Sunday, 21 March 2010
Joseph Sugg writes: It had been bright and sunny since 5:30am so it was no real hardship to get out for the 9.30am start from Brookside this morning.
Geoff was our leader today. Also at the start were myself, Averil, Mick, Tom, Simon and Brian. We set off towards Shelford. In the Shelfords we saw Jim and Val, but they were put off by our pace and went their own way.
We carried on through Whittlesford and Duxford to Ickleton. At Ickleton we climbed the steep hill to Elmdon.
After a right and a left on the B1039 we climbed again to Duddenhoe End and then to Langley Upper Green where the road bisects the cricket field. Turning left here, we headed to Butts Green and Roast Green before turning left and left at the sign for Clavering Lakes.
At Clavering there is a cafe serving hot and cold food. It's reasonable although we had a little wait for our coffee. Here we met John and Greta and Vic who had made their own way. We also saw Jim and Val again, just as we were leaving.
Back on the road we headed into Clavering and onto the Bishops Stortford road. After a mile we turned right to Stocking Pelham and Furneux Pelham and then onto Braughing, before reaching our lunch stop at the Crown and Falcon in Puckeridge.
The Crown and Falcon is a normal small town pub with a few locals. It is very friendly with very reasonably priced food. The servings are good too. I had a sausage baguette which came with a large salad. Also there were Brian from Bedford, Bob and Myrtle, and Joan and David.
After a good length stop we turned south over the A120 through Standon and along a quiet road which brought us out in Little Hadham. Then back across the A120. We then turned right to a little village called Farnham and on to Manuden, just north of Bishops Stortford. We then climbed to Clavering before going to Langley Lower Green and taking the small hilly road to Barley. Here we joined the B1368. With the wind behind and most of it downhill we picked up pace down to Flint Cross where we crossed the A505. We carried on to Fowlmere getting there at 4:40pm, just 10 minutes late. Not too bad.
Tom and Geoff stayed for tea, whilst myself, Mick and Averil set sail for home. Mick set the pace again and I got home in just 30 minutes. For the second week running it was a fantastic day for cycling and I think we made the most of it, thanks to Geoff. Total mileage
70 miles.
Joseph Sugg.Visit this route on a larger map