Sunday, 11 August 2013
Gareth writes: There were eight at Brookside on this sunny morning, and Tom was our leader, but I went off on my own to take a slightly longer and hillier route to coffee. Descending from the Gog Magogs towards Fulbourn, I was stung on my arm by a wasp. Near Kirtling I met a young lad on a bike who said he was trying to get to Little Thurlow but had got lost. I hope I managed to point him in the right direction. When I got to Coffee & Co in Newmarket I found the others already there, including Edward, who had also been stung by a wasp—but on his lip, poor chap.
We had the usual shuffling of riders as some went home and others joined the group, and then Tom led us east out of Newmarket, up Warren Hill by the gallops, through Moulton, Gazeley, Barrow, and Little Saxham to Horringer.
The Six Bells at Horringer is under new management. The staff explained that the pub had been acquired on Monday and opened on Wednesday. They very kindly allowed some of us to eat packed lunches in the garden while the rest of us ordered food. The menu is not quite suitable for cyclists yet, with no sandwiches or jacket potatoes, but the staff said they would think about adding some.
"Chevington: please die carefully"
When we turned back towards Cambridge, we found that there was a strong south-westerly breeze in our faces, and it was hard work making progress. It took us about two hours to ride the 25 miles of rolling Suffolk countryside. The farmers were hard at work getting the hay baled; the wheat has been harvested, and the maize is as high as a (very small) elephant's eye.
The Old Red Lion served chunky ham sandwiches and enormous slices of cream-filled sponge cake.
Giant servings of cake at the Old Red Lion, Horseheath.
I took a roundabout route home, first heading north through Weston Colville and Brinkley to Dullingham Station, where for the first time ever I found the barrier closed. 100 miles in all.
The 18:01 from Newmarket to Cambridge pulling in to Dullingham.
View CTC ride to Newmarket, Horringer, Horseheath, 2013-08-11 in a larger map