Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Nigel writes: My calendar told me that today was the first day of June, though the weather felt more like November: dull, damp and cold. So, as with last week's ride I put on full winter kit and cycled out to Brookside to discover who else was sufficiently addicted to cycling to turn out on such a dismal evening. There I was joined by Neil, Alex and newcomer Tim, on his first ride with us.
Today's ride was a familar jaunt along the busway. On previous rides we've taken the shortest route via the City Centre and Huntingdon Road, joining the buway just beyond Girton. However at 6.30pm on a weekday these are quite busy roads and so today I led the group on a slightly longer but much quieter route: east along the river to the Riverside Bridge and then through Chesterton to join the busway at its very start near to where the new station is being constructed.
According to the weather forecast there wouldn't be any rain this evening, and I suppose that was technically correct. However the air was thick and damp with a kind of stationary drizzle, blown into our faces on a cold northerly wind. As I said, it felt like November, with temperatures around 8C, and with only the fact that it was remained light until well into the evening reminding us that we were only a few weeks away from midsummer.
Respect to everyone who turned out this evening
We picked up two more riders along the busway: Paul was waiting at Histon Station as arranged, whilst somewhere near Swavesey we were caught up by Andrew who had missed the start by two minutes and had been chasing after us. Although the weather was dismal the busway was quiet and peaceful, and I think we were all glad to be out and looking forward to our refreshment stop. As we rode along I could feel my wheels picking up small leaves which caught in by brake blocks: on closer inspection these turned out to be spring blossom leaves rather than the result of autumnal leaf fall.
At St Ives the busway ended and we cycled through the town centre before turning onto the Thicket Path to Houghton. This is usually busy with dog walkers and other people out for an evening stroll but today there was hardly anyone around.
After reaching Houghton we crossed the Ouse Meadows to Hemingford Abbots and stopped for drinks and bowls of chips at The Axe and Compass, with Alex and I rewarding ourselves with a comforting burger as well.
Beer and chips in Hemingford Abbots
After a very welcome break in the pub we set off back to Cambridge. Our route took us via Hemingford Grey to St Ives and then back down the busway to Cambridge. I arrived home at 10.20pm - a little later than usual - having cycled
37 miles.
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GPS track (GPX)
1 comments from old website
Monday 6th Jun 2016 at 10.54pm
Thanks Nigel for leading my first ride of the year. Looking forward to many more.
Andrew