Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Nigel writes: This week is proving to be one of the coldest March weeks for decades, and despite it being only a few days until Easter, this evening's ride was held in sub-zero temperatures. Once again the only people on the ride were Tony and me, and despite the cold we had rather a nice ride.
We set off at 6.30pm just as the sun set, and within half an hour a full moon rose into a mostly clear sky. The cold northerly wind of recent days had abated today, leaving us with just a gentle tailwind to speed us on our way.
With a pub stop planned for Thriplow we took what is by now one of our standard evening routes. We set off south through the Shelfords, Whittlesford and Duxford to Ickleton and then continued over Coploe Hill to Catmere End. My hands and feet were quite cold at first, but once I had warmed up I was perfectly comfortable. The roads were clear and dry, but on the higher ground south of Ickleton there was snow on each side of the road and occasional patches on the road itself, though this didn't prove a problem.
After Catmere End we took a loop through the hills of Littlebury Green and Elmdon before turning north to the flatter countyside of Chrishall Grange, Fowlmere and Thriplow. Now that we were heading north the wind was in our faces, and although it was quite gentle it was very cold. We were glad that we did not have to ride in it for very long.
At Thriplow we discovered that the Green Man was closed for refurbishment - the lights were on and we could hear work going on inside. We therefore carried on north to the Queen's Head in Newton. The open fire in the lounge here was particularly welcome this evening, and after an equally warming mug of brown soup we returned back to Cambridge via Harston, the A10 and the guided busway. I arrived home just before 10pm, having cycled
33 miles.
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1 comments from old website
Thursday 28th Mar 2013 at 9.34pm
Well done for getting out! Let's hope the jet stream regresses to the mean very soon and we can enjoy more comfortable weather...