Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Nigel writes: The weather this evening was cloudy and dull, with rain forecast for later, but despite the unpromising weather we had nine riders out tonight: Eva, Jim, John R, John E, Neil, Alex, Gareth, Sven and me.
Our pub stop was to be in Barton. This is one of our favourite stops but its location just west of Cambridge prevents us getting quite as far from home on the preceding two-hour ride as when the pub stop is further away. This is sometimes a cause of frustration but on this occasion, with the prospect of approaching rain, this was probably just as well. After a quick discussion of possible routes at the start we agreed to go for a relatively short triangular route which allowed us to bail out and head directly to the pub if the weather deteriorated.
We set off south from Cambridge along the busway and DNA path to Great Shelford and then continued on through Stapleford to Sawston. There we turned west towards Whittlesford.
Waiting at the level crossing between Sawston and Whittlesford
When we reached Whittlesford we continued in a north-westerly direction through a succession of villages: Newton, Harson, Haslingfield, Harlton and the Eversdens before reaching Kingston at about 8pm. By now it had started to rain, so we decided to abandon my final extra loop and head east along the B1046 to Barton. Although the rain wasn't heavy enough to necessitate putting on waterproofs John R, Eva and Jim decided to skip the pub stop and head straight home before it got worse. The rest of us arrived at the White Horse in Barton slightly early at 8.20pm.
After a short while we were joined by Gareth, who had broken away from the group near the start for a faster loop via Foxton and Chapel Hill, and Paul who had cycled there directly. Everyone seemed keen to get home before the rain so we had a quick drink and then set off back to Cambridge. My saddle had got wet while I had been in the pub but the rain had lessened and soon stopped completely. I arrived home at the relatively early time of 9.15pm, having cycled
28 miles.
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GPS track (GPX).