Sunday, 11 March 2018
At long last, spring is here! After a very cold end to the winter, with our last two Sunday rides being cancelled due to the danger of ice, today was a much milder day, with the temperatures starting at 6C and rising to 9C. I wasn't the only person eager to get back on the bike, and I was joined at Brookside by about eight others.
Brookside
Whilst the temperature was fairly mild, today was not the nicest of days: dull and damp, with a threat of rain later, and a distinct easterly breeze which would make our return home more tiring that we would prefer.
West Cambridge
Our leader today was Alex. The first stage of today's ride was to our coffee stop in Waresley, and instead of taking us along the B1046 took us via Coton, Madingley Hill and the old St Neot's Road before joining the usual route through Caxton and Great Gransden.
Coffee at Waresley
We arrived at Waresley Park Garden Centre to find quite a few members already there, and we spent a typically sociable three-quarters of an hour or so before regroupng in slightly larger numbers for our next stage to lunch.
After Waresley
After coffee we continued west to Everton, and down Tempsford Hill to Blunham.
Tempsford Crossing
Our planned lunch stop was Jordan's Mill near Biggleswade, and I arrived there, slightly ahead of the group, just before 1pm. I went in to discover they were completely full, and we did not have a table booked. I therefore went back outside and informed the others who had just arrived. Alex seemed to have half-expected this, and immediately suggested we carry on to Langford Garden Centre a couple of miles further on. This worked well, and in fact I slightly preferred it.
After lunch we set off back home to Cambridge, via Ashwell, Kneesworth and Shepreth. This took us into the wind, and I found this quite hard work, no doubt partly because the lack of cycling over the winter had caused me to lose some of my fitness.
Just beyond Shepreth we turned onto the new cycleway along the A10. This was my first time since works had finished through Harston. This turned out to be reasonably good, though the crossings of side roads - especially at the southern end of Harston - suggested the council engineers had learned nothing since the 1980's; very disappointing.
Harston, on the new cyclepath
Nevertheless we made our way back to Cambridge without any problems, and I arrived home around 5pm, having cycled 101km (
63 miles).
Download
GPS track (GPX).