Saturday, 02 August 2014
Peter writes: The weather forecast was rather mixed so I was not sure how many people to expect, or indeed how much waterproofing to take myself. Tom, Lorraine and Clive (with electric upgrade to a Dahon folder) were waiting as I arrived and M arrived shortly after, making five in all.
We set off towards Barton with the sky looking threatening and by the time we reached the bridge over the motorway it was definitely raining, so we all stopped and put jackets on. However, it was very warm, so the rain cooled us off nicely.
We continued on through Barton, Haslingfield and Harston to Newton. By this time the rain and stopped and jackets were stowed. At Whittlesford we turned off on to the new cycle path through the woods and across the fields towards Sawston. This is lovely - excellent surface and quiet. We had to wait quite a while at the level crossing to get across the main road to Sawston. We arrived at the Brick House just after 11.30 for some very welcome coffee and cakes.
I had not been here before. The food and drink were good, and so was the service. We ate at the tables outside, which are on a side road away from the main road and so relatively quiet. I would be happy to stop here again, though it has very little space inside so crowded for a big group if the weather isn't warm and dry.
Afterwards we had a short discussion about whether to go back along the cycle path to Whittlesford as it was very popular, but Clive didn't think his batteries would last that long so we decided to go straight back into Cambridge centre. On the way we tested out the new traffic light controlled crossings where Cambridge Road meets the A1301, and this is a definitely improved experience, though it was a bit slow changing for us for the second part of crossing the A road. I arrived home at about 1pm having cycled a pleasant
21 miles in good company.
Peter Hutchison