See
Nigel's report on the inaugural ride for more about the busway itself.
I arrived home at round 7.45pm having ridden
53 miles.
Peter Hutchison
Photos 2, 3 & 4 by Gareth Rees.