Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Nigel writes: The weather forecast for tonight's ride along the busway to St Ives and the Hemingfords was distinctly poor, with rain predicted to last all evening. However we have hardly ever have had to cancel an evening ride due to bad weather and so it was more out of habit than anything else that I got myself ready and set off to Brookside in good time for a 6.30pm start. It was drizzling steadily as I rode across town, and really rather cold, and I quickly decided that a ride this evening wouldn't be much fun and that I would simply turn up at the start and cancel it.
This idea evaporated the moment I arrived at Brookside. There I found John R and Dr John, who had already ridden over ten miles into Cambridge to take part in tonight's ride and would be riding back along the busway whether I came with them or not, so I decided I might as well.
We set off through the City Centre, up Castle Hill and along Huntingdon Road to Girton. Along the way in Bridge Street we were joined by Tom, bringing our number up to four. When we reached Girton we rode through the village and turned onto the busway, which we followed all the way to St Ives. From there a loop along the Thicket Path to Houghton followed by a rode across the Ouse Meadows would bring us to Hemingford Abbots for our pub stop.
On the busway
As we made our way along the busway it continued to drizzle steadily, but the main cause of our discomfort was the cold, with a temperature of 3C at the start falling steadily to about 2C by the time we reached Hemingford Abbots. You wouldn't have known that May 1st was only four days away.
St Ives
We stopped for drinks and bowls of chips at The Axe and Compass in Hemingford Abbots, where we were joined by Mike CC who had made his own way there.
Afterwards we set off back home. Fortunately the rain had stopped, though the temperature had continued to fall. As we rode back through Hemingford Grey, St Ives and then back along the busway the others peeled off in turn as they neared their houses, leaving just me to return all the way back to Cambridge. I arrived home at 9.50pm having cycled
36 miles.
Download
GPS track (GPX).