Wednesday, 04 October 2017
Nigel writes: Tonight was our first evening ride of the winter season, with sunset taking place at 6.29pm, just before the start of the ride. Since a bike ride entirely in the dark might be considered as having limited appeal, these rides will now be less frequent. We have just two evening rides this month (the next will be on
18th October), and from November they will become monthly.
But perhaps I should revisit that assumption that few people want to go for a ride in the dark, since tonight we had one of our largest turnouts for some time, with a seven riders at Brookside and three more joining us along the way, making a total of ten: one of our biggest evening turnouts for quite a while.
Of course the route helps, with the busway being perfect for easy and relaxed night riding. As usual, we followed what has become our standard route to the busway: east along the river and over the Green Dragon bridge to Cambridge North station, from where the busway offers twelve smooth, traffic-free miles to St Ives.
On the busway
When we reached St Ives we rode through the town centre and followed the Thicket Path to Houghton. After wheeling our bikes under the mill we cycled across the Ouse Meadows to Hemingford Abbots where we stopped for food and drink at the Axe and Compass.
At the pub in Hemingford Abbots
Afterwards we returned to Cambridge, taking local roads through Hemingford Grey for the short distance to St Ives and then back along the Busway the way we had come. I arrived home at about 10.15pm, having cycled 62km (
38 miles).
Nigel Deakin
Download
GPS track (GPX).